Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Lawrence Douglas has inherited some money, but when he tries to collect it from his uncle Donald Pleasance, Donald tries to kill him. When that doesn't work, he sells him off to slavery on a ship headed for the colonies. Such is the Robert Louis Stevenson story Kidnapped.As far as period pieces go, this isn't a very good one. Yes, the scenery is very beautiful, but it looks like every character popped up out of the '70s—which, let's face it, they did. Veteran actors Jack Hawkins and Trevor Howard take supporting roles, but they aren't really enough to save the movie. I got a kick out of the reversal of fortune, though; ten years earlier, Michael Caine had small roles in films starring Jack Hawkins, and in Kidnapped, the billing was reversed.Michael Caine fans won't be very happy with this movie; they'd be better off watching the other Robert Louis Stevenson adaptation Jekyll & Hyde, in which he does a very good job. He doesn't really add anything to the role—but then again, neither does anyone else in the cast—and he has an extremely muddled accent. It wasn't until he greeted Vivien Heilbron by calling her "Lassie" did I realize he was attempting a Scottish accent! Unless your absolute favorite genre of films is swashbuckling pirate movies, you might not want to sit through this one, especially since there really aren't too many swashbuckling pirates in the film.

This rendition is exceptional and belongs in the movie Library of anyone who loves the classics. Michael Caine makes the movie. As Allen Breck he made the character everything I felt when I read the book. He looks and talks just as I pictured in my mind. Splendid indeed. David Balfou was drab and shy in the story and I found Lawrence Douglas to be just that. I love that this version follows the true chronicle, especially in the beginning and I felt like I was truly along with the characters in every scene. Donald Pleasence played Ebenezer Balfour brilliantly and his scenes with David are true to the original story. No other movie of Kidnapped was the same for me. Captivating as only Robert Louis Stevenson can be.

As a history lesson about the Jacobite Rebellion this fails, but as a movie for the whole family it's entertaining and a good cast makes it fun to watch.Michael Caine is Alan Breck, determined that the Stuarts should have retained the throne of England, who befriends young David Balfour (Lawrence Douglas) and sets off on a journey with him to Edinburgh, sharing a variety of adventures along the way. In a limited role, Donald Pleasance added to the fun of the movie as the curmudgeonly Ebenezer Balfour (David's uncle).It was all working together quite well, I thought, until the very end of the movie, and I thought too much was left hanging with the way it concluded. So an entertaining but historically inaccurate movie ended with a bit of a letdown. 7/10

This is certainly not the worst film in history, but also far from great cinema. Despite dating from 1971, it has the look and feel of a film from the '40s."Kidnapped" follows the story of David Balfour, an orphaned Lowland Scots boy betrayed and cheated by his drunken oaf of an uncle on the cusp of his eighteenth birthday.The British uniforms and civilian attire are done well, but the "Highland" clothing is laughably inaccurate.Michael Caine is a very good actor, though horribly miscast in the role of "Allan Breck". The idea of having an Englishman play the role only adds weight to the fiction that anything here resembles genuine Highland history. The "i" is dotted with the garish swashbuckle mustachio sported by Caine. And that hair. Why?It is also interesting that most of the characters seem to have amazing skill in keeping their hair perfectly clean, straight and shiny and if they just left a hair salon when they are yomping around the Trossachs hiding from the English!The dialogue is wrought with semi-condescending, boring statements. I can not count how many times I heard words like "heather", "bonnie", or "lassie" from people who should not even be speaking English. It is overtly evident that none of the people involved with this movie, from the caterers to the director, had ANY historical background into Highland history and no knowledge of the culture apart from stereotype and myth.It was well-intentioned and not cynical, so it does have some strengths. See Rob Roy if you want a historically accurate film on the Highland experience.5/10