I watched this last night. I haven't seen it since I was a child. It doesn't hold up well.
The family is just so darn cheerful given their circumstances. It's by Disney, so I guess that explains that.
The big bad pirates were brown people. The wonderful good guys were white people. There was a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie about how it may be offensive in its depiction of other cultures. So even Disney knows. You know, I could overlook this, given the context of its times. I have overlooked these types of things in other movies. But the movie had other issues.
One of the things that bothered me the most was the treatment of animals. I could not stand that self-entitled little kid, Francis. "They're my dogs." "That's my elephant." "That's my monkey."That's my tiger." One of the first things the kid does is jump on a turtle on the beach and try and ride it.
They use a turtle to pull a boat in. It's ok because it was the turtle's idea, I guess. The kid tries and catch an elephant by trapping its foot. Essentially staking it out for a tiger. Who was only doing what tigers do. Then they sic the two big dogs on the poor tiger. Both the tiger and the dogs could have been killed or injured. The elephant is so grateful it was saved that it agrees to be a slave worker for these people. Where is the elephant's family???
Later they have a stupid race riding a zebra, ostrich, and mule(goat). In the opening, the father does not want to take the birds on the ship with them and grabs them by their necks tossing them out. The zebra initally ended up being trapped in quicksand which was then a potential food source for other animals. Fritz saves it and the zebra agrees to be a slave allowing poor tired weak Roberta to ride it back home. Too bad for the other hungry animals that may have a family to feed. They trap the tiger in a pit so it can kill the pirates.
I just thought the treatment of animals was horrible. And I'm not even referring to behind-the-scenes. Although, from what I hear, that is pretty atrocious. But before I knew any of that, it's the way the characters treat the animals. What we see on screen. The characters treat the wild animals like they are there for their pleasure. Entitled, ownership, abusive. Disgusting.
Some positives in the movie, are the overall look of the movie. Nice scenery. The treehouse was cool. Then fight with the pirates near the end was intense. Their booby traps were cool.
They didn't do any exploring of the island. They took a boat to explore it that way. Kind of dumb given the waters are very wavy and high.
They all decided to stay and colonize the island except Ernst who is going off to university. They will be part of colonizing the island now. Oh, joy.
There was a series back in the 70s of Swiss Family Robinson. The Canadian version. It was only one season. But it ran for years and years in reruns. I loved it. I found it a few years ago and rewatched it. Talk about a difference. Here the family respected the island, environment, and animals. Indeed there were even lessons learned about animals and the environment. About what was important. About everyone pitching in to gather food and protect the resources and how precious they were. All the kids did little jobs. I remember thinking the series still has family values and taught important lessons about life, animals, and survival. This movie had none of this. It was just silly.
Anyway. I found this movie kind of awful to watch now. 3/10.
The family is just so darn cheerful given their circumstances. It's by Disney, so I guess that explains that.
The big bad pirates were brown people. The wonderful good guys were white people. There was a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie about how it may be offensive in its depiction of other cultures. So even Disney knows. You know, I could overlook this, given the context of its times. I have overlooked these types of things in other movies. But the movie had other issues.
One of the things that bothered me the most was the treatment of animals. I could not stand that self-entitled little kid, Francis. "They're my dogs." "That's my elephant." "That's my monkey."That's my tiger." One of the first things the kid does is jump on a turtle on the beach and try and ride it.
They use a turtle to pull a boat in. It's ok because it was the turtle's idea, I guess. The kid tries and catch an elephant by trapping its foot. Essentially staking it out for a tiger. Who was only doing what tigers do. Then they sic the two big dogs on the poor tiger. Both the tiger and the dogs could have been killed or injured. The elephant is so grateful it was saved that it agrees to be a slave worker for these people. Where is the elephant's family???
Later they have a stupid race riding a zebra, ostrich, and mule(goat). In the opening, the father does not want to take the birds on the ship with them and grabs them by their necks tossing them out. The zebra initally ended up being trapped in quicksand which was then a potential food source for other animals. Fritz saves it and the zebra agrees to be a slave allowing poor tired weak Roberta to ride it back home. Too bad for the other hungry animals that may have a family to feed. They trap the tiger in a pit so it can kill the pirates.
I just thought the treatment of animals was horrible. And I'm not even referring to behind-the-scenes. Although, from what I hear, that is pretty atrocious. But before I knew any of that, it's the way the characters treat the animals. What we see on screen. The characters treat the wild animals like they are there for their pleasure. Entitled, ownership, abusive. Disgusting.
Some positives in the movie, are the overall look of the movie. Nice scenery. The treehouse was cool. Then fight with the pirates near the end was intense. Their booby traps were cool.
They didn't do any exploring of the island. They took a boat to explore it that way. Kind of dumb given the waters are very wavy and high.
They all decided to stay and colonize the island except Ernst who is going off to university. They will be part of colonizing the island now. Oh, joy.
There was a series back in the 70s of Swiss Family Robinson. The Canadian version. It was only one season. But it ran for years and years in reruns. I loved it. I found it a few years ago and rewatched it. Talk about a difference. Here the family respected the island, environment, and animals. Indeed there were even lessons learned about animals and the environment. About what was important. About everyone pitching in to gather food and protect the resources and how precious they were. All the kids did little jobs. I remember thinking the series still has family values and taught important lessons about life, animals, and survival. This movie had none of this. It was just silly.
Anyway. I found this movie kind of awful to watch now. 3/10.