Thursday 5 May 2016

"Robinson Crusoe" (Guardian 06/05/16)


Robinson Crusoe **
Dirs: Vincent Kesteloot, Ben Stassen. Animation with the voices of: Yuri Lowenthal, Dennis O’Connor, Jeff Doucette, Laila Berzins. 90 mins. Cert: PG

Once known as The Wild Life, this Belgian-derived animation arrives at an idea Pixar or DreamWorks would have nurtured – Defoe’s castaway, as observed by chatty animals – then does nothing very notable with it. Instead, there follows another stereoscopic runaround: with the source’s peril diminished the minute this Crusoe is rescued in a prologue by jovial pirates, the directors are reduced to sending mangy wildcats on every twenty minutes to harass everybody. The tactic yields a limited form of enjoyment – the Mouse Trap-like waterslide’s quite fun – but each helter-skelter turn throws up story and design elements you’ll have seen better programmed elsewhere. And it’s vicious anti-feline propaganda. 

Robinson Crusoe is now playing in cinemas nationwide.

No comments:

Post a Comment