If you're a fan of the novel Swiss Family Robinson, then this hour long animated treatment should prove more than acceptable, with excellent voice characterizations. Many classic novels have been changed for the worse when filmed, but in this case(my opinion)the changes are welcomed. Famous adventure novels such as King Solomon's Mines, and Journey to the Center of the Earth didn't have any females as main characters, so the movie world added them. The Swiss Family Robinson book had 2 female characters, but the 2nd only came into the story towards the end. In this 1973 filmed version, the script writers had a good idea in the way of including the 2nd female character in the beginning of the story, then bringing her back later. If you see this film 1st, then read the novel, you may feel that the original novel could have benefited from that idea. In the famous Disney movie from 1960, Jenny is renamed Roberta, and arrives earlier than in the novel. But of course in that treatment pirates are added, which really changes a lot. Here, the cartoon sticks to the basic story, and resists adding any silliness. Family is shipwrecked, how do they survive. It has a very good repeatable factor as well. The production company, API, also did Legend of Robin Hood; Ivanhoe; Kidnapped; Treasure Island; The Mysterious Island; and A Journey to the Center of the Earth; among others. Some may also be aware of the science fiction adaption of the novel in 1965, that might have been originally called Space Family Robinson, but came to the TV screen as Lost in Space.
2 Reviews
Entertaining and will keeps kids interested
TheLittleSongbird26 June 2013
If there is a hindrance to this animated adaptation of Swiss Family Robinson it is the animation, the colours are rather flat and the details lack fluidity, there is a real impression that it was all done in a rush. Despite this debit, this is still very enjoyable. It is solidly adapted, with changes like with a female role expanded but ones that add rather than detract, and told in a way that doesn't feel rushed or too thin for the short running time. Swiss Family Robinson is a timeless story, and told with bags of charm and excitement, there is a little violence but this is minor and it's not cartoonish or scary at all. The music is whimsical and rousing in an understated sense, while the dialogue is written in a way that is accessible to adults and kids, not too childish and not too wordy either, a perfect mixture really. The characters are still likable, and the voices are excellent. In conclusion, the animation quality was left wanting but a most entertaining and continually interesting animated adaptation of a timeless literary classic. 8/10 Bethany Cox
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