If you're a fan of the novel Swiss Family Robinson, then this hour long animated treatment should prove more than acceptable, with excellent voice characterizations. Many classic novels have been changed for the worse when filmed, but in this case(my opinion)the changes are welcomed. Famous adventure novels such as King Solomon's Mines, and Journey to the Center of the Earth didn't have any females as main characters, so the movie world added them. The Swiss Family Robinson book had 2 female characters, but the 2nd only came into the story towards the end. In this 1973 filmed version, the script writers had a good idea in the way of including the 2nd female character in the beginning of the story, then bringing her back later. If you see this film 1st, then read the novel, you may feel that the original novel could have benefited from that idea. In the famous Disney movie from 1960, Jenny is renamed Roberta, and arrives earlier than in the novel. But of course in that treatment pirates are added, which really changes a lot. Here, the cartoon sticks to the basic story, and resists adding any silliness. Family is shipwrecked, how do they survive. It has a very good repeatable factor as well. The production company, API, also did Legend of Robin Hood; Ivanhoe; Kidnapped; Treasure Island; The Mysterious Island; and A Journey to the Center of the Earth; among others. Some may also be aware of the science fiction adaption of the novel in 1965, that might have been originally called Space Family Robinson, but came to the TV screen as Lost in Space.
Review of The Swiss Family Robinson
