Paradise dreamed. Paradise found. Paradise realized.

Imagine. A place where white sand beaches daily kiss your feet, money loses all value and marijuana is traded on the mainland for rice.

Hidden from reality, The Beach exists in a parallel dream world. In this movie fantasy world a college degree holds no value, days are spent in a perpetual quest for entertainment and recreation, and responsibility exists only in the context of survival.

Richard (Leonardo Dicaprio) sets out on an adventure in search of something more than the daily nonsense of life. He finds himself halfway around the world in Bangkok, the gateway to southeast Asia and paradise.

However, Bangkok offers no more than a cheaper version of home. He wants something more than the ambitions of the average tourist: something secret, taboo-an urban legend of the Far East.

Opportunity rips through a screen to an adjoining room in the form of a drunk named Daffy (Robert Carlyle). An early morning conversation and a hand-drawn map bring Richard the quest he longs for.

Enter Etienne (Guilaume Canet) and Francoise (Virginie Ledoyen) two wayward French travelers. Together the three join forces in search of “The Beach” and the fulfillment of their unspoken dreams and desires.

The hunt follows the trail of tourism from beach resort to beach resort, ending with the Holy Grail, a swimmer’s reach away.

The journey has only begun after their arrival to the island. The hidden lagoon demands a trial of physical strength and self-reliance as a toll at its gates. After escaping watchful farmers, Richard, Francoise, and Etienne take a 120-foot jump to paradise. Paradise, however, is occupied.

A commune of “nontourist tourists,” hidden from reality and the daily grind, welcomes the threesome with open arms.

Thoughts of the mainland quickly fade as they fill their days fishing, playing soccer and taking long walks down their private beach.

True companionship, desire and love fill the unpolluted air, but paradise is not immune to disaster.

A series of shark incidents teaches the commune and Richard the true meaning of the saying “there is always a bigger fish in the sea.”

A rice run to the mainland reveals the necessity of secrecy. Reality re-enters life on the coat tails of death. Lies, lust and lack of trust again triumph over humankind. Eve picks the apple and realizes she’s naked. Paradise is lost.

Directed by Danny Boyle The Beach creates the idealized dream world desired by all: a place where nothing really matters and life is not complicated or complex, a permanent vacation from ourselves.

The film also questions the nature of paradise. Where does it truly exist? On a hidden island halfway across the world or inside ourselves?

As a collection of nomadic backpackers, they characters are responsible for nothing and no one. We say that they are lazy and unmotivated.

Yet we are just jealous, because unlike Richard and the other members of “The Beach,” we are too afraid to leave our all-important lives and disappear into the parallel worlds we can create inside our minds: a place where dreams come true and loneliness is unknown.

Die-hard DiCaprio fans will try paradise on for size, with a bonus of two hours spent gazing into wonder boy’s eyes. However, it’s those who despise DiCaprio who desperately need paradise and the reality of a dream world.

Take the trip. Dare to find paradise within yourself, then book that spring break trip to sunny Mexico.