Crusoe

Not a lot more to say than what I wrote as the title of this review. People who like Defoe's basic storyline, or who appreciate a good survival story, will be dissappointed by the uninspired script and the clumsy way this version is executed.

Quite dull and unimaginative, Aidan Quinn had nothing to inject into the unlikeable and rather vacuous character exhibited by No-First-Name Crusoe. The attempt to add some emotional content by including a dog was utterly pointless. The "man Friday" from the original novel remained nameless after his first appearance, but learned an English song with laughable accuracy and somehow constructed a classic African accent in which to sing it, totally uncomprehending what the basic lyrics meant! Who knows what the purpose of that scene was! A previous, brief encounter with another black character was virtually inconsequential.

This story could have be told in two minutes and the ending was particularly dull and pointless. Three and a half stars for the scenery, half a star for the acting and story.

Several years ago my brother and I tried, largely in vain, to find a Robinson Crusoe film adaptation that satisfied our deep curiosity with the story. We had read the fabulous work and knew its major themes, so searching for a visual adaptation was exciting. We found one version with Pierce Brosnan and then a black and white one, both of which were not fulfilling. This movie picks up the quest for a visual characterization of Daniel Defoe's title character and leaves me somewhat satisfied, at least more so than the previous ones I've seen. Missing the first few minutes, I began in on the movie just after Crusoe is shipwrecked. The film has great visuals and moves from one event/occurrence to another pretty steadily, but it was lacking in both depth of the Crusoe character and a general study of the character's relationship to nature and God, two aspects that the original story effectively focuses on. I did not experience a depth of connection with Aidan Quinn, who played Crusoe, and it feels like he is more just a random character in a made for TV movie rather than the rugged, time tested, and matured Robinson Crusoe I tend to imagine. I kept hoping the movie would have a "7" or "14" or even "21 years later" scene where we gasp and wonder how the time has changed Crusoe and wonder what he's been up to, like in "Cast Away" with Chuck Nolan. While there are some touching moments, I give it 6/10 stars for the previous reasons. I wanted a more integrated piece that zeroes in on the man Robinson Crusoe rather than a film that jumps from one island event to another and doesn't return to the title character and his story. Still, it's watchable.

Beautiful scenery, but an adaptation that's a bit trite. The dynamic between the former slave trader and the local lacks any real tension or drama.

Watchable, but just so. Come for the story, stay for the scenery.

I viewed this movie on TV and in Spanish, and it mattered not.

This is visual movie making at its best, the story being told through

gripping physical encounters and gut-wrenching emotions on an

enchanting island. Crusoe and Friday are fiercely strong

individuals who must learn to cooperate to survive. But this version

of the classic story goes beyond mere physical survival and

focuses on how Crusoe, a slave trader in the 1800s, and Friday, a

Black, overcome their innate prejudices and learn to trust, respect,

and finally to help each other survive against life-threatening odds.

The mythic feel of the film is enhanced by wondrous cinematography and sparkling music. Thanks Aidan Quinn, Ade

Sapara, and Director-cinematographer Celeb Deschanel for a

most delightful movie.

This 1988 revision of Daniel Dafoe's popular desert island survival adventure has enough of a modern conscience to suggest a tropical variation of 'The Defiant Ones', with Virginia gentleman slave trader Crusoe (no first name is given: could it be Robinson?) shipwrecked off the African coast and chained by circumstance to a native tribesman. Director Caleb Deschanel brings to his own film some of the same meticulous attention to visual detail from his work elsewhere as an ace cinematographer, in this instance hiding the shortcomings of an underdeveloped screenplay behind lots of glorious surf-and-sand imagery. The story itself, perhaps because of its familiarity in outline, unfolds with a surprising lack of emotion for such a compelling scenario. Little information is offered about its protagonist except that he's a bigot with a lesson to learn, so what little character he has isn't very sympathetic. But the idea alone still carries a lingering fascination, making the film a consistently interesting if not always very involving experience.