This Memorial Day weekend, Apple TV+ and director Guy Ritchie hope you have adventure in your holiday plans with the release of Fountain of Youth exclusively on the streaming service. The big-budget exploits draws heavily from franchises like Indiana Jones, The Mummy, and National Treasure but never develops an identity of its own in this harmless but forgettable globe-trotting quest.
Starring John Krasinski and Natalie Portman, the duo play siblings Luke and Charlotte Purdue from a family with a history of exploring and discovery. The brother and sister haven’t spoken in a year until Luke finds himself wrapped in a mystery that requires the assistance of his sister and her music-prodigy son Thomas (Benjamin Chivers). Together with Luke’s team, assembled by a terminally ill wealthy benefactor (Domhnall Gleeson), they set out to solve puzzles and unlock the secret location of the fabled Fountain of Youth.
If the premise seems fairly predictable then you have a good grasp on what this generic faux-summer blockbuster has to offer. Fountain of Youth has stacked talent in front and behind the camera, but there doesn’t seem to be any real passion behind the film. Sure, Krasinski and Portman bring their ample affable personalities to the role and elevate stock adventure film characters, but everything has the feeling you’ve seen it before and done better. The big showdown in the last major scene is such a CG-enhanced rip-off of the climax of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade that Lucas and Spielberg should probably sue.
The aforementioned puzzle solving is neat and the ensuing action is entertaining and impressive in scope, but some of the choices within them are downright lazy. Multiple times Luke puts his sister and team in danger by randomly punching an armed adversary with no real plan or thought for anyone else’s safety – soley for the reason of intitiating shooting and explosions. This might occasionally be an acceptable action-flick trope, but it’s used so many times in Fountain of Youth that it becomes laughable.
Krasinski is a highlight of Fountain of Youth and makes a strong case for those who lobbied for him to play Nathan Drake from the Uncharted video game series in a live-action movie. Portman is cute and capable as Charlotte, but Krasinski carries the movie. He sells the one-liners and endearing confidence of this type of leading man character and even has good chemistry with his underdeveloped rival Esme (Eiza González). Domnhall Gleeson is also quite fun for most of the film, developing an entertaining rapport with young Thomas, that is, until the inevitable third-act twist everyone will see coming.
If you already subscribe to Apple TV+, you could do worse when looking for entertainment this Memorial Day than a film with the talent and budget of a major theatrical release delivered right to your couch like Fountain of Youth. But Ritchie’s films normally have a level of grit and teeth (even his Sherlock films) that is clearly missing from his take on a by-the-numbers and safe family movie here. There’s a reason this isn’t competing with Mission: Impossible and Lilo & Stitch for your movie theater dollars this weekend, and it’s simply because Fountain of Youth is just not that good.
Score: 2.5 out of 5