Want to psych yourself up for anCosta Rica vacation before you visit in person? We’ve compiled five movies about Costa Rica or movies that use beautiful Costa Rica scenery as their backdrop to get you excited for your visit. Get inspired!
- After Words (2015)
Director: John Feldman
Stars: Marcia Gay Harden, Huguette Urhausen, Ron Canada, Oscar JaenadaIn this dreamy, feel-good romance, Marcia Gay Harden of Fifty Shades of Grey fame plays a librarian who travels to Costa Rica to find herself during a mid-life crisis. This film’s arc centers around the librarian falling for a vibrant young tour guide played by Oscar Jaenada, who gradually draws out her enthusiasm for life again.
This movie about Costa Rica plays out almost like a travelogue. The handsome, laid back tour guide shows her around beautiful places to get her to understand the national motto, “Pura Vida,” which is all about enjoying and appreciating the beauty of everyday life. The two unlikely romantic leads eventually learn to loosen up and love life again.
While the movie’s romance plotline is somewhat corny and perhaps trite, it’s an excellent watch for someone who loves indulging in a good Hallmark classic. Watch it for beautiful Costa Rica scenery at the very least!
- Jurassic Park & The Lost World (1997)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite, Vince VaughnYou don’t really need an excuse to enjoy a Jurassic Park movie, but the fact that this is also a movie about Costa Rica-esque islands and landscapes makes it a great film to set the tone for your upcoming trip!
The Lost World is the sequel to the original classic, and it received mostly positive reviews (although it’s hard to hold a candle to one of the best films ever made). It’s set four years after the original, in a world in which the events of the first movie hardly discouraged the scientists or businessmen from meddling with prehistoric dino genetics.
Without spoiling too much, a tyrannosaurus rex eventually runs wild in San Diego, making for some pretty exciting and improbable action material. The movie’s subject material and tone is substantially darker than the first film, which is impressive considering how many people are eaten in the original.
The filming for The Lost World was divided between California, Hawaii, and Costa Rica. If you’re planning a trip to Costa Rica or have just returned, try to guess which scenes were shot there without Googling it!
Don’t worry—at present, Costa Rica is void of man-eating dinosaurs. We’re pretty sure.
- The Blue Butterfly (2004)
Director: Léa Pool
Stars: William Hurt, Pascale Bussières, Marc DonatoHeartwarming and thought-provoking, The Blue Butterfly is one of the most intriguing movies about Costa Rica, based on a true story.
This Canadian French-language film centers around a boy with terminal cancer, whose dying wish is to find the incredibly rare blue morpho butterfly. Moved, a famous entomologist and television actor agrees to take him to Central America to find the blue butterflies migrating around a remote village. An adventure ensues, and the ending is surprising.
It’s a good watch as a primer for your Costa Rica vacation, as the film centers around beautiful and unique Costa Rican scenery and biodiversity. It was filmed in part in Puerto Viejo, Limon, to which you can stop by on your vacation. You might learn a thing or two about entomology in the process!
- El Lugar Más Feliz del Mundo (The Happiest Place in the World) (2015)
Director: Soley Bernal
Stars: Rodolfo Araya, Mauricio Astorga, Fernando BolañosThis Spanish-language comedy is centered around a television show cast who are desperate to save their series after the assassination of their star.
The eclectic cast of the show travels to Costa Rica to seek a unique way to save their show. While there, they have to elude the same assassin who killed their star, and in so doing end up stumbling upon new-age gurus who help them on their journey.
This movie about Costa Rica antics is good fun. Not only do you get to enjoy some nice Costa Rica scenery while watching it, but you get to have a good laugh.
- After Earth (2013)
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Stars: Jaden Smith, Will SmithNo, After Earth wasn’t a big box office success, but that was not due to any lack of beautiful Costa Rica scenery that was used as its backdrop!
If you remember After Earth, you might remember the behind-the-scenes drama that was released along with the film. Conceived by Will Smith and starring him and his son Jaden Smith, the film faced plenty of nepotism accusations as well as plenty of negative reviews. M. Night Shyamalan’s previous film, The Last Airbender, is notorious for being one of the poorest adaptations ever made, and these two movies together are considered the low point of the director’s career.
This sounds pretty bad, so why are we telling you to watch it? First of all, bad movies are hilarious! Make a drinking game out of it: sip every time there’s melodramatic acting, strange poor CGI, or a weird sci-fi term. You’re mainly watching it because it’s a movie about Costa Rica, anyway. Shot on beautiful beaches and locations like the dormant Arenal Volcano, you might be able to scout out some spots you want to visit in advance of your Costa Rica trip.