Really, what’s not to like? Cute animals and a laid back holiday vibe. True, if you peer at the surface for long enough (not all that long actually) you’ll see through the veneer of blissful calm and hear a note of sadness (“We’ll never feel bad anymore”). But hey, did I mention the cute animals?

This was the second video made for Island In The Sun; the first features a Mexican wedding, all smiling children and smiling adults. It’s let down somewhat on the animal front, however, with only a few handfuls of doves complementing the human contingent. A signifier of peace the dove may be, a cute animal it is not. This, by the way, wasn’t the reason for shooting a second video, at least according to the song’s wikipedia page:

The executives at MTV disliked Siega’s video because they believed many white american Weezer fans would be angry for showing happy Mexican people united in US territory, prompting the band to film Jonze’s take. As a result, “Island in the Sun (Version Two)” had much wider play than the first version, and has become the standard video for the song.

Fairly depressing, if true.

But don’t focus on that too much. Not now. Just enjoy the animals…