Touches You

The Worst Film Ever

Admirable film.

Absolutely Fantastic

Stranded is a top notch re-telling of the Swiss Family Robinson story. It takes a more serious approach where lives are threatened , tragedy is always around the next corner, and death does occur. This is not a Disney version, with its humor, slapstick, and rollicking tone. Yet it retains the values of family, religion, and love. With its 3 hour length, it has added a welcome subplot which follows the life of the youngest son, Jacob, separated from the family during the shipwreck and raised by pirates. It also devotes time to the transformation of father David Robinson from a stubborn, controlling religious fanatic to a loving and supportive father who learns to widen his worldview on the little deserted island. It also adds to the mix, a young daughter who grows up on the island, and a native who visits occasionally and helps them through some life threatening events. Happily, it also includes a romance when the daughter of a sea captain escapes from pirates, and meets up with the Robinson family. Equally happily, it also includes the climactic battle between the Robinsons and the pirates. All ends well in a very satisfying ending, where each family member chooses to go or stay in order to fulfill their bliss.

Hallmark has spent a lot of money on their "Family Robinson" tale and it looks gorgeous, the money is there to behold in lavish sets, great cinematography. I saw this purely by chance, when I ordered the wrong DVD (should have been the Spanish Stranded from same year!), nevertheless it provides 3 hours of pretty decent entertainment for all but the youngest children. The violence by the end of the film may not make it ideal choice of entertainment for pre-schoolers. TV director Charles Beeson directs a cast of lesser-known actors but Brana Bajic as Lara Robinson is certainly a looker! Other than that the cast is pretty anonymous and misses the mark when it comes to suspense. Few surprises here, this is a classic whitehat/blackhat movie. The kids will love it, but the grown-ups may find this a bit anemic. Will do nicely on a rainy day, however and the lavish tropical pictures will linger on.

in which a family gets marooned on an island in paradise. The period is roughly 18th or 19th century, and dad gets convicted as a felon by the English court because, being a parson and a religious fanatic, he refuses to swear allegiance to the crown. As punishment, he is to be shipped off to a penal colony south of the equator, and his wife petitions the court to let her and the kids come along. A big storm wrecks the ship and the family ends up on an island, except for one of the sons, who ends up being raised by pirates. How the family survives, and eventually becomes reunited becomes the substance of the story, but there are problems. It's very slow moving. The lighting is unnecessarily poor in many critical scenes, as though striving for "realism," but mostly it's just rather annoying. Nor are the characters all that appealing. Attempts to introduce a few romantic moments mostly fall flat, and in the end, we are actually left to feel sorry for the bad guy!

A film for all the family. The Sets are incredible with a fine cast to grace them especially the young Jacob (Charlie Lucas)who is a star in the making. The story is close to the original but with the help of modern technology the special affects stand out.