Robinson Crusoe

I went into this movie not expecting much, the reviews I had read where not very promising but I thought well it is still worth a try. It is not as bad as reports say. The story was fine, I like when movies take another point of view of a well known story, makes you look at things in different ways. The characters were entertaining and the graphics were good so I don't see much of a problem with it.

I will say the two of my kids that I watched it with (ages 10 and 3) did walk away from the movie to do other things but I don't think that was due to the movie but interest in doing other things at the time but take it as you will.

Robinson Crusoe, or the wild life is an animated retelling of how Robinson Crusoe become stranded on a desert island. A story of which is told from the pov of a parrot and a band of animals that you would not think would be n a island, like a goat wearing glasses. The animation was pretty decent and in some ways was better than more mainstream films. I thought the voice cast could have been slightly better, though strong they needed to sound more like what a talking animal would sound like. I'll give it big plus points for not including a bloody rap song and I thought overall it was a decent family animation.

Is it fair to judge a kids movie on its appeal to adults? On the other hand, with all the good animated movies that came out recently which also appeal to adults/parents and have quality that can be reviewed by "older" people to a better degree, I'd say all is fair. So consider this when seeing the rating and make up your mind, if it's important or what's important in its appeal.

Having said that, there is also the very real thing of having "star" names of German comedy or cinema taking on major roles here. People have made the argument, that there are professional animation dubbers, who know their job. Depending on your liking or disliking for that matter, someone like Schweighöfer will get a reaction from you. Again, as a kid you won't care, but probably also not read this. So it's the parents who if the kids want something new and you want something that they can watch by themselves, there are worse choices than this

It was very cute but that was not enough to make it all that good.

The animation was pretty good, and I love the fact that the animation seem to be the focus of the film. So much in fact that no big name stars voiced any of the characters in the movie (Being a very small section of the end credits).

Although this did effect the story greatly. The movie is a retelling of Robinson Crusoe, from the point of view of the animals that help him survive on the uncharted desert isle for so long with most of the focus being on a parrot named mac, but Crusoe calls him Tuesday.

The story is not as good as the animation that is telling it, which is going to cost it from being a classic, but it still a OK animated film to see.

As a family film, 'Robinson Crusoe' is a long way from awful but it misses the mark. It may be good for kids, providing that they don't expect too much, but adults won't find much for them.

Just for the record, this is coming from a huge lifelong animation fan in her early 20s with many animated films being considered favourites, just in case one accuses me (as is so the standard thing on this site these days) of seeing it through adults eyes too much.

The best thing about 'Robinson Crusoe' is the animation, with the exception of stiff human designs and lack of scope for the setting. There is a lot of gorgeous detail, especially the parrot's feathers, rich vibrant colour, good smoothness of movement and the animals look good.

'Robinson Crusoe' also has a groovy and dynamic soundtrack, the story (even if a very, very loose adaptation of the story) is at least coherent and easy to follow and some of the characters have charm, especially Ainsley (though really disliked the rather cheap treatment of him) and the humorous if slightly over-used villainous cats.

On the other hand, while the story is coherent it is also very predictable, too safe and bland, not much to be excited by here, even the climax feels like very watered down Looney Tunes/Tom and Jerry or something. The human characters do lack the colour and charm that went into some of the animals, especially the dull and unsympathetic protagonist, and other characters veer on the annoying. The script is lacking in laughs, emotion or any kind of colour. The voice acting is not too great, there's been worse but it does sound inexperienced with clichéd and obviously false accents.

In conclusion, good for the kids but little for adults. 5/10 Bethany Cox