MOVIE REVIEW: THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON (1960)

Chock full of the charm of Old Hollywood spectacles, this Walt Disney Pictures adaptation of the beloved adventure tale puts the family in family entertainment. Equal parts impossible and inspiring, there’s still magic to be found here after all these years. While it may be something of a lesser classic nowadays, I find that it is still a decent film that inspires and entertains.

After fleeing the devastation of the Napoleonic Wars for a new life in New Guinea, the Robinson family find themselves shipwrecked on an uninhabited island. Father, Mother, and their three sons use ingenuity to build a (mostly) civilized life among a diverse array of wildlife. These newfound comforts don’t satisfy the elder two sons for long, and they set out to explore the shores of the island, bringing a few surprises back with them.

Right out of the gate, I confess that this movie hasn’t aged well in a number of places. They try to write off the use of African and Asian animals by saying ‘there must have been a land bridge long ago,’ but that doesn’t work when South American animals show up as well. The pirates are portrayed with racial stereotypes and serve as low-intelligence slapstick clowns. There are also a number of corny lines that may have elicited groans back in 1960.

All that being said, there’s still a lot of fun that shines through. Yes, there are flaws, but the film pushed past that and owns it all in the name of good-natured spectacle. The lush tropical setting and the marvel of engineering that is the Robinson’s tree house helps you suspend disbelief up to the pirate attack sequence. Disney went all out to make the Robinson’s world feel plausible.

This is a mostly harmless bit of escapist entertainment that also inspires a little. While these actors didn’t build the amazing tree house, the magic of cinema tricks the mind into thinking those characters did build it, making it a sort of triumph of the human spirit. The remoteness of their situation and the hard work we see them engage in to survive builds up the kind of investment in our protagonists that modern popular cinema struggles to get right half the time.

If you have never seen The Swiss Family Robinson, or are considering checking it out for the first time in a long time, know that the pacing is very old-school. Fans of modern adventure flicks may find themselves bored at times, as the film’s two-hour runtime isn’t action from reel to reel. I believe, however, that it is a worthwhile journey in the end that may still be capable of entertaining all ages.

FINAL RATING: 3.25 out of 5