User reviews

Apparently whomever adapted this version of Swiss Family Robinson never actually read the books. The father is an overbearing asshole. The family is not close. There's mostly sniping and arguing. There's a son being raised by pirates. Nobody is likeable. Give this one a pass unless you're bored to tears.

This movie is awesome. Why have I only stumbled across it now? Was there no publicity back in 2002? So much better than the normal Hallmark product, which can be over sentimental and fanciful. It's an intelligent re-make of the Swiss Family Robinson's survival story, cleverly avoiding the clunky plot points of the 1960's John Mills film. Shot in Thailand (I think ) the film looks stunning. Beautiful sets, fabulous cast (including a young Jessie Spencer aka Robert Chase in House MD.) There's a reality about their evolution on the island and the magical encounter with a native fisherman. One of their sons Jacob is separated from them during the shipwreck and is adopted by Pirates. This cleverly provides the emotional drive the story needs to get to it's climax. Exciting, moving, rewarding, with excellent direction from Charles Beeson.....just great!

Wonderful portrayal of the timeless classic, Swiss Family Robinson. A great film for all the family. It's exciting, moving, has wonderful photography and is excellently directed. Shipwrecked and separated from their youngest son, the Robinsons set about surviving on a deserted shore. Pirates and the inevitable return of their estranged son makes compulsive viewing. Congratulations Hallmark.

This is truly a great entertaining film from the very beginning of the picture to the very end. A man named Robinson is arrested and sentenced to prison, however, his wife wants to be with her husband and willing to take all her children on a sea voyage aboard a prisoner ship with other convicts. There is a large storm that develops out at sea and most of the crew vanish and cause the family to be split apart from each other. The story turns into a sort of Robinson Family story from the past, except there is more adventure with the children along and all starting to grow up and becoming detached from Mom and Pop. This is a great family picture with even pirates and men hungry for gold.

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.

Just finished watching this excellent Hallmark channel movie, STRANDED,.........It was done in a fine manner, with great location scenery and fairly true to the original book. I would highly recommend this to anyone. It has just enough excitement in it to hold ones' interest,pirates, etc. It reminded my of why I also enjoy movies and books, like TREASURE ISLAND,20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA etc.

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.

It has a Swiss Family Robinson shipwreck on an Island in maybe 150 years ago setting, but very different and enjoyable plot. Everyone grows as a family, even the parents, the friendly gentle knowing native, and some pirates. We see the family grow over ~7 years and a great finale. We loved it and so nice to watch a more realistic, no special effects movie, where people have to use their head to survive.

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.

In this retelling of the classic "The Swiss Family Robinson," the Robinsons family sets out for America. When their boat runs into choppy waters, they flee from the tumultuous ocean in a lifeboat and find refuge on a tropical island to which they slowly adapt. Eventually they call it home, and find ways of fending off threats to their idiyllic home. Enjoy, Murf

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!