This movie has a great family feel to it and I really liked the animal races; it is a classic Disney. The pirate attack scene was suspenseful. You are kept wondering if, and how they will get out of it.

You can see John Mills play a more serious side with his real daughter Hayley Mills in "The Chalk Garden" (1964).

A Masterpiece!
Review date: 2004-10-26 Rating: 10 out of 10

This is without a doubt one of Walt Disney's greatest live action films. Originally released in 1961 and feauturing a stellar cast including John Mills. A New Guinea-bound family is shipwrecked by pirates and manages to transport the goods from the stranded ship to an island where they create their own paradise. There they build their own breathtaking treehouse and have to find a way to survive using only what nature provides. With some wonderful cinematography (especially in the dramatic opening of the shipwreck and then the journey on raft by the Robinson family to exotic shores and yet. They begin to enjoy life in this 'paradise' carelessly on the island with a variety of wild animals and inevitably they begin to have run ins with some dangerous creatures. Along the way they encounter many threats including pirates, but will their island paradise prove toi be a paradise or a prison?
It's a high quality production and I rate it highly.

A great adventure
Review date: 2004-07-25 Rating: 8 out of 10

A family is shipwrecked on a seemingly uninhabited island. Using the remaining recourses of the wrecked ship they build an elaborate tree house. Then the adventure begins.
This movie has a great family feel to it and I really liked the animal races. It is a classic Disney. The pirate attack scene was suspenseful. You are kept wondering if, and how they will get out of it.
You can see John Mills play a more serious side with his real daughter Hayley Mills in "The Chalk Garden" ASIN: 6300186121

A Great Adventure story From Disney!
Review date: 2004-05-28 Rating: 10 out of 10

You can tell as soon as you start watching this film that it is definately a disney production, and this "stamp" remains right the way through the film, even in the climatic battle at the very end, with the nasty pirates.

Based on the classic novel by Johann Wyss this film is simply about a European family who leave their home country to start a fresh in New Guinea. However a huge storm leaves them stranded on some jagged rocks just off-shore from what appears to be an unihabited island. By using the timber from the boat, they construct a raft and within no time they have landed on this new island, and created a wonderful, multi-story tree house complete with running water, a fridge and they even managed to salvage an old organ from the wreck.

Still wanting very much to continue on to New Guinea, the two sons, Fritz and Ernst construct a small boat, and sail round the island to see if there is any way off it. On their journey they come across an old man, and a young boy, both being held prisoner by a group of nasty and very mean pirates, with big swords, and proceed to free the boy and make a daring escape.

After arriving safetly back to their home, the family bagin to set up loads of bubby traps, including tiger pits, cocanut bombs, and even a collapsing draw bridge, so that when the pirates come, they won't win so easily.

There have been many adaptations of this classic novel Johann Wyss but i have to say that this one is one of the best, and deserves the five stars which i have given it. Overall, a great disney adventure film, that the whole family can sit down and watch and enjoy together.

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