Better Late Then Never

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Brosnan is excellent as Robinson Crusoe and the actor playing Friday also does a decent job. There's plenty of adventure and excitement and the movie really chugs along. There is excessive violence and some very implausible battling of the cannibal tribe that comes to the island. Overall however, it makes for a rather entertaining film. My big problem is that it's titled "DANIEL DEFOE'S ROBINSON CRUSOE". It is not. It is well beyond an adaptation or artistic license.It has been many years since I read the book as a kid and as I watched the movie I was thinking - I don't remember a duel with swords. I don't remember this or that. Didn't Crusoe convert Friday to Christianity? And I don't remember Crusoe and Friday going back to Friday's island. In the book, they didn't. It wasn't my memory, it was the movie. The book is a true classic - the movie is okay but not at all true to the book.

I am a big fan of PB, I was calling for him to take on the 007 role the first tie I ever saw him. I take no pride in what I'm about to say.I don't mind that the movie basically only uses the title and character names from the book; not at all, it's a movie based on the book, but absolutely nothing like the book; and I am fine with that, but here's the thing......I watched the movie on HULU, I thought to myself, "why would this be on HULU?" as the movie began it wasn't bad at all; it kind of reminded me of "the count of monte cristo." I thought to myself, "why is this on HULU?" I have never seen a movie that started "OK" and progressively got worse and worse. I don't know if it was the writing, directing, acting, editing, or all of the above; all I know is that I kept saying to myself, "I can't believe that this is getting worse and worse."I guess that everyone misfires now and then, and I still like PB, but I am embarrassed for him about this movie.

I don't know why people are so down on this movie. Why does every movie made from a book have to be faithful to every bit of dialogue or thought? What happened to poetic license? So what it's not faithful to the book. It's a really entertaining and touching movie with a moral. It made me want to open my copy of the book and actually re-read it. You people need to lighten up! Pierce Brosnan is wonderful and yes, I forgot his James Bond persona when watching. Mr. Takaku is wonderful too. He brings a dignity to the character that is certainly not in the book. The movie version brings up some interesting racial and religious sidebars too, which are handled very nicely. I have seen this movie several times and the ending is always heart-wrenching. I end up in tears every time. No it's not Academy Award stuff but it's very worthwhile watching. All in all a nice little gem of a movie. Enjoy!

What we sometimes call "classics" are nothing more than irrelevant museum pieces. Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" is such a novel. Yes,it gives us a very literate, often compelling glimpse into another time and places... and that has it's place. But a movie is another thing. There is nothing going on in the novel except a white "Bwana" walking along the beach with his black lackey, Friday, shuffling along, shading him with an umbrella, listening to Crusoe talk about his white God. How boring is that. The writer raised the question: what if Friday was a warrior with his own god who happened to be an alligator. Ah... there's some conflict. And without conflict there is no movie, no story. Defoe's novel is a nice little journal. The movie brings life, instensity, raises questions about Friday's origins (his family) the meaning of a friendship and fills out a drama that never existed in the original.