Fountain of Youth Delivers a Flawed but Entertaining Adventure

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the entirety of Fountain of Youth.

While there isn’t anything special about Fountain of Youth, it does still take us on a fun quest, and sometimes, that’s enough. Not every movie needs to reinvent the genre, and Apple TV+’s take on this tale is decent enough.

Luke and his team are on a search to find the mythical fountain of youth, and along the way, Luke recruits his sister Charlotte to the cause and finds himself being pursued by a group sworn to protect the fountain as well as Interpol.

John Krasinski is a fantastic choice as the lead for this film, as he manages to bring a level of charm and humor to Luke that makes you immediately like him, even when he chooses a painting over his sister’s life. He and Natalie Portman are a lot of fun to watch as estranged, often bickering, siblings.

The rest of the characters could have been flushed out a bit more, but it’s easy to fall in with Luke’s crew and enjoy being a part of their adventure.

For a two-hour film, Fountain of Youth still manages to rush some reveals and seemingly important character moments. 

Luke suddenly reveals that Esme is one of the people protecting the fountain, even though he only had a brief conversation and a fight with her in Thailand. Sure, he ends up being correct, but it makes zero sense as to how he came to that conclusion.

All he knew was that she was a part of a separate group that wanted that painting and that was enough to make him leap to her being a secret protector of the mythical fountain of youth, apparently.

This reveal could have been handled a bit better, but at least Esme’s next meeting with Luke makes it clear that he was correct. We don’t have to wonder if his theory was right or if she is just another interested party in the stolen paintings or the fountain.

The other character moment that didn’t really work was when Murphy and Deb suddenly switched sides, so to speak. They decided to join “the losing team,” aligning themselves with Interpol instead of Owen’s security team.

We get to see how the Purdue siblings begin to become wary of Owen’s intentions and start to distance themselves from him, so by the time they make it to the fountain, we’re skeptical of his intentions as well.

Murphy and Deb, however, are not there for those moments, and so the film has to manufacture a reason for them to switch sides around the same time as Luke and Charlotte, and the execution falls short.

These issues could have been avoided if the film had managed its time a bit better and cut unnecessary elements, like Luke’s strange dreams.

It’s obvious the dreams are a warning about the fountain and are foreshadowing what will happen when Luke goes to drink from it. But we also get hit on the head with this warning again when Luke’s in the fountain, so it is redundant and heavy-handed.

Flaws aside, Fountain of Youth is a film you don’t regret watching. There’s something about a good, old-fashioned treasure hunt that keeps you engaged even if you know how it’s all going to end.

The end of the film hints at the potential for the Purdues and Esme to return in another installment, and while Fountain of Youth has its flaws, I’d still tune in for more adventures. It could be fun. 

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Fountain of Youth is now streaming on Apple TV+.

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