ROBINSON CRUSOE 3D [2016] [3D Blu-ray + 2D Blu-ray] [UK Release] Just Because You Are Stranded . . . Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Make Friends! This is Robinson Crusoe From A Different Perspective!
Get ready for a new take on a classic tale as we get lost with Robinson Crusoe and a bunch of adorable animals on a desert island comes a fun-filled adventure for the whole family to enjoy in fantastic 3D and 2D CGI animation. On a tiny exotic island, “Tuesday,” an outgoing parrot lives with his quirky animal friends in paradise. However, “Tuesday” can’t stop dreaming about discovering the world. After a violent storm, Tuesday and his friends wake up to find a strange creature on the beach: Robinson Crusoe. “Tuesday” immediately views Robinson Crusoe as his ticket off the island to explore new lands. Likewise, Robinson Crusoe soon realizes that the key to surviving on the island is through the help of “Tuesday” and the other animals. It isn’t always easy at first, as the animals don’t speak “human.” Join Robinson Crusoe on a fun-filled wild ride for the whole family and rediscover a new take on this classic tale! Slowly but surely, they all start living together in harmony, until one day, when their comfortable life is overturned by two savage cats, who wish to take control of the island. A battle ensues between the nasty evil cats and the group of friends, but Robinson Crusoe and the animals soon discover the true power of friendship up against all odds, and especially even savage cats.
After the big successful cinema adventures of the young cat “Thunder” in ‘The House of Magic’ and the turtle Sammy in ‘Sammy's Adventures 1 & 2’ takes us via 3D pioneer Ben Stassen this time in the exciting and exotic world of ‘ROBINSON CRUSOE 3D’ and is shown from the perspective of Animals on the island, told by the parrot “Tuesday” from his unusual friendship with the famous castaway in the world and the great challenge to save the island paradise. A fast, crazy and turbulent fun for young and old and in this glorious 3D Blu-ray!
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 2016 Verein Deutscher Kritiker Und Filmemacher: Win: VDKUF Award for Best Animated Film for STUDIOCANAL.
FILM FACT No.2: The film is loosely based on the book “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe, but from the point of view of the island's animals.
Voice Cast: Doug Stone (Robinson Crusoe), Kaya Yanar (Papagei Dienstag), Kaya Yanar (Papagei Dienstag), Dieter Hallervorden (Ziegenbock Zottel), Aylin Tezel (Stachelschwein Epi), Ghadah Al-Akel (Ping), Tommy Morgenstern (Pong), Melanie Hinze (Kiki), Bert Franzke (Edgar), Tobias Lelle (Pango), Gerald Schaale (Carmello), Jesco Wirthgen (Rufus), Jan Makino (Cecil), Axel Lutter (John Silver), Jan-David Rönfeldt (Bootsmann), Claudio Maniscalco (Pirate #1), Tilo Schmitz (Pirate #2), Francois Smesny (Pirate #3), Doug Stone (Aynsley), Kirk Thornton (Bosun), Colin Metzger (Carmello), Michael Sorich (Cecile), Yuri Lowenthal (Crusoe), Sandy Fox (Epi), Jay Jones (Friday), Marieve Herington (Kiki), Carlos Alazraqui (Long John Silver), Jeff Doucette (Mal / Pango), Debi Tinsley (May), Laila Berzins (Rosie), Joe Ochman (Rufus / Sailor #1), Lex Lang (Sailor #2), Joey Camen (Scrubby), George Babbit (Sleeping Sailor), Kyle Hebert (Tom Cat), David Howard (Tuesday) and Terri Douglas (Additional Voices)
Directors: Ben Stassen, Vincent Kesteloot and Mimi Maynard (voice director)
Producers: Ben Stassen, Caroline Van Iseghem, Domonic Paris, Eric Dillens, Gina Gallo, Mimi Maynard and Olivier Courson
Screenplay: Daniel Defoe (novel) (uncredited) and Domonic Paris
Composer: Ramin Djawadi
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 (Panavision)
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: English SDH
Running Time: 90 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: nWave Pictures / STUDIOCANAL
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘ROBINSON CRUSOE IN 3D’ [2016] (released in North America as ‘The Wild Life’) brings via the Belgian-French nWave Pictures and StudioCanal their latest dynamic 3D computer animated cartoon reimagines Robinson Crusoe as the ultimate party-crasher, telling his story from the animals whose tropical paradise he invaded. Directed by Vincent Kesteloot, ‘ROBINSON CRUSOE IN 3D’ [‘The Wild Life’] is very good and pretty to look at the same time, with its Blue skies and ocean, calm and stormy weather, and especially with its driving rhythmic soundtrack.
Here we are introduced a friendly version of Daniel Defoe’s most famous fictional adventurer character, Robinson Crusoe. Aimed at an audience of age group six or younger, but can also be enjoyed by all age groups. Robinson Crusoe includes the same spirited adventures as the beloved novel.
Robinson Crusoe, a lanky, inexperienced sailor, is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island, uninhabited by humans that is. The island is home to many exotic species living harmoniously, one of which is the unlikely narrator of the story, a chatty and curious parrot named Mak. Unlike his other animal friends, Mak is preoccupied with the possibility of a world outside their tiny island and sees Robinson Crusoe as his ticket out of there. Robinson Crusoe, after much struggle, realises his only hope to survive is with the help of Mak and the other animals, and they soon work together to construct a home. Their harmony is thwarted by two savage cats who threaten to ruin what they have built.
Though the plot is very simple and straightforward, especially having a centuries-old story told through the eyes of animals rather than Robinson Crusoe himself offers a very interesting twist. This is indeed a product of children’s storytelling but an effective one nonetheless. Though the varied species on the island appropriately reflect how exotic and untamed it is, the plethora of different accents assumed by the characters is a little odd.
The use of 3D animation by the Belgian-French nWave demonstrates a firm grasp on the technology, as the 3D effect serves as an enhancement rather than a flourish. Children will enjoy the spectacle and creativity of the film, particularly as exotic creature’s race down an aqueduct that looks like the world’s coolest water slide. ‘ROBINSON CRUSOE 3D’ does make for very effective use of 3D, especially when the birds swoop down on the viewer and creatures scamper along and dangle from the Heath Robinson-style contraptions that Robinson Crusoe has constructed around the small island.
Producer Ben Stassen and a host of other collaborators said that this is the first time that the traditional story of Daniel Defoe’s classic Robinson Crusoe book of 1719 has appeared as an animated film. Here, Robinson Crusoe plays a supporting part; but the animals are the stars and tell the story from their viewpoints. Director Vincent Kesteloot said that it was important that the animals keep their inherent characteristics; they don’t become four-legged humans, although they speak the same language. The excellent composed film music score by Ramin Djawadi adds to the enjoyment of this funny quirky film, and is enhanced in 3D. Ramin Djawadi did not begin composing until he had the finished the film in front of him. The music is a lot of fun and helps you enjoy all the animals and makes them totally adorable and cuddly.
This is a great family film and especially enjoyable for children under the age of six and has all the right elements of a good old fashioned animation film, which I feel will also appeal to every age group worldwide and I definitely recommend this very enjoyable ‘ROBINSON CRUSOE 3D’ for the whole family. But most important ‘ROBINSON CRUSOE 3D’ is squarely aimed at the audience who were beguiled by ‘Rio’ and other animated films where it is very intriguing in wanting to know how the menagerie of animals who inhabit Robinson Crusoe’s desert island than by the man himself, came from originally?
But of course we must feel very sorry for the character of Robinson Crusoe, especially we witness on the ship before he is shipwrecked on the tiny island, we see he is a bit of a green-gilled landlubber. But upon landing on the tiny island we have a discontented parrot, eventually dubbed Tuesday, who longs to discover the wider world. His fellow islanders, including tapir Rosie, and echidna Epi who seems content with their lot, but the restless Tuesday laments, ‘How much paradise can a bird take?’ But of course when Robinson Crusoe is shipwrecked, Tuesday feels it could be the ticket to adventure if they can find a way to live in perfect harmony and thwart those darn cats of course. But a lot of the time we are drawn to the antics of these two evil cats, who are scrawny, conniving felines who are a bigger threat than pirates, cannibals or anything that humanity can possibly throw at our gawky hapless heroes. But overall there are some good strong characters and I thoroughly enjoyed the 3D animated film and a very delectable treat.
Don't go by what you hear from those other negative vacuous critics. Seeing is, in this case, is believing, it is also living through an ingenious take on Daniel Defoe's timeless saga of a shipwrecked explorer, seen here through the eyes of the animals who inhabited the tiny island where Robinson Crusoe was shipwrecked. Thank heaven for the power of creative re-invention. The co-directors of this colourful amiable 3D animation film turn the Daniel Defoe's classic into an artful menagerie of stress-free experiences. ‘ROBINSON CRUSOE 3D’ a Belgian-French film titled ‘The Wild Life’ in the US, is a great deal of fun to watch. The animals all have a specific space to themselves to function as independent entities, and their collective camaraderie is so heart-warming and the sense of kinship on the tiny island and we find Robinson Crusoe has his heart is in the right place. But he just can't seem to get anything right, more so since the villainous cat couple Mel and May plan and plot poor Robinson Crusoe's downfall. Smoothly cut and shot with doses of endearing charm, and ‘ROBINSON CRUSOE 3D’ is a hearty homage to the spirit of survival and friendship and not quite what Daniel Defoe imagined. But nonetheless, sufficiently composed and cute to make us believe what we always suspected about the animal kingdom. They talk, they judge human beings and we often fall short out of greed, the same sin of excess that this film avoids to finally emerges as a heart-warming winner all round.
Blu-ray Image Quality – Belgian-French nWave Pictures and StudioCanal brings you ‘ROBINSON CRUSOE 3D’ in a stunning 1080p encoded image, with an equally stunning 2.40:1 aspect ratio that shows off the exotic location on the tiny island to its best quality. ‘ROBINSON CRUSOE 3D’ has amazing bright colours, the more so pronounced views of the night scenes is a pleasure. The plumage on the bird Tuesday is a real treat beautiful to look at and Carmello the local Chameleon have equally optional lush colours and all other aspect of the animation film also offers the full range of the deepest black. The level of detail is outstanding for this European 3D animated film well and is definitely on par with anything the expensive US productions can offer us. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Belgian-French nWave Pictures and StudioCanal brings you ‘ROBINSON CRUSOE 3D’ in a rich ambience stunning 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio acoustically experience that makes ‘ROBINSON CRUSOE 3D’ really great fun. The storm with shipwreck sequence has been set to some really dynamic music, which is also confident with permanent directional effects and the massive thunder that rattles around all of your speakers. The surf crashing onto the sand on the island can constantly contribute a real holiday feel and the soundtrack overall gives a good workout on all speakers. It also has outstanding good English dialogue, with a very intelligibility voice cast engage very well for this 3D animated film. But most of all is the action-climax after a good 70 minutes, providing a massive flood of effects and finishes off with an amazing dynamic explosion.
3D Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Characters [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [2:23] Here we find out how they went about creating the animals for the CGI animation film., where the team even went and visited the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels and the museum is a part of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences to get their inspiration, where they got a very special guided tour, where you are shown stills from this tour. They even visited several pet shops to get their inspiration, especially when it came to parrots. With regards to the parrot character, over time they really started to expand the character in developing many ideas on how they wanted to parrot to be viewed in the animated film, and over time they did loads of sketches, which you get to see the multitude of drawings, in varies of graphic styles, which had to match the screenwriters story outline. When they feel everything is what they are seeking, they then transfer the drawings to a computer digital imagery, and eventually a computer model is turned into a skeleton outline, so they can manipulate the animal and eventually make the animal more lifelike. They then do lots of animated tests, so again they can manipulate the character, so they can eventually create all the action they require in conjunction with the story outline, and then when they are completely satisfied, they then with the parrot add all its feathers, the colouring and finally texture to really bring the animal to life and then with the finishing touches comes when they create lighting and the composition, showing the parrot character in all its splendour.
Special Feature: Evolution [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [0:58] Despite this very short special feature, you get to see black-and-white line drawings of a storyboard of the ship and is crew at sea entering the eye of the storm. But first they have to record the dialogue, so they can then progress towards a rough outline for the computer animation, and slowly colour is added to give more depth to the images, but over time the smallest of details are slowly added, then the lighting team goes to work on the design of the final look to the scene, then the sound department brings everything together to produce the finished animated film. Sadly we do not get to see filmed behind-the-scenes of the people who were involved in producing this animated film.
Trailers: You have a selection of three separate Blu-ray trailers and they are as follows: ‘Swallows and Amazons’ [2016] [1080p] [1.66:1] [2:27]; ‘Shaun The Sheep – The Movie’ [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [2:24] and ‘The House of Magic’ [2013] [1080p] [2.35:1] [1:57].
Finally, Belgian-French nWave Pictures and StudioCanal’s ‘ROBINSON CRUSOE IN 3D’ [2016] features lots of very cute animals and definitely gets immediate excellent brownie points from me, especially viewing them in stunning glorious rich 3D. Daniel Defoe’s desert island classic has been adapted countless times since its publication nearly three hundred years ago, and this Belgian-French nWave Pictures production does try to shake things up a bit by, well, adding cute animals into the equation. When Robinson Crusoe gets shipwrecked on a small tropical island, and instead of a politically incorrect native assistant named Friday, Robinson Crusoe gets an avian friend in the macaw named Tuesday instead. Robinson Crusoe’s basic premise is that man and animal must all work together to protect their island home from the incursion of two nasty cats, who want to eat everything in sight. A lot of critics for some unknown reason says that the animation film has slightly uninspired dialogue due the nuances of getting lost in translation, because originally it was voiced in French and German, well this is a total nonsense, as this is a right load of old tosh, and I suspect people outside the United Kingdom felt that people who lived in England in 1719 did not speak in their colloquial tongue accent like in this 3D animated film, well it is totally accurate. But most of all it has a very good story that is universal and especially with this brilliant 3D animation film and with all its technical wizardry from the people at nWave Pictures Animation House. Now what annoyed me is all of the pompous negative rhetoric reviewers I have read and these people are total morons, as I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful 3D animation film and please ignore all the negative words profusely spouted out like they have been spewed out like a volcano, as they just do not know what they are talking total vacuous words, as I loved this Belgium’s nWave Pictures Animation House, who brought the amazing magical ‘The House of Magic’ 3D Blu-ray disc, which I think was totally amazing and just as good as anything that PIXAR has produced and so I am very pleased I have added ‘ROBINSON CRUSOE 3D’ to my Blu-ray Collection. One thing I would say to those idiot reviewers, if you think you can do any better, then you get off your butts and produce something you think will be much better, but of course these nasty pompous people would not know where to start or come up with a better idea. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
