Robinson Crusoe (1997) User Reviews

Terrible Book adaptation. But not a bad movie.

[Lady_Targaryen · 6/10 · 19 October 2006]

If you watch ''Robinson Crusoe '', expecting it to be an adaptation of the novel written by Daniel Defoe, forget it, because you are really going to hate it. As a book adaptation, this movie sucks, since many facts were changed, and others, included in the movie, never existed. The character Mary and the fact that Crusoe was not in love when he went to the sea, Crusoe spending less then 5 years on the island( when he stayed almost 30 years)Friday being killed on the island ( when he went to Europe with Robinson), Robinson being a lord (when he was never a lord) and so on, are just a few to mention.

But as a movie,without thinking about the book,we can consider it good, with beautiful scenarios and a nice plot.

It all starts, when Robinson Crusoe needs to stay away from Britain, since he killed his friend over the love of Mary, a woman he knows since they are kids. Robinson and Mary are in love, but they cannot marry until Robinson stay away from Britain for a while, to the locals forget about his acts. So Robinson takes a ship and starts traveling to many places, until an ocean storm wrecks his ship, and leaves him alone on a desert island. Needing to know how to survive on that place and also trying to go home, Crusoe stays alone for years, until the day he saves a native man from being sacrificed, whom he calls '' Friday''. They start a friendship, and they both learn many things,specially Crusoe, who learns how to respect other cultures and religions besides his own.

Ps: ''Cast Away'', the movie where Tom Hanks is alone on an island, have many things in common with this movie,including the fact that both men let their women behind and needs to find ways to survive alone on a desert island. Probably if you enjoy ''Robinson', you are going to like ''Cast''as well(And Vice versa).

Ps2: READ the book. It is REALLY good and considered one of the most widely published books in history.

Average rendition freely based on the known novel by Daniel Defoe , well starred by Pierce Brosnan

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 17 August 2018]

A mediocre adaptation stars Pierce Brosnan: Robinson Crusoe , telling the well-known story of how a Brit becomes stranded on a desert island . As Robinson escaping from England aboard a ship , after killing a man .Then , a wreckage happens and Robinson washes at a mysterious island .There he frees a native , William Takaku , who is nicknamed Friday .

So-so recounting about the classy castaway novel with the loner Robinson who meets his pal Friday , retelling their adventures and unfortunes . While sticking some incidents close to original tale , others are utterly fictious. Being narrated under his point of view . The picture has nothing to do with the classic original by Daniel Defoe , taking freely parts here and there ; but where are the thrills and chills? . The movie relies heavily on the relationship between Robinson and Friday , charting the peculiar treatment the native receives of the civilized man ; as Robinson teaches English language to the escaped native until evil slave traders spoil the fun . Pierce Brosnan gives a passable acting as the distressed castaway stranded on a deserted island and he tries to civilize the proud native Friday . It boasts a good secondary cast with very brief interventions from notorious secondary actors such as Polly Walker , Ian Hart , Damian Lewis and James Frain. The motion picture produced by Robert Halmi and was regularly directed by George Miller : The man from snowy river , Zeus and Roxanna , Aviator , Neverending story 2 , and by Rod Hardy , a Tv usual filmmaker : Mentalist , Librarians , Supernatural , Covert affairs , Mental , Doll house , X files and occassionally for cinema : December boys , Two for Texas , Over the hill, Thrist.

Other retelling of this prestigious novel are the following ones : silent version 1927 narrated by Don Carney . Mr Robinson Crusoe 1932 with Douglas Fairbanks . Robinson Crusoe of mystery island 1936 by Max Wright . Robinson Crusoe by Luis Buñuel with Dan O'Herlihy .Sci-fi interpretation of Defoe classic titled Robinson Crusoe on Mars , 1964 , by Byron Haskin with Adam West . British rendition titled Man Friday 1975 by Jack Gold with Peter 0'Toole , Richard Roundtree .Robinson Crusoe and the Tiger 1972 by Rene Cardona with Hugo Stiglitz . Castaway by Nicolas Roeg with Oliver Reed . Robinson Crusoe TV series 2008 with Philip Winchester , Sam Neill

Okay movie but not a classic

[duraflex · 6/10 · 5 February 2012]

Brosnan is excellent as Robinson Crusoe and the actor playing Friday also does a decent job. There's plenty of adventure and excitement and the movie really chugs along.

There is excessive violence and some very implausible battling of the cannibal tribe that comes to the island.

Overall however, it makes for a rather entertaining film.

My big problem is that it's titled "DANIEL DEFOE'S ROBINSON CRUSOE". It is not. It is well beyond an adaptation or artistic license.

It has been many years since I read the book as a kid and as I watched the movie I was thinking - I don't remember a duel with swords. I don't remember this or that. Didn't Crusoe convert Friday to Christianity? And I don't remember Crusoe and Friday going back to Friday's island. In the book, they didn't. It wasn't my memory, it was the movie.

The book is a true classic - the movie is okay but not at all true to the book.

It's Crusoe, go check it out!

[KrisRagnarsson · 7 February 2003]

Pierce Brosnan is a tough man to watch these days. Wherever he goes you can't help but hear the chanting of "Bond...Bond...Bond..." in the back of your head. It's really a curse, as the man is really a great actor.

Which is what makes this movie better than I thought it would be, because for the duration of this film I never once thought of good ol' James. Here, Brosnan has the difficult task of portraying a character even more famous than Bond and it must be said he does so with elegance. A job well done!

The story is well known to everybody, therefore I will not dwell on it. I will say, however, that it was fun to see how the liberty was taken here, as the movie somewhat fantasizes about how Daniel Defoe might have come up with the story about Robinson Crusoe. He's presented with a travel journal of a wayward seaman (Crusoe), and upon reading it (which is the narrative of the film) decides that he wants to write a book about the whole thing.

What this does is this allows the filmmakers a little liberty in changing a few dots in the well-known story of Crusoe. It somewhat protects them from being blamed for any changes that might have been made, because they can say "look, this is what actually happened and if you've read otherwise it's because Defoe changed it!"

Which is of course bollocks, as it is Defoe's NOVEL, but it works like a charm here.

It's tough to nail down a flaw here. Sure, with a bit more money & time they could have done this movie better. And it was weird seeing William Takaga in the guise of Friday making a few simple errors (like saying 'food' the American-way while Brosnan's been saying it in Scottish accent all the time, as in 'fu-ud' and not 'food'). But on the whole the movie worked and you believed it, which is no small feat.

I'd recommend that anybody interested in seeing a movie adaptation of this world-known novel check this movie out. It's certainly worth seeing, even though it may be far from breathtaking. Surely one day somebody will come along and do the book more justice but until then, you can't go wrong with Brosnan...

3/5

Until civilization intrudes

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 3 August 2013]

Although this is far from a faithful adaption of Daniel Defoe's classic novel from the 18th century, this version of Robinson Crusoe holds up fairly well and captures what that polemic writer was trying to say about cultures and how they clash. A number of assumptions about what his character Crusoe had about the superiority of his civilization are shattered.

Two men from totally different worlds manage to communicate and establish a friendship. To be sure it is one of necessity as Crusoe is cut off from his world and Friday, the cannibal he befriends is exiled from his tribe. Still they do get along until civilization intrudes.

Pierce Brosnan is in the title role and aborigine actor William Takaku plays Friday. Defoe himself is written into the film as he is given a purported journal written by Crusoe and as he reads it Brosnan narrates the story. Defoe is played by Ian Hart and Defoe as political polemicist as well as novelist had some advanced views considering the time he lived in.

Brosnan and Takaku do very well in their roles. It's a good story with moral if not plot intact.

What this is (in the aspect of: Is this what Defoe wrote?) I do NOT care, How it is, I CARE

[stamper · 7/10 · 28 August 2000]

And how is it. It is good. The story, about friendship and loneliness and also society as it was then, is good of course even if it is slightly modified. But I do not care if it is, for the actors are good and the filmmaking is too. I especially like William Takaku (Friday). He is very good and plays his role perfectly and he is of course in the best scenes of the movie, which actually doesn't start until Crusoe meets Friday. Before that meeting there are some scenes of lesser quality. But there are far more good or very good scenes, favourite scenes are: the burial, the readying of the boat, the last fight scene on the island, the last shot plus the afterwards inserted text and especially the DUEL at the end.

7 out of 10

Haven't read the book, but I liked it

[lordkinbote · 7/10 · 20 June 2002]

It's probably BECAUSE I haven't read the book that I liked the movie. I'm not Scottish or even British so I can't really comment on Pierce Brosnan's accent, but I don't think his acting was bad like some have said. I thought he was quite good, but I wasn't distracted by the accent like some were. That could be a deterrent. Overall, I liked it though. After reading some of these reviews, it makes me want to read the book though. Sounds very interesting and I do agree that they shouldn't have advertised it as James DaFoe's Robinson Crusoe if it wasn't faithful to the book. I give it about a 7.

This movie is better than what I expected

[mm-39 · 7/10 · 29 July 2002]

After seeing Cast Away I never would rent this film, believing it was another version of survivor. Wow, I was wrong! This is one of the classics I never took at school, and I wish I did. Unlike Cast Away, this film has action, mystery, and a fast pace. It shows the difference in people, but we all belong to the same hypocrisy. Throwing stones, while we have sin. In the end, one leaves the movie with a feeling of fate, when good and bad events throw us into our destinies. Please rent this film; the classics give us a nice break from modern pop culture. I wish more modern day writing could reflect the scope of this story. 7/10

Unimpressive

[br2brown · 3/10 · 10 March 2002]

At the risk of repeating what others have already written, this movie is not the same "Robinson Crusoe" that Daniel Dafoe wrote. While some might question whether this matters, I think it is fair, at the very least, to complain that it falsely presents itself as being something it isn't. I rented this movie to see an adaptation of Dafoe's novel, which this isn't. Lest I leave the impression that the film's "artistic license" is my only complaint, though, I should mention that this isn't a very good movie by any measure. I guess they tried to punch up the book by adding romance, conflict, and action scenes that could best be described as a curious mix of the A Team and MacGyver. Suffice to say, there are better ways for viewers to spend their time and money. 3 out of 10.

Bad accent, but fairly fun.

[paintbeforeassembly · 6/10 · 3 August 2010]

The Scottish accent is horrible, and obviously a person trying to do a Scots accent instead of someone who actually has one; and some scenes tied to the Scottish side are bad, too. But at the same time, none of the scenes in this film are nearly as boring as many of the scenes in the book, which - though a classic, and rightly regarded as such - suffers badly from age and its role as the "first novel", in that nobody had quite figured out things like pacing just yet.

In short...it's an average movie, not good, and not bad either. Worth a watch if it comes on TV, and not as inclined to bore you out of your skull as the book. And to those who truly love the book...I applaud your patience. As a child of the digital age, my tolerance for descriptions of fence-building is extremely lacking.

I liked the book. I was disappointed with the movie.

[jcriss · 4/10 · 4 January 2002]

I read the book many years ago and liked it. I was looking forward to seeing the movie version. I was very disappointed that the movie was so much different than the book. I guess the movie makers decided there wasn't enough action in the book so they added things (like defending the island against the natives and the fight at the end) that were not written by Defoe. I would have liked it better if they had just stuck closer to the original and concentrated on the details of how he survived on the island.

Nice little movie.

[ergomane · 9/10 · 13 August 2007]

I really don't understand people who always complain about "it's not accurate to book". If it would be 100% accurate to book it would SUCK big time. Somethings just don't work on movies that worked on the book and vice versa. For a good example, Lord of The Rings - Fellowship of the Ring, Bombadil wouldn't work on the movie at all.

As a TV movie, this is very well done, for example the storm and shipwreck scene felt great. And overall the scenery is great and all settings are made with care and look very real.

Actors do pretty good job, though maybe little overacting from time to time, but nothing to complain really. I liked Brosnan's Scottish accent it gave a spice to the character and made more real.

The movie is about love and friendship, and really worked on me. I highly recommend everyone who like about adventure movies.

Pretty good adventure movie

[Hang_All_Drunkdrivers · 7/10 · 16 December 2004]

Everybody here is knocking the film but i liked it. I guess it doesn't follow the daniel defoe novel but so what? Taken on it's own it's quite good. Brosnan does a great job as RC though if the girls want to watch the show for his good looks, they'll be disappointed since he has a mangy beard and scraggly hair almost all the time. Brosnan plays RC as your typical British twit who thinks he knows everything but doesn't know anything. He starts off as condescending to Friday but comes to his senses later. The guy who plays Friday is outstanding. Really cute little doggie in the movie called skipper but - MILD SPOILER - he gets killed halfway thru the flik. His death had nothing to do with the plot of the movie and was a real downer and i don't know why it was done.

What a POS

[pickel668 · 1/10 · 20 September 2007]

PC rubbish. Did this guy READ the BOOK? I saw better things in the toilet. If you loved the book- DON'T see this! For over 100 years people have loved this story- whose idea was it to change it to some totally different scenario? You need a MINUS 10 on the rating list here.... This comes from someone who can and frequently does enjoy some pretty lame movies.....Okay, I get the slavery thing- but THAT was addressed in the book, and why are we blowing up all these natives again? WHERE are the Spaniards? What is this thing with butts? I didn't want to see any butts when I rented this movie...and they weren't even attractive ones... As I fast forwarded through another pointless love scene, my son said "Aww not the NAKED thing again!" This should have been a movie we could all enjoy- instead it was turned into a stripped and remade POS, completely without the ideas that made the book so great.

What a butchery of a classic tale!

[grover-6 · 15 November 2002]

When will Hollywood learn to be faithful to timeless classics. The producers of this hap-hazard adaptation of the timeless classic had the audacity to include references to Daniel Defoe in both the title and the film itself - why then did they not stay true to his classic story?

From the very first to the very last, this films strays so far from the novel that i am surprised they can even retain the title.

Stick to the book, or any of the other adaptations of the tale - but stay well clear of this version.

I believe that the only way to enjoy this version is to watch it without ever reading the novel - but even then that's quite a stretch.

Better than I expected

[neongen · 7/10 · 15 March 2022]

Have not read book and have only a passing knowledge of other film and Tv adaptations but I gave it a look to see how the dog is handled. Turns out the film is very watchable with Skipper's story very strong. Friday is dealt with in an interesting way and although some parts stretch belief I liked it. It's not as good as Castaway and the very last bit of the Dan O'Herlehey version is still the strongest memory I have of the films I've seen but I liked this variation of the story and the look of the cinematography the two leads and the dog 7/10.

The Adventure on an Island

[oisegroup · 6/10 · 28 July 2023]

I read the book and I liked it. It talks about a man is named Robinson Crusoe survived on an island. It is a great adventure movie The book comes from a real story that the sailor was banished by his captain for four years.

Robinson Crusoe and his friends went sailing for money. They were having a great trip, but than there was a storm and Robinson was stranded on an island.

I recommend the book, but I don't think so that the movie is good. He did so many things like making bread and writing his diary. But I don't think the movie according the novel from first to the end. You can watch it, but I recommend you read the novel.

Worth a watch

[blrnani · 6/10 · 27 January 2018]

There is no point being faithful to a book written far in the past if you want to make money from the film, as the cultural bridge would just be too huge. Nevertheless, I think this film does a good job of adapting the story for a late 20thC audience. Perhaps its biggest achievement is that you don't think "Bond" at all, once you move beyond the opening fight scene. The notion that a year at sea will make everything okay, in a country notorious for nurturing grievances over centuries, stretches credibility, but one can understand he's loth to be parted any longer than that from his great love. By the same token, the idea that she would've waited over 6 years for him to come back to her, in an age when a woman's only hope of preserving/improving her standard of living was to obtain a good marriage, beggars belief, but is nicely romantic, amid the immediacy of our present times (cf. the ending of Cast Away). "Swiss Family Robinson" is more fun as an adventure story, while "Cast Away" handles the logistical and emotional challenges of being alone on a Pacific island superbly. Robinson Crusoe's strength is in bridging the cultural divide between a Christian European and a cannibalistic islander at a time when the former considered themselves so superior to the latter that slavery was considered normal practice - showing the common bond between humans that transcends all the superficial differences of gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, class, etc that so easily divide us. So there is plenty of food for thought here, but it can also be enjoyed as a simple adventure story.

Robinson Crusoe flees Britain on a ship after killing his friend over the love of Mary.

[ezgibulbul1 · 6/10 · 12 November 2012]

I think this film is for everybody and the film is great. While I was reading Robinson Crusoe, I wanted to watch the Robinson Crusoe of film. Robinson loves sea so he goes on a journey and one day ship sunk. Sea wafted Robinson. Robinson reached the land but there are not people here. This is İsland. He was afraid and he walked around the İsland. He found a cave twenty four years later. Somebody came to the İsland. He captured one of them. In short he had got eventful life and he stayed at İsland just about twenty eight years.Events was very excited and fluent. Actors were very good. Daniel Defoe is the writer of this film.The film's stars are Pierce Brosnan, William Takaku, Polly Walker and other actors. I suggest the film because I like very much but you should read the film's book, in my opinion

Misleading title for pure financial gain

[phinegan · 1/10 · 15 August 2004]

I thought the movie in and of itself was mediocre at best, but like others I have a grievance that can't be silenced by quoting artistic license.

They didn't stay remotely within the concept of the book and no one said they needed to, but they erred when they attached the classic title to their new invention. I would suggest far more than would see the movie otherwise would watch it because they read the title and remember a powerful story that managed to survive with effect into the modern era. The use of Robinson Crusoe as a title is misleading and greedy. For that they deserve the ire of their viewers.

Good

[antonispavlou-23847 · 7/10 · 18 March 2022]

Althought an old film teaches you very much. Dont regreting for watching it. Happy ending of the film. I was waiting a little bit more but am satisfiend of what i saw. Smart film for its age.

Daniel Defoe would 'turn in his grave' .......

[ucjtskl · 1/10 · 29 March 2015]

Let me start off by noting that this movie would rank highly in my top ten of worst movies ever. There are three main characters: Robinson, Friday and a dog called skipper. The smart one out of the three would appear to be the doggie, who committed suicide in the midst of the movie. Perhaps the doggie had read through the remaining script and decided that suicide, given Rin Tin Tin's status as the all time cult doggie hero, was not under threat, was the decent thing to do. I concur.

The movie begins with a script brought back to Scotland by the shipwrecked Robinson who has managed to be saved. The irony that Robinson left Scotland as an accused murderer following a dual with a friend, and returned to Scotland through a similar route after a dual with Friday - was not lost on me - but just in case I didn't get it - the background narration made sure the point was voiced. Thanks but no thanks. The saving of Robinson, by Friday followed an attack on his shared dwellings by cannibals. Shock, horror I can hear you say, but given Friday's rapid take up of the Scottish language, it does make you wonder why such an intelligent man could not have escorted Robinson back home at the earliest opportunity and spared many of us a tedious last 40 minutes of the storyline. Still without Friday's brilliance, or perhaps the dying and hallucinogenic Robinson, after being wounded in a cannibal raid, but still managed to sober up sufficiently to point Friday in the direction of his journal, with those immortal words: "Save my Journal Friday ..." Robinson's manuscript might have been left on the Island, and this particular tale lost. Pity.

The movie exceeds the limitations of the book

[oshkoshbgoshfan · 8/10 · 2 January 2006]

What we sometimes call "classics" are nothing more than irrelevant museum pieces. Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" is such a novel. Yes,it gives us a very literate, often compelling glimpse into another time and places... and that has it's place. But a movie is another thing. There is nothing going on in the novel except a white "Bwana" walking along the beach with his black lackey, Friday, shuffling along, shading him with an umbrella, listening to Crusoe talk about his white God. How boring is that. The writer raised the question: what if Friday was a warrior with his own god who happened to be an alligator. Ah... there's some conflict. And without conflict there is no movie, no story. Defoe's novel is a nice little journal. The movie brings life, instensity, raises questions about Friday's origins (his family) the meaning of a friendship and fills out a drama that never existed in the original.

Nice entertainment, but you won't miss anything...

[Thomas_Dachsel · 6/10 · 15 June 2015]

This is a condensed (only 90 minutes!) film version of the ageless classic, with lots of modifications though. I give kudos to the impeccable work of the actors, and directing and editing seem to work equally well for a very nice entertainment experience.

However, as soon as I start comparing this version to the original book, I feel an immense let-down as so many things have been changed (I won't give a list because it would be just way too long). I liked the look of Robinson's island a lot, and all the buildings and mechanical contraptions were nicely designed. But for the most part, the plot was just *too* smooth, leaving out most of the meditative moments and the setbacks that the "original" Robinson experiences in the book. For such a compact film version of the long book, some cuts had to be made, though.

I won't give away the ending, but it was a) way too different from the book and b) way too brief, it even felt forced to some degree. There's lots of nice scenery, however. So there are much worse ways to kill off 90 minutes...

The Anti-Robinson Crusoe

[johngbarbour · 1/10 · 16 December 2012]

The only things that are the similar between the book and this movie are: 1. The name of the main character, Robinson Crusoe 2. The name of Friday 3. The fact that there was a shipwreck 4. The fact that Crusoe was stranded on an island.

It was really an entirely different story.

In the original story Robinson Crusoe has a Christian conscience which he violates by not listening to his father. It is an adaptation of the biblical parable of the Prodigal Son. "I resolved that I would, like a true repenting Prodigal go home to my Father"(Luke 15:11). "I had in five or six days got a compleat victory over Conscience" (p.8,9 Norton Critical Edition). In the book, the Bible plays a crucial role in the story. "I was earnestly begging God to give me repentance when it happened providentially the very day that reading the scripture I came to these words, 'He is exalted a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance and to give remission' (Acts 5:31)" "By now I began to exercise myself with new Thoughts; I daily read the Word of God and apply'd all the comforts to my daily State."(p.71, p 83)

The whole story is a theological tract that deals with conversion, sanctification, and reconciliation (Crusoe himself) and the missionary work of evangelization and struggle of God's dealing with the heathen (Friday and the cannibals) ex. p156-160). Crusoe even leads Friday in a Bible study (p159). At one point, Crusoe struggles over whether he has the right to execute cannibals that had done nothing to him (p167-168). It also deals with the problem of fear, of theodicy, of evil, of original sin, and of many other theological themes. The book is full of prayers and reflections (mediations). In short, it is a thoroughly Protestant (Puritan) Christian story that edifies.

The movie turns everything around and makes it a thoroughly post-modern- post-Christian; even anti-Christian story. Crusoe has to do everything himself, because he learned he can't rely on Providence. He argues with Friday over religion and then realizes that they should just co-exist and let Friday keep his concept of God while Crusoe keeps his. There is no conversion, no returning home to a father (either earthly or heavenly). Crusoe is an angry unconverted pseudo-Christian who is more confused than Friday and actually gets ministered to by Friday. I'm so thankful that this did not become a huge blockbuster. Young people today already are given enough wrong ideas about Christianity and religion.(the word compleat is the spelling in the original. Theodicy and evangelization seem to be two words that the people at IMDb have not learned yet)