MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

johnstonjames i never know what to say about 'Castaways'. the song 'Castaway' has always been one of my favourite Disney songs and i grew up listening to a recording of Hayley Mills singing the song from when i was very young. i think i was only about six or seven when i first saw this movie in reissue.having grown up with this movie since i was a kid hasn't helped me to understand it or come to terms with it however. as i matured (supposedly), this film actually only seemed weirder and more confounding. i guess when i was a child i kind of took it for granted and was also used to Disney films being a little eccentric in terms of fantasy and humour. it wasn't until i was older that i started to question this film's logic. it is definitely a "action packed' adventure, but i'm never quite sure where it's coming from or what the heck they were thinking.i think this movie gets unintentionally oddball and goofy because it is so obviously and blatantly commercial. it doesn't have the artistic integrity of '20,000 Leagues' and isn't even the good entertainment 'Island at the Top of the World' is. rather than being anywhere close to realism or logical action, this movie opts for a "Donald Duck" cartoonish approach that the filmmakers don't seem to be aware that they are applying to it. more than serious adventure, this film feels more like a "wacky" Disney comedy. it has more in common with 'The Shaggy Dog' than '20,000 Leagues'.for viewers not accustomed to the Disney comedy formula, action sequences like the earthquake scene where the mountain ledge breaks off and the adventurers "toboggin" down a icy slope while Maurice Chevalier yodels out a song, seems more like a surreal break in logic then a implement of comedy.as for Maurice Chevalier's constant singing, it only furthers the detachment from reality. Hayley Mill's 'Castaway' song is one of Disney's best musical moments and doesn't detract, we should always expect a song or two from Disney, but the songs Chevalier sings have got to be some of Disney's worst and most obnoxious tunes. not to mention that Maurice Chevalier's performance is so bad it's actually good in a we're-not-laughing-with-you-but-at-you way. i think his performance is even worse here than in the notorious 'Monkeys Go Home' movie. when Hayley mills is worried about the Patagonians fleeing from a flood of burning lava, Chevalier just throws his head back and chuckles, "oo-la la! their plight is funny zo enjooooy it!". rather than amusing the statement just seems sadistic. it should happen to him. when Chevalier's character realizes he accidentally lead them to the wrong side of the world and laments, "i am zoooooo stupid!", the viewer is inclined to agree. i've always felt that as a entertainer, Chevalier was "specially challenged". i never was fond of 'GiGi'.does the movie offer up anything memorable or good? well, yes. as silly as it is, the film is pure Disney formula. it also has a knack for clever FX on a lower budget than '20,000 Leagues'. the film's FX range from obviously poor to excellent as in the Ombu tree and the trippy giant Condor scene. as for memorable, the film is so kooky that it's hard to forget (or forgive whichever the case).the film also has Hayley Mills as a asset. she pretty much rectifies whatever Chevalier kills off. Hayley Mills was a charming performer with a cosy sort of charisma. she can be all sweetness and cute adorability, but she does it with a natural grace and is never pretentious or forced.the film also benefits from good set design and a good understanding of history as well as good, sure handed direction from Disney stock director Robert Stevenson. Stevenson even manages to embellish the mostly pedestrian approach with some good cinematography as in a shot of the Indian's horses upsetting against a darkened sky before a flash flood.despite the numerous FX photography and matte shots, this hardly qualifies as classic, good cinema, but it is good Disney. i mean who else made movies like this except for Disney.i don't know what could have been done to make this a better movie. strangely enough i like it the way it is. it has a goofy charm to it and it is easily identifiable as a children's film. '20,000 Leagues' can often seem too adult.however, even a small child might be inclined to question how this group of inept, knuckle-headed adventurers even manage to get anywhere. even Wilfred Hyde-White's ship's captain seems to know little about geography. the film might have benefited from a better and more logical screenplay. but actually i'm so glad they did it this way instead. the film is awkward but never dull. i'm also sort of fascinated by it's miscalculations, they succeed in the way that they make this one of Disney's, and Hollywood's, most unconsciously surreal and goof-ball concoctions.

ianlouisiana Young Miss Hayley Mills single - handedly rescues "In search of the castaways" from the state of stuporific banality where M. Chevalier,Mr Hyde White and Master Anderson had abandoned it.It is poorly directed,sloppily edited,studio - bound and mediocre in every department.Miss Mills,trouper that she is,grasps this pretty dreadful film and by sheer force of personality gives it what small merit it has. A plot as full of non - sequiturs as any Monty Python movie does not bear even the most cursory examination.The songs,surely merely a device to divert attention from the fact that M.Chevalier has little to do except curl his lips and roll his "r"s and look roguish every now and again. Mr Hyde White does his customary grumpy old posh geezer schtick and nods his head a lot. The FX are crude even by the standards of the day and I should think once the movie made 50 bucks at the box office it went into profit. I saw Miss Mills in "Wild at heart" on TV the other night and she is still in the alchemy business.Some people,eh?

ma-cortes 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.

theowinthrop Captain Grant disappeared in the south seas. A bottle with some message suggests he is not dead, as most people in authority choose to believe, but alive and imprisoned. His three children determine to rescue him. THE CHILDREN OF CAPTAIN GRANT was written in 1866-1868 (the year it was published). It followed Verne's first novel successes (FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON, A JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, and - his first North Pole novel - THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTARAS). Of these first six titles, five have been made into films. CAPTAIN HATTARAS can't be made into a film, because Verne was wrong about the state of the North Pole (he put a live volcano there that we know is not there). Pity because it is a good story, deserving a film treatment, with a chilling conclusion. It has been suggested that the genesis of CAPTAIN GRANT is the determination of Lady Jane Franklin in sacrificing her fortune to find out the fate of her husband Sir John Franklin and his Northwest Passage Expedition of 1845-48. Possibly, however, it is something more current than the Franklin Mystery (already solved in 1859, and somewhat old-hat in 1868). The question of whether Thomas Castro was the actual Sir Roger Ticheborne, wealthy, missing baronet, was a growing issue in England in 1868 (it would not be legally settled - against Castro/Arthur Orton - in 1874). That may have been tied to what Verne had in mind. Also the long lost fate of the French explorer La Perouse in the South Seas (in 1788 - his fate is mentioned in TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA). In any event, THE CHILDREN OF CAPTAIN GRANT was the first three volumes of seven (or eight - depending on one's counting of sections of TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES) volumes that were interlinked. Verne loved cross-connecting stories (in ROBUR THE CONQUEROR he suggests the appearance of an orbiting mystery at the start of the novel is actually an artificial satellite created by Professor Schultz in THE BEGUM'S FORTUNE). He never got this involved again (subsequently, however, he plays a private joke in AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, when Princess Aouda is rescued from being burned alive at her husband's funeral: the husband is the usurper of the title of Prince Dakar who is Captain Nemo). CAPTAIN GRANT traces the world wide search for the Captain by his three determined children and their French tutor, which go through South America and the South Seas. The villain is one Ayrton, a sailor who imprisoned Grant for his own purposes on a small island near New Zealand. At the end of the novel, Aryton is punished for his treachery to Grant (and Grant's children) by Lord Glenelg, who promises to leave him there for only 10 years alone, roughly the time Grant was marooned. Then comes the story of Nemo and the Nautilus in TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES (published in 1870). Then comes THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1873). A party of five men, led by Captain Cyrus Harding, from Libby Prison in Richmond escape in a balloon in a hurricane as the American Civil War is ending. They land on an uncharted island in the Pacific (called "Lincoln Island"), which they build up into a livable environment. They keep finding machinery and books to help them. Also they find a trail that leads them to the rescue of Aryton, nearly insane from loneliness, off a nearby island. Eventually they learn that the dying Nemo (on his submarine) is responsible for their safety and survival. Nemo dies, the island is destroyed in an eruption (the novel has been compared to a study of the growth and destruction of civilization), and Lord Glenelg's yacht comes to rescue the castaways and Aryton.It is a long, complex series of stories. Movies have been made of CAPTAIN GRANT, TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES, and THE MYSTERIOUS ISLANDS. However, no miniseries (nine parts possibly) has been suggested for the whole three novels. Possibly because the adventures are so fantastic they stretch our imagination too far.This Walt Disney production is satisfactory for CAPTAIN GRANT and good fun. Hailey Mills was given another of her early star turns in this film, and Maurice Chevalier was coasting on his starring turn in GIGI four years earlier (as well as his appearance as Panisse in FANNY). One can watch this film as an entertaining adventure flick, with Disney's typical good production values. It is actually quite easy to take.