Robinson Crusoe

This charm-free kids’ cartoon retells the story of Robinson Crusoe from the point of view of the animals on the South Pacific island where his ship runs aground. It’s pretty bland stuff, with recycled lines (‘wake up and smell the papaya’) that even little ones will roll their eyes at. There are some nice touches, including a long-running joke in which the island critters mistake Crusoe’s mutt Aynsley for the boss species, since he snoozes all day while his human owner does the dogsbody work. But mostly the film’s pretty forgettable. The only distinctive characters here are a pair of un-adorable scraggly cats: no-good ‘ratters’ from the ship who wreak all sorts of mischief and mayhem.