Swiss Family Robinson

It was my Dad’s turn to choose a movie so as you can probably guess we watched another “classic”. Swiss Family Robinson is based on a book which is based on a true story, where a family is shipwrecked on a tropical island and attempt to survive. Whilst the movie is extremely far-fetched, and the characters are pretty annoying there are some bad things about it too. The movie is racist, sexist and abusive towards animals, so I'm not quite sure how it's still entertaining.
A Swiss Family, the Robinsons, have been shipwrecked on an island which is home to almost every animal on the planet. The first wrong assumption you’ve already made is that the Robinsons would have a Swiss accent, or look Swiss. Well, they’re actually all clearly American, apart from one who’s British, and none of them attempt to hide this.
The second assumption you made was that being shipwrecked on a deserted island, it would be hard to build shelter and survive. Wrong again, I’m afraid. They have a multiple-floor treehouse built within in a matter of hours kitted out with beds, doors with locks and mantelpieces decked with crockery. Either the ship they crashed happened to be a cargo ship transporting home furnishings, the Robinsons are literal geniuses, or this is just a movie and doesn’t really matter. It’s got to be the first one, right?
The third assumption you made is that living on an island with all these exotic animals would be dangerous. Well, maybe dangerous for the animals. Francis, the family moron and animal abuser, manages to catch: a baby elephant, a monkey, a tiger, an ostrich and a whole host of other creatures, many of which he keeps as a pet. And oh, did I mention, Francis is eight years old!
The mother, during all this, cleans and cooks when she’s not lounging around on the beach, but, at least Disney added another female character in the second half… who happens to be the wussiest character in the world and destroys the family dynamic by flirting with both of the older brothers. The family are attacked by a group of pirates, you can make predictions about the sort of characters they are, but manage to hold them off using guns, bombs and a live tiger. Yes – this is a Disney movie.
Whilst I’ve pulled up many of the things wrong about the movie, that’s just because there’s not much else to talk about. The premise is very unique and the first half especially is actually brilliant.
Marks out 10: 4.5/5 for the first half and 2.5/5 for the second half so 7/10!
Mum’s five words of wisdom:
First half good, second - meh.
The snooze news:
Did Dad fall asleep during Swiss Family Robinson: I thought he wouldn’t fall asleep during his own pick, but, of course I was wrong. Only in the second half though!

 Want to read about another of Dad's choices? Click here to read about 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

 So there you have it! I hope you enjoyed our review of Swiss Family Robinson - comment below if you watched the movie or if you have any recommendations for us. We would love for you to share your reviews with us at blogontheplusside@gmail.com as we can publish them - regardless of whether we've written about them before. We really hope to hear from you and read your thoughts. Have a safe day everybody and I'll hopefully see you tomorrow! -Rob

Comments

  1. Unknown13 April 2020 at 07:44

    We watched this a few years ago as a family, and our experience mirrored yours to a large degree. We found it enjoyable, but dated in parts (such as the racism), and your dad wasn't the only one who dozed off during the film. I'm ashamed to say that I did similarly, and woke up to find that the film had finished, and everyone was watching The Walking Dead. This was very confusing at the time, as initially I thought Swiss Family Robinson was still on, and that I had forgotten the part of the film when the family were hiding from zombies ...

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous15 April 2020 at 05:10

      I actually did the same thing watching Moana a few years ago when I fell asleep and woke up to find everyone was watching Finding Nemo. I thought it was just a really strange hallucination or something!

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