Review of In Search of the Castaways

We loved this film as kids, now we're older it retains its appeal but in a different way. It really is the funniest film ever.

The search party:

• encounter a earthquake and survive by riding on two mini icebergs through ice palaces which appear to be inside a mountain

• have one member of the party (Robert, the sweet little brother) carried off by a giant condor to feed her young

• get flooded and live in a huge ombu tree for weeks (alongside some kind of big cat which is also trapped there)

• go through a thunderstorm that causes above-mentioned tree to catch on fire, giving them the option of being burnt to death or eaten by crocodiles, which are now of course swarming around the tree - or get rescued

• get locked up in a tiny hut with a madman who's been there for apparently about fifty years, after being chucked off their own ship by villainous scoundrels and being washed up on an island inhabited by Maoris

• and finally, survive a volcano (but the Maoris don't)

There is also a love interest in the form of John, the smarmy captain's son who fancies Mary (Hayley Mills) and some funny songs, like the one Chevalier and Mills sing when living in ombu tree. Brilliant!!!