This film is based on a novel written by Johann David Wyss. A family in route to New Guinea is shipwrecked on a deserted tropical island. They are forced to remain on the island because of damage to the ship and the pirates that are roaming these islands. They create a home on the island and it is centered around a huge tree house. The family begins to explore the island and its wildlife. Plenty of adventures ensue as the family deals with issues of survival and the pirates. The brothers must learn how to live on the island with an uncertain future ahead.
This is a Disney movie about an 18th-century family. Although there's no bloodshed, the violence looks real as the Robinsons do battle with a wide array of animals. Sharks, tigers, snakes and other wildlife as well as the pirates. The pirates attack the family and they appear as Asian stereotypes. A teen girl is stereotyped as a helpless damsel unable to survive in the wild without the help of the teen boys. The Robinsons fight, kill and injure the pirates with swords, rifles and a variety of improvised defenses such as homemade grenades, explosives, rocks, logs and a pit occupied by a tiger. Animal lovers will not like the way the youngest child captures wild animals to keep for himself. The teen brothers joke that by the time they get off the island, they won't care about the age of the women they encounter?? 3* (This movie is OK) (My review is lower number because of the treatment of animals during this time period!!)
126 min, Adventure directed by Ken Annakin and within by Lowell S. Hawley with John Mills Dorothy McGuire, James MacArthur, Janet Munro, Sessue Hayakawa, Tommy Kirk, Kevin Cocoran, Cecil Parker, Ando Ho, Milton Reid.
Note: Imdb 7.2* out of 10* with 14,605 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 82% with 22 reviews 78% with 25,000+ audience scores, Metacritic 61 out of 100 with 6 critic reviews, Common Sense Media 4* out of 5*, 1* educational, sex, 3* role models and violence, 4* positive messages, Amazon 4.8* out of 5* with 6844 reviews.
Special Note: Director Ken Anakin reveals on the DVD commentary that the trapped zebra was subjected to electric shocks to make it move about?? This is a practice that is now illegal in Hollywood movies. Neither Roberta nor the pirates appear in the 1812 novel on which this movie was based. A huge fan of this movie, George Lucas named Anakin Skywalker after director Ken Annakin. After the passing of Annakin in 2009, George Lucas denied that he had named the character Annakin Skywalker after the respected director? Tommy Kirk in the role of Ernst Robinson considered quitting at one point because he was so desperately homesick. Kirk had an early career with Disney. This movie took in $40 million, around $367 million in today's money making it one of the most successful family movies ever made.
Mistakes: A reference to Napoleonic Wars places the film's setting between 1804 and 1815. Actress Janet Munro is shown clearly wearing the straps of a 1950's-era bra? The crew is said to have abandoned the ship during the storm. This seems highly illogical? In the days before inflatable life rafts, the only escape vessels on board would have been small wooden life boats similar to a canoe. It's hard to imagine a canoe fairing any better in a storm at sea than a large sailing vessel?
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