As Aventuras da Família Robinson

in which a family gets marooned on an island in paradise. The period is roughly 18th or 19th century, and dad gets convicted as a felon by the English court because, being a parson and a religious fanatic, he refuses to swear allegiance to the crown. As punishment, he is to be shipped off to a penal colony south of the equator, and his wife petitions the court to let her and the kids come along. A big storm wrecks the ship and the family ends up on an island, except for one of the sons, who ends up being raised by pirates. How the family survives, and eventually becomes reunited becomes the substance of the story, but there are problems. It's very slow moving. The lighting is unnecessarily poor in many critical scenes, as though striving for "realism," but mostly it's just rather annoying. Nor are the characters all that appealing. Attempts to introduce a few romantic moments mostly fall flat, and in the end, we are actually left to feel sorry for the bad guy!

Hallmark has spent a lot of money on their "Family Robinson" tale and it looks gorgeous, the money is there to behold in lavish sets, great cinematography. I saw this purely by chance, when I ordered the wrong DVD (should have been the Spanish Stranded from same year!), nevertheless it provides 3 hours of pretty decent entertainment for all but the youngest children. The violence by the end of the film may not make it ideal choice of entertainment for pre-schoolers. TV director Charles Beeson directs a cast of lesser-known actors but Brana Bajic as Lara Robinson is certainly a looker! Other than that the cast is pretty anonymous and misses the mark when it comes to suspense. Few surprises here, this is a classic whitehat/blackhat movie. The kids will love it, but the grown-ups may find this a bit anemic. Will do nicely on a rainy day, however and the lavish tropical pictures will linger on.

A film for all the family. The Sets are incredible with a fine cast to grace them especially the young Jacob (Charlie Lucas)who is a star in the making. The story is close to the original but with the help of modern technology the special affects stand out.

This movie is great. It is done with a very detailed eye toward realism. I really like how everything in this story could have actually happened, but it still really gets your attention. Forget about the Disney version, this is far superior. Acting is great, dialog is great, scenery is amazing, and story is of course excellent. I liked how I could show this to my kids and expose them to a real adventure story, plus a story that shows family loyalty and genuine regard for ethics and values. Oh, and guess what, pirates are actually bad guys, imagine that. I felt like I had really stepped into the 1800's. What more could you ask for in an adventure.

SFR is one of my favorite movies growing up, so I was skeptical that this movie wouldn't live up to it. But I was wrong. It is different, certainly, but I found the changes to be largely well done and interesting.

You're not gonna be on the edge of your seat with suspense. But there is plenty to keep you entertained.

The acting is solid all the way through, and I love the addition of the native to help guide them through survival.

A great family movie, but there is a bit of violence, especially towards the end. But this is Hallmark, so certainly nothing egregious.

And of course the scenery is incredible.