Paraiso Travel, 2008

"PARAISO TRAVEL" has a good story to tell, but the film doesn't tell it very well. Despite some good touches, the movie is amateurish, predictable, and occasionally far-fetched. (I should say here that my judgement may be affected by seeing the dubbed version; the DVD's Spanish-language version did not include subtitles and its separate Spanish version with English subtitles did not work as advertised, so I had to go with the English-dubbed version.) The basic story involves a college-age, middle-class Columbian so infatuated with his hot, manipulative USA-obsessed girlfriend that he tags along as they get themselves smuggled into the US. They wind up in Queens, NYC, where they become separated. He spends the rest of the movie looking for her and acclimating himself to his new life. There's a good reason why immigrant stories have always been a solid and popular genre -- every immigrant, rich or poor, legal or illegal, has a story to tell, and those stories are usually pretty dramatic. But "PARAISO TRAVEL" just doesn't have what it takes to pull off both a coming-of-age tale and a universal immigrant saga. John Leguizamo's acting role in the film is minor and not integral to the story. And the frequent flashbacks to the young man and woman's tortuous passage at the hands of coyotes from Colombia to Queens, while interesting, aren't really thematically related to the story. The DVD has no extras beyond a collection of stills and the film's preview.

What did you think about this review?

Thank you for voting.

Like Dislike

Abuse report sent

Report abuse