Revealing mistake: When Paddy lays dead on the beach holding a barrel, the kids turn him over and a crab crawls out of his mouth. You then can briefly see his nose move like a rabbit sniffling. Also his pupils are narrow, and a the side of his neck has a pulse. In other words, he is very much alive. (00:24:30)
Revealing mistake: You can tell that Brooke Shields is wearing a wig throughout most of the movie when they are on the island. You can see her real hair is is about 6 inches shorter than the wig.
Revealing mistake: After Richard tells Em about the "drum people," when the bird is walking around on the beach, there's about a half-dozen of what appears to be water droplets on the camera lens. (01:21:45)
Revealing mistake: In the beginning, right as Richard and Emmeline are seen for the first times as adults, Emmeline picks what appears to be a Zucchini or Squash from a coconut tree. There are coconuts visible next to the item she picks from it.
Answer: The ending is meant to be ambiguous, and is identical to the ending of the original novel on which the film is based. It is never answered whether they are alive or not.
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