Stranded Movie Review

Hallmark Entertainment produced something good? Sure enough, the family-friendly outfit has made what is undoubtedly the best version of Swiss Family Robinson ever produced. In fact, Disney's version of Swiss Family Robinson came out on DVD just a few weeks back, so its cheesiness is still fresh in my mind.

The guts of the story are the same, but gone are the goofy elephant rides, non-sequitur wildlife, and obnoxious antics of the Disney Robinsons, living in their antiseptic treehouses while single-handedly fighting off pirates with as much gravitas as Peter Pan.

Instead, we're given the Robinsons as a serious drama. I've never read the book, so I don't know if one of the Robinson boys is supposed to do seven years' time on that pirate ship before he is reunited with his parents, or if a boat-going native aids Mrs. Robinson when she is bitten by a snake, but either way, it makes for a much better story. Unfortunately, the goofy love triangle among the two Robinson boys and a pirate refugee girl is still intact, mere padding while we're waiting for the plot to get going again.

Hallmark has imbued Stranded with the appearance of big budget effects and an authenticity much like Cast Away, and though the Robinsons always had it easy compared to Hanks and Mr. Crusoe (thanks to the ship full of supplies which ran aground on the island with them), their adventure is thankfully, finally, made worth watching.