Les Enfants du capitaine Grant

We loved this film as kids, now we're older it retains its appeal but in a different way. It really is the funniest film ever.

The search party:

• encounter a earthquake and survive by riding on two mini icebergs through ice palaces which appear to be inside a mountain

• have one member of the party (Robert, the sweet little brother) carried off by a giant condor to feed her young

• get flooded and live in a huge ombu tree for weeks (alongside some kind of big cat which is also trapped there)

• go through a thunderstorm that causes above-mentioned tree to catch on fire, giving them the option of being burnt to death or eaten by crocodiles, which are now of course swarming around the tree - or get rescued

• get locked up in a tiny hut with a madman who's been there for apparently about fifty years, after being chucked off their own ship by villainous scoundrels and being washed up on an island inhabited by Maoris

• and finally, survive a volcano (but the Maoris don't)

There is also a love interest in the form of John, the smarmy captain's son who fancies Mary (Hayley Mills) and some funny songs, like the one Chevalier and Mills sing when living in ombu tree. Brilliant!!!

Wonderful Jules Verne fantasy via Walt Disney has jolly, ne'er-do-well Frenchman Maurice Chevalier helping two children convince a ship's captain that the kids' father, a captain lost at sea, is shipwrecked on an island near South America. The journey begins, and soon the whole gang faces every form of a raging Mother Nature trying to reach the castaway. Hayley Mills is near the peak of her ladylike charms here, never lovelier than when singing "Castaway" under the stars by guitar or cooking breakfast with Chevalier in a treetop. Maurice himself is a wily coot, and Wilfred Hyde-White is brusquely amusing. Well-produced yarn with fine effects does tail off in the second-half, but there are many requisite Disney-adventure pleasures to be had. Enjoy it! *** from ****

Let's be honest here: this movie is ridiculous. The special effects are laughable, the actors outrageously overact, the songs, though few, are completely forgettable, and the plot takes dreadful liberties with the book it is based on; Jules Verne would be spinning in his grave. All that being said, this movie is a lot of fun, just as long as you don't take it too seriously. The actors certainly aren't. They're having a damn good time and that rubs off on the viewer. It's great to see familiar faces like Maurice Chevalier, Wilfred Hyde-White and George Sanders hamming it up and the younger actors are having fun too. Kids should love this and so too should nostalgic adults.

Part of Jules Verne's trilogy that includes "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" with Captain Nemo as the antagonist, "Mysterious Island" with Captain Grant as the castaway protagonist going up against Nemo, and "The Children of Captain Grant...aka 'In Search of the Castaways'" with (as the titles suggests) the children of Captain Grant as the protagonists in search of their castaway father. Even if Walt Disney had made "Mysterious Island" (in 1961 another studio made a pretty nifty though obviously 60's style sci-fi movie from it) there still wouldn't be much to tie this film to Walt Disney's classic starring Kirk Douglas and James Mason. Without knowledge of the characters from "Mysterious Island" there is no clue that the Grant children live in the same world as the first film, let alone that of Captain Nemo. With that said, the film does work as a wild and fun Disney adventure (Disney films are a genre all their own). Starring familiar Disney faces such as Hayley Mills and Maurice Chevalier (hey it could have been Annette Funicello and Burl Ives) this is Walt Disney's film not Jules Verne's and a good time can be had by the whole family. Some of the special effects are inferior to Disney's standard but Mills and company are very watchable as are the endless stream of natural disasters that befall them. Recently remakes have been made of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." Too bad a mini-series involving the entire trilogy wasn't tackled. Just a thought.

A journey looking for captain Grant (Jack Gwillim) is realized by a teenage girl Hayley Mills (Pollyanna), her little boy brother along with two veterans (Wilfrid Hyde White and singer Maurice Chevalier) and a young man (Michael Anderson Jr.) . During the long travel they find natural disasters as earthquake in the Andes , fire and flood in the ocean and volcano in New Zealand and they attempt to overcome . Besides they encounter different tribes as Araucans (an Indian chief played by Antonio Cifariello ), Patagons (Argentina) and Maoris (New Zealand).

The picture contains adventures , humor , emotion , songs , stirring action and sensational outdoors . The film displays some scenes have you on the edge of your seat as the amusing images when the protagonists sledge over floe . Excellent , powerful cast with sympathetic Hayley Mills and Maurice Chevalier and with the cynic George Sanders . Colorful cinematography reflecting marvellous landscapes by Paul Beeson . Lively and evocative music by Willyam Alwyn . Abounds matte painting and special effects by the Disney specialist Peter Ellenshaw . It's a winning Disney effort made by its usual director Robert Stevenson (Herbie , gnome mobile , Mary Poppins) . It's a must for the Disney fans but is beautifully released , being recommendable for all family and especially for little boys public . Rating : Good and entertaining.