Paradise Island is a Shane’s World production and our introduction to reality based porn. This film follows the adventures of three girls (Tori Black, Brooklyn Lee, and Vanessa Cage) and two guys (Johnny Castle and Michael Vegas) as they play and party on the island of St. Maarten. The movie is unscripted and organic; it combines tourist activities and sex, which happens whenever and wherever, with down time lounging by the pool, eating, and drinking. No makeup is used, or at least not the typical heavy eye makeup that seems to be the norm for porn. It's a refreshing change to see natural beauty featured in nature's beauty.

We meet the group at the airport as they make their way to the island. After a long day of flying, they arrive at a beautiful home obviously tired, but they settle in quickly and take a swim in the pool. The ladies soon head out for food and alcohol, only to get lost on the way home. Once home, the party begins. Michael and Vanessa jump in the pool naked, and sex follows. He gives her oral and finger fucks while she sits on the side of the pool. They move inside to her bedroom where he continues oral sex. The two engage in typical vanilla sex, with him penetrating from behind, the side and on top, her briefly giving oral to him and then her moving on top, with him eventually coming in her mouth and eye. Vanessa is very vocal and talks too much in this scene, and Michael is only slightly less talkative.

The party continues, and here Vanessa seems so much younger than the other four and comes across as being immature. She just wants to party and play drinking games. The others play along but can’t help but think they are back in college. The next morning Brooklyn and Tori are none too happy being awoken by Michael and Vanessa having sex, again (this scene is included in lost footage). The early part of the day is spent partying on a boat, parasailing, jet skiing, and partying with the locals at a beach bar. They arrive back to the house where Johnny and Tori spend some quality time by the pool, having sex. This scene feels more intimate than the first, maybe because these are two experienced, hot actors. He starts with ass kissing and licking, then she flips over and gives him head. Again, the sex is very vanilla but this scene is nice to watch. The two have good chemistry. The only criticism here is that the camera close-ups often cut out one of the two of them; we would prefer to see both people having sex rather than disembodied body parts.

The next day the group heads out on a boat, gets naked, and parties. The boat anchors at a beautiful beach, where Johnny and Brooklyn have sex. He kisses her ass then gives her oral as she lay in the sand with her ass in the air. She flips and carefully gives him a hands free blow job because of the sand. Throughout the scene the tide comes in and waves wash over them; this adds a bit of interest to the otherwise straightforward sex. With their sun-tanned, glistening bodies entwined on the beach, this scene is a good one. But as soon as Johnny comes on Brooklyn’s ass, we see Tori aggressively sucking Michael’s cock as he leans on the side of the boat. These two are hot and heavy into each other and are obviously having a good time. We see Vanessa and Johnny kissing/watching in the background. Here is a prime opportunity for group sex, or even a threesome, but they don’t go there. What a shame. Instead, it’s more of the same vanilla, hetero sex between two good looking, enthusiastic young people. One thing to say for Michael Vegas, he does know how to pleasure a girl.

The next morning Michael and Brooklyn head out for sex. Although it is unscripted, the two are looking for a public place where they can have sex without getting arrested or scarring young children for life. The two end up in an empty bar, having more vanilla sex on a table. Michael gives Brooklyn oral for quite a while before she flips and gives him oral. They switch around between PIV and her on top, with him eventually coming in her mouth. They return back to the house, the trip is over, and everyone is ready to go home. And after two hours, the movie ends.

This is our first experience with Shane’s World and reality-based porn. It some ways we liked it, and in other ways we did not. The actors are allowed to be themselves and it is interesting getting to know their personalities and preferences. Both Tori and Brooklyn come across as mature, charming girls. The group seems to genuinely like each other and each gets along well with the others. It has the feel of five friends vacationing together on a beautiful tropical island, partying together, and having sex in exotic locations. So the authentic feel, beautiful locale, hot actors, and atypical places for having sex are what we liked. Unfortunately, if you are looking for anything other than vanilla, somewhat boring sex, then this is not the movie for you. Every sex scene is essentially the same; oral on her, blow job, PIV from front/behind/side, cowgirl/reverse cowgirl, and the guy coming on the girl. There is such potential for more than just hetero sex, it’s unfortunate there is no anal, no girl on girl or threesomes, and no kink. These actors are attractive and the setting is stunning. The camera is hand held resulting in a lot of camera movement during scenes, and there were times when harsh shadows were cast on the actors from the sun, but this is acceptable and somewhat expected with a reality based film. And even at two hours, the film doesn’t drag along as the non-sex scenes are interesting to watch. But the sex is just too vanilla and repetitive for our taste. Too bad!

The DVD is labeled as a “Collector’s Edition,” although it is unclear why other than for marketing purposes. Besides the movie, the disk includes cast interviews with the women, Lost Footage (scenes that did not make the final cut), a photo gallery, and trailers, all of which are pretty standard for any movie these days.

I can't say I loved it before and the real test is that we have not even considered watching this again, even select scenes. While the filming style was fine, the scenes were just a bit boring for us.