The Stream: Same as every holy grail searching movie ever made.

The Big Screen: Nice action set pieces and at least new settings used for clue hunting.

The Final Bill: Unoriginal story met with predictable circumstances and still entertaining

– Trip Fontaine and S2S: Movie Review
Director: Guy Ritchie
Writers: James Vanderbilt
Stars: John Krasinski, Natalie Portman, Eiza González, Domhnall Gleeson, Arian Moayed, Laz Alonso, Carmen Ejogo, Stanley Tucci
Genre: Action, Adventure, Mystery, Fantasy
Rating: PG-13 for violence and action, and some language.
Runtime: 1 hour 58 minutes
Production Companies: Apple Original Films, Skydance Media, Project X Entertainment, Radio Silence Productions, Toff Guy Films, Vinson Films
Platform: On Apple TV+ May 23, 2025

Welcome back, Streamers! Apple TV+ has entered the summer blockbuster scene with Fountain of Youth. The movie follows a pair of siblings, along with their crew, who are a bit estranged after the passing of their adventure seeking father; however, old habits die hard when they are found on a mission once again to find the legendary Fountain of Youth. Will they find and figure out all the clues to complete the question? Family action and adventure hijinks ensue.

Let’s get the nice things out of the way because the movie is mid at best. There are a few high energy and occasionally thrilling action sequences. I appreciate them going to different locations than typical and looking for clues. I also appreciate the cast to a certain degree. Krasinki and Portman were pretty good as the estranged, bickering siblings, but the rest of the team were pretty boring and regular. Laz Alonzo and Carmen Ejogo really don’t have much to do at all. I will say that Domhnall Gleeson gets to justify his paycheck. I’ll say the whole cast all excelled in the fight/action sequences, especially Eiza Gonzalez. It has to be hard to be that attractive and that physically capable for those scenes. Either the choreography was that superb or she and her stunt double really killed it. Aside from those exciting fight scene, Gonzalez doesn’t have much to do either and her chemistry with Krasinski is pretty lukewarm. I think that’s enough good because the movie otherwise is extra stolen and unoriginal. Actually, one last positive, at least Guy Ritchie didn’t talk us to death as he tends to do in his other movies while keeping his crisp filming, direction and editing.

Trip: I have to disagree on this point about Guy Ritchie. I forget this movie is directed by Guy Ritchie because it doesn’t have his typical hallmarks. This movie desperately needed some of that Guy Ritchie crackling dialogue and little more of his pizzazz. This movie is such a facsimile of other action-adventure movies that some more Guy Ritchie could have elevated it above the rest.

On the negative side, this is basically new age Indiana Jones and National Treasure movie merged. It’s almost identical to National Treasure. While movies can be derivative from a source, the originality and wit of National Treasure makes this movie feel like I’ve already seen this before. And this may be a bit spoiler-ish, but I can’t believe they borrowed from Indiana Jones and the Kingdon of the Crystal Skull.

At the end of the day, Fountain of Youth is the same old mash up of Indiana Jones and National Treasure. That makes the movie extra-watchable but also only stream-worthy and kind of forgettable. The cast is fine, the action is solid but all met with the most predictable circumstances and ending ever. Nonetheless, on the stream scale, this is no more than a big bowl of popcorn. You won’t be mad you watched this, but it’s also nothing to write home about.