Wolff rating: FAIR
Plot summary: Two spunky youngsters (with varying accents, despite the fact that they're both from the same house in Britain) enlist some goofy adults to find their missing father, Captian Grant.
Biased, pithy comments: Despite its low quality, I found this film hypnotically compelling. Hayley Mills, no longer the impish gal from ``The Parent Trap'', has literally blossomed into an attractive maedchen. Michael Anderson Jr. is limp but fine, and you can't really go wrong with Maurice Chavalier. Based on a Jules Verne story (where Verne was unfettered by the trappings of reality or geography), the action is pretty much non-stop, though without point and coherence. It watches like a Hardy Boys mystery with nods to every juvenile adventure story from ``Treasure Island'' to ``Tom Swift.'' I think kids would like this yarn, despite its flaws, though you might want to have a quiet discussion about the portrayal of native peoples in films. You just wonder what in hell they were thinking when they were scripting this shaggy dog tale.
Other Notes: Absolutely perfect for MST-ing; the action has enough pauses in it and the continuity so baffling that you have time to think of and shout out comebacks to the dorky dialogue. Watch for George Sanders (Shere Khan in ``The Jungle Book'') as an evil Australian (they're all convicts down there).
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Maurice Chavalier, Hayley Mills, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Michael Anderson Jr., Keith Hamshire, Wilfrid Brambell, and George Sanders.
Directed by: Robert Stevenson