Robinson Crusoe (1996) Movie Review

It's considerably funny that the full title of this film is Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, an homage a la William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet that somehow indicates the film is more authentic than other renditions. Of course, of late (as with Bram Stoker's Dracula) this kind of etymology is meaningless -- and much of this Pierce Brosnan star vehicle is equally absurd, an attempt to make Crusoe more accessible to the hip kids of today by imbuing it with a bunch of phony action and romance not found in Defoe's real story.

For what it's worth, Brosnan isn't awful as Crusoe, but William Takalu imbues Friday with all the depth and authenticity of a character from Beetlejuice. The film ends up so hokey, what with Crusoe's miniature bamboo city and adventures with Friday among the natives, that it's simply laughable, not exciting.