Review: Shipwrecked (DMC #90)
Abandon ship! This week we watched Shipwrecked, the 90th film in the Disnerd Movie Challenge. (Hard to believe that we’re coming up to 100!). If you need a refresher, you can check out our synopsis of this tale on the high seas below. If you watched with us last night or have seen this before, skip ahead to our review.
Synopsis
It’s a dark night in England in 1859 when Officer Howell encounters someone he believed to be dead: a former lieutenant of the royal navy, Lt. John Merrick. Merrick and his men kill Officer Howell and steal his naval uniform. Meanwhile, in Norway, the local bullies tease a boy named Haakon Håkonsen about his father who’s away at sea. When Haakon returns home, he’s overjoyed to discover his father, Mr. Håkonsen, has returned home—except his father’s foot is badly injured, and there’s no way he can continue sailing. Mr. Håkonsen gives Haakon a commission to be the new cabin boy on Mr. Håkonsen’s former ship. Haakon is reluctant to leave, however, and when his mother, Mrs. Håkonsen argues the boy is too young, Mr. Håkonsen relents and says Haakon must stay at home, then. However, when Haakon realizes his father can’t work to provide for their family or pay off their family’s debts to keep their house, Haakon announces that he’s going to sea to pay off his father’s debts. Before Haakon leaves, Mr. Håkonsen gifts him a small dagger and instructs his friend, Jens, to look after Haakon on the ship. On the ship, Haakon meets with the captain who lays down the rules. Haakon goes to find the Bosun to receive his instructions, but the Bosun and the other sailors haze Haakon. Jens stops the hazing ritual and helps Haakon learn the ropes so he doesn’t get on the Bosun’s bad side. Though Haakon misses home, he soon gets the hang of it. The captain gifts Haakon a photo of the captain and Mr. Håkonsen to remind the boy of home during the long voyage.
When the crew reaches London, they disembark for some frivolity on shore. When they return to the ship, Lt. Howell (Merrick in disguise) joins their journey to help them navigate seas rife with pirates. When the ship gets underway, Haakon goes below decks to stow a heavy pulley and accidentally drops it on a box marked “glass” and “Howell.” Upon inspecting the damage, Haakon discovers the box is full of rifles. He covers it back up, but Lt. Howell (Merrick) catches him and warns the boy to keep this secret. That night, Howell sends one of his men into the captain’s quarters to poison the captain’s cognac while he sleeps. The next day, Haakon is conflicted about whether or not he should tell the captain what he discovered. He asks the captain for advice. The captain, thinking the boy is worried about a sailor sneaking rum aboard, tells Haakon to sleep on the matter and then decide whether or not to reveal the secret. However, that night, the captain drinks the tainted cognac, falls ill, and dies. Lt. Howell (Merrick) takes over command of the ship. Haakon shares the stash of guns with Jens, but Jens tells Haakon not to question how a naval officer chooses to protect them in pirate waters.
When the ship reaches Australia, Lt. Howell (Merrick) announces that shore leave has been cancelled because they’re behind schedule. They stop just long enough to take on new crew members that Lt. Howell (Merrick) claims are necessary to protect the ship in pirate waters. Later, when Haakon goes below decks, he hears a noise and discovers a stowaway—a girl named Mary who’s fleeing the orphanage to live with her uncle in Calcutta. Mary offers to teach Haakon to read in exchange for his silence. Together they practice reading about Xanadu. However, one night, Jens follows Haakon and discovers Mary. He warns them about the high penalty for stowaways but promises to keep quiet. The next day, the ship is caught in a storm. Lt. Howell (Merrick) alerts the crew that there’s a thief among them and he has his men bring out the stowaway, Mary. Lt. Howell orders whoever has been hiding and feeding the stowaway to come forward. When no one moves, he orders Mary to be keelhauled. Jens objects that she’s only a kid, and Lt. Howell decides to punish him with forty lashes. Haakon intervenes, admitting he was the one responsible so he should take the punishment. When Jens tries to stop it, , Lt. Howell tells Jens that he will be the one to deliver the lashes. Jens refuses to do it, but before Lt. Howell can take out his anger on either of them, lightning strikes the ship and topples the mast. The ship soon crashes into some rocks and the order goes out to abandon ship. Haakon goes below decks to free Mary who’s locked in the brig while the rest of the crew takes to the lifeboats. Jens tries to stall the lifeboats to wait for Haakon and Mary, but Lt. Howell shoots Jens to make him release the rope holding the lifeboat. Jens, Haakon, and Mary manage to grab the last remaining lifeboat, but Haakon is thrown and separated from the other two.
Haakon wakes on the beach of an island. Mary and Jens are nowhere to be found. After feasting on coconuts, Haakon explores the island and discovers a cave with hidden treasure—jewels, swords, and guns. On another part of the island, he finds the remains of the wrecked ship, including Mary’s book and a box of distress flares. He makes camp on shore near the wreckage, but when he discovers a newspaper clipping in one of the treasure chests wrapped in a pirate flag, he discovers that Lt. Howell isn’t Lt. Howell at all—he’s really the pirate, Merrick. Haakon quickly breaks camp and conceals his tracks. He scares off a gorilla and claims its hollowed tree as his new camp. Realizing that the treasure on the island belongs to Merrick, and that Merrick will likely return to claim his treasure at some point, Haakon builds several traps in and around the treasure cave and Haakon’s hollow tree to protect himself. One day, Haakon climbs a tree to search the horizon with a telescope and discovers smoke rising from a nearby island. Hoping to find his friends, Haakon builds himself a small boat and sails to the other island.
Once at the other island, Haakon discovers Mary and Jens have been taken in by a village of friendly natives who’ve been helping the pair search the islands for Haakon. Haakon takes Jens and Mary back to his island (which Mary calls Xanadu) to show them what he discovered about Merrick. The next day, the trio spot Merrick and his fellow pirates approaching the island. Haakon leads his friends to a hiding place and they watch as Merrick discovers his treasure is missing—but none of Haakon’s traps work. They overhear Merrick mention prisoners back on his ship. The trio agree they cannot leave without saving the rest of the crew. Mary argues she should be the one to sneak back onto the ship, seeing as she did it once before. She arms herself and sneaks onto the ship to free the crew under cover of night. The next morning, Jens and Haakon throw flares onto the pirates’ campfire as a distraction to free the members of the crew in the camp. Haakon, Jens, and the two crew members are chased through the jungle by the pirates. Though they initially evade the pirates, Merrick is waiting for them when they return to the hollow tree. Haakon notices Merrick is steps away from one of his traps and backs away, luring Merrick right into the trap which successfully triggers, leaving Merrick dangling by his ankle. Jens, Haakon, and the two crew members make a run for the ship while Merrick’s men free him. On the ship, Mary and the rest of the crew have the ship ready to sail. Mary fires a cannon at the pursuing pirates and blows up their small rowboat, leaving the pirates in the water. Haakon, Jens, and the two crew members make it safely aboard and they celebrate their victory. Back in Norway, Haakon returns home with Jens and Mary in tow. Mr. Håkonsen runs to greet his son, whom he thought was dead, and shares the sad news—they can’t stay in their house because the farm is up for sale. Haakon announces the he already knows—he bought the farm with the treasure he found and has paid one of the local bullies to carry his luggage. He and his family will be taken care of. And Mary is going to stay with them.
Thoughts Before Watching
Kevin: Here we have another film that I haven’t seen or heard of before. At first, I didn’t understand why this was a Disney film when I learned that it was produced by a Swedish company called AB Svensk Filmindustri (now called SF Studios) and featured an almost entirely Norwegian cast. Disney handled the U.S. release and had all the Norwegian lines redubbed in English, and in a lot of cases the original actors did their own dubbing. The movie sounds like it could be interesting just going off the movie’s premise alone. It sounds a bit too similar to Treasure Island, so I hope it’s at least more entertaining.
Megan: Having never seen this before, I don’t really know what to expect, but I am hoping I like the girl character that’s in it. See, when I was searching for images from this movie to use for the calendar thumbnail image, I came across the below image. I have no idea who this girl is or what role she plays in the story, but does anyone else feel like she has an uncanny resemblance to Zendaya? I know it can’t possibly be her given when this movie was made, but still, it made me do a double-take. As Kevin mentioned, the premise in the Disney Plus description makes this sound pretty similar to Treasure Island. I don’t particularly find that encouraging after the huge disappointment that was Treasure Island (see our review for our thoughts on that one). I do like sailing ships, however, so maybe this has a chance. However, seeing as I’ve never heard of this film before now, I don’t expect it to be a blockbuster.
Thoughts After Watching
Way to bury the lead
Kevin: Sooo… the film’s description on Disney Plus is misleading. It makes it sound like the titular event of a shipwreck would kick off the plot. But the shipwreck doesn’t happen until halfway through the movie! Honestly, the title is a generic word that could potentially be used for, well, any movie that features a shipwreck. Both the Norwegian version of the film and the original novel the film is based on use the title Haakon Haakonson, with the novel including the words En Norsk Robinson (or A Norwegian Robinson when translated to English). This title makes more sense since Haakon is, after all, the main character.
Megan: The connection between Haakon’s journey and that of Robinson Crusoe also makes way more sense with this story.
Kevin: From what I could research, it was Disney’s idea to rename the film. Though, I have to admit it would make sense from a business standpoint to give the film a snappier title that would be more likely to attract American audiences, it was a little weird that the actual shipwreck occurred so late.
Megan: Ideally, if this was indeed going to be a story about a shipwreck, the shipwreck should have been the inciting incident (or at least very close to it) rather than the midpoint. However, given the story the creators were working with, I can see why they kept the shipwreck in the middle—if we’d started there, there would have been a lot of sitting around with Haakon alone on the island before he ever managed to find his friends again, and that would have been incredibly boring to watch.
A not-too-shabby story about growth
Kevin: Of course, the film isn’t really about a shipwreck or even about pirates. Instead it’s about Haakon and his adventures both before the island and while marooned on it. The first half of the film seems to drag a bit more than it should, but it also gives us a bit of character growth. The film is basically divided into three acts; the first is Haakon deciding to take on work to help his family and exploring his early days on the ship. The second act is Haakon being introduced to the main villain and dealing with the secret he’s discovered. The last act is, of course, his adventures on the island. I think this is a simple way to put it, but I’m curious to see what Megan has to say about the film’s structure. Anyway, the film handles these three acts by giving each one its own set of conflicts Haakon must deal with. He starts off being bullied by others and alludes to his father being his protector. Once Haakon finds himself on the ship having to earn money, he is more or less on his own and is forced to grow up a bit. While he does have Jens looking out for him, it seems clear Haakon knows he can’t rely on Jens being there all the time. He doesn’t immediately earn the respect of his shipmates, but eventually he wins them over, even able to banter with them and prank them. Haakon is ultimately welcomed into the fold. When he meets Merrick, we see Haakon is conflicted with turning the man over to the captain. There could be two reasons for his conflict—he may be frightened of Merrick and fears retaliation, but it could also be that Haakon doesn’t want to look like he’s not a proper sailor. He says as much to the captain when considering telling him what he knows. This second reason is intriguing because, in this case, a “sailor” could be equivalent to a “man.” This is pretty much what Haakon’s journey is about—growing up and becoming a man. At this moment in time, Haakon is concerned about what the grown men in his life may be thinking of him. It’s only when he is washed up on the island that the boy has to fend for himself. He’s surprisingly very resourceful and manages to adapt quite well. Admittedly this is where I lost a bit of interest only because it seemed like it came too easy to Haakon. He has a couple moments of frustration, but for the most part he is able to get by in a short amount of movie time. Still, I can forgive the film for this because it does imply that a lot of time passes (notice how long Haakon’s hair grows). It just would have been nice to see a little more of Haakon’s struggle living on the island. We do at least get to see that his traps don’t work well, so I’m glad we have that bit of conflict (and it’s a nice payoff when his final trap manages to work successfully). With that said, this final act of the movie is definitely where things are most exciting, so it’s a shame that it doesn’t happen until halfway through. By the time Haakon reunites with Jens and Mary, he has grown into a more confident young man. The Haakon we see at the beginning of the film getting pushed down by a bully is not the same Haakon we later see face Merrick, nor is he the same boy we see return home and tell his father they get to keep the farm (while also making his former bully carry the luggage). The film may be disguised as a castaway film, but it’s really more about one boy’s journey to adulthood. It’s a classic tale, and a decent one at that.
Megan: I quite agree, although the act breaks are just the tiniest bit off. Act one basically ends the second Haakon decides to leave home and get on the boat. In Save the Cat story beats, Act one looks like this:
Set-up: The audience learns that Merrick is bad news. Haakon struggles with bullies and his family struggles to keep their home after his father’s injury.
Catalyst: Haakon’s father gives him a commission to be the ship’s boy.
Debate: Haakon initially refuses the commission, but after seeing his father refused for another loan, Haakon spends a sleepless night thinking about his family’s situation. Then the sheriff arrives with the family’s landlord to collect the debt that is owed.
Break into two: Haakon declares that he will be paying off his family’s debt as he’s going to work as the ship’s boy. He and Jens leave for the ship.
Act two then is largely what happens on the ship, but it actually extends a bit further than that to cover much of what happens on the island. You see, the shipwreck itself happens at the midpoint, and the midpoint basically splits act two in half. Act two plays out like this:
B story: The characters aboard the ship are introduced and we see Jens emerge as a good friend.
Fun and games: Haakon struggles to learn the ropes on the ship. He discovers what Merrick is hiding and he discovers the stowaway, Mary.
Midpoint: The storm, all the drama when Merrick discovers the stowaway and attempts to punish Jens and Haakon for concealing Mary, and the shipwreck.
Bad Guys Close In: Haakon, alone on the island, discovers that Lt. Howell is actually the pirate Merrick.
All Is Lost: Haakon dreams of home and wakes up calling for his mother.
Dark Night of the Soul: Haakon, distressed by his dream of home, is comforted by the gorilla.
Break Into Three: Haakon discovers smoke on a nearby island and goes to check it out.
The third act is mostly what happens once Haakon is reunited with Jens and Mary. Here’s how it continues:
Five Part Finale:
Gathering the Team: Haakon reunites with Jens and Mary and takes them back to his island to show them what he’s discovered about Merrick. He also shows them the traps he’s laid for Merrick.
Executing the Plan: When Merrick arrives, the team hides and waits for the pirates to trigger Haakon’s traps.
High Tower Surprise: None of the traps go off as they should, and the team learns Merrick has the rest of their crew captive on his ship.
Dig Deep Down: Haakon and his friends regroup and decide they can’t leave the island without the rest of the crew. They make a new plan to rescue their shipmates.
Execution of the New Plan: While Mary sneaks aboard the ship to free the crew, Haakon and Jens surprise the pirates to rescue two other crew members. One of Haakon’s traps successfully triggers, ensnaring Merrick, which gives Haakon, Jens, and the two shipmates a chance to flee to the waiting ship. Mary fires a cannon at the pursuing pirates, thereby defeating them.
Final Image: Haakon returns home with Jens and Mary after using the treasure he found to buy his family’s farm, ensuring they’ll have a home for years to come.
Megan: Still, emotionally, Kevin got it right that there’s three distinct worlds that Haakon has to navigate: his life at home where he’s still just a boy, his life on the ship where he begins his transition from boy to man, and his life on the island where he must fend for himself and fully become a man.
For me, though, the most boring part of the story was when Haakon was alone on the island (basically the second half of act two). I think this is mostly because he was alone and there were no other characters (aside from an oddly placed gorilla…) for Haakon to interact with. Plus, we’re not seeing what Merrick is plotting and how close these “bad guys” are to “closing in” on Haakon or his friends. Another problem is the rather weak “all is lost” and “dark night of the soul” beats. Emotionally, I think it could have been more powerful if, for instance, the “all is lost” moment was Haakon realizing that Merrick had his friends and was threatening to kill them and had taken them somewhere that Haakon could not follow. Then, after a “dark night of the soul” moment of wallowing in his defeat, he’d figure out the way to build a boat or use the gorilla to his advantage or something to rescue his friends. Instead we get Haakon dreaming about home, screaming for his mother, and being comforted by a gorilla, all of which is kind of weird and out of place. However, once Jens and Mary show up again, things get more interesting and the action picks up so we almost forget about the awkward gorilla moment…almost.
What is with that gorilla?
Megan: I don’t know why the gorilla wasn’t cut from this film. It’s obviously an actor in an animal costume and it doesn’t add nearly enough to the story. Ignoring for a moment the question of whether or not this island would have had gorillas living on it, the only story reason for the gorilla seems to be to add a bit more conflict for Haakon when he’s on the island. However, the conflict between Haakon and the gorilla is minimal at best. There was more conflict between Haakon and the inanimate cave full of booby traps than there ever was between Haakon and the gorilla. That’s because we’re never truly afraid that the gorilla is going to harm Haakon. As it turns out, the gorilla is actually kind to Haakon when the boy is missing home. Yet even having the gorilla there to comfort Haakon is a bit ineffectual because it takes us out of the moment of the story. This isn’t set up as a world where humans and animals interact in this way, so it strikes us as oddly funny rather than emotionally sweet. The only “legitimate” reason the gorilla seems to be there is for Haakon to notice how one of his traps acts as a trampoline since Haakon uses that knowledge later when he and Jens are trying to escape the pirates. However, I still don’t think we needed the gorilla for that. Haakon could have figured that out on his own by testing the trap with a heavy rock or something instead. Honestly, even if how that particular trap worked hadn’t been setup beforehand, I don’t think I would have questioned it when Haakon and Jens later use it as a trampoline. Knowing that Haakon set these traps himself was enough for me. If the filmmakers absolutely had to have the gorilla in the movie, then I woulud have expected the gorilla to play an integral role in the fight against the pirates. Maybe Haakon could have followed the gorilla to find where it liked to hang out and then used that knowledge to lead the pirates into the gorilla’s territory to let the gorilla scare them off. Still, even then, I don’t know that the gorilla was necessary. Perhaps it was an element of the book that the creators felt really had to be incorporated into the film? Or perhaps they spent so much money on the gorilla costume they couldn’t stand to cut the gorilla from the movie?
Good performances and production values
Kevin: One of the film’s strongest elements is its actors. The three main actors have a lot of great chemistry, particularly seen between Stian Smestad (Haakon) and Louisa Milwood-Haigh (Mary). It’s unfortunate that they have very little screen time together before the story has Haakon stranded on the island, though it doesn’t take too long before they are reunited. Trond Peter Stamsø Munch portrays the older brother/guardian-type character of Jens very convincingly, and the affection he displays towards Haakon (and later Mary) looks so genuine that I imagine there must have been some real friendship between the actors off-screen. Either that, or the actors are just very good at their jobs. Both could be just as true; for one thing, Smestad and Milwood-Haigh received nominations for Best Young Actor and Best Young Actress, respectively, in 1992 (though they don’t appear to have won). Additionally, per IMDB, Shipwrecked was one of the first films that Smestad and Munch worked on while Milwood-Haigh had appeared in film and television before this. This actually explains a lot because out of the three, Milwood-Haigh unquestionably gives a much tighter performance than her co-stars. Still, for the movie being among their early work, Smestad and Munch have enough charisma to stand toe to toe with the rest of the cast. Acting is a skill like anything else, but there are instances where the skill comes more naturally to some than it does others and it seems to be the case here. Both Munch and Milwood-Haigh would continue to act after this movie while Smestad appears to have stopped. It would have been interesting to see him in other work, but at least he had a chance to show what he could do. For being relatively new to the acting world, I applaud the performances of these three. Finally, I also wanted to note the performance of Gabriel Byrne as Merrick. The movie does a decent job creating a feeling of dread when Merrick is on screen, and he is certainly much more of an intimidating pirate captain than Long John Silver was made out to be in Treasure Island.
Kevin: The other thing the film has going for it is how it uses the elements of filmmaking quite well. The vistas, music, sounds, and props are pretty good. One of the first things I noticed was when the music started. Something about its style sounded familiar, and when Patrick Doyle’s name popped up it immediately clicked. His composing credits include fantasy/adventure films like Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Thor, and Brave, so it’s actually fitting he did this movie, too. Doyle is good at composing musical themes that sound whimsical and adventurous, perfect for a film like Shipwrecked. If I have one complaint about the music, it’s that sometimes it’s used in odd places where the tone of the scene doesn’t match. For example, when Merrick’s henchman poisons the captain’s cognac, the music is way too light-hearted and even a bit… fun sounding? Not sure if that’s the best way to describe it, but go watch the scene I’m talking about and I think you’ll know what I mean. We already knew Merrick was the bad guy, so it’s an odd music choice for a scene that’s supposed to be dark. Anyway, that minor gripe aside, I enjoyed the film’s soundtrack very much. Shipwrecked also boasts some good props. I had no trouble believing that Haakon was able to create those booby traps by himself. The scenes with him in the jungle are excellent, no doubt in part owed to the fact that much of the film was shot on location (although that gorilla was clearly just a man in a costume and was easily the least believable prop in the whole film). The scenes at sea look terrific, and there are some gorgeous sunset views sprinkled throughout the movie, just what an island adventure film really needs. Overall, the filmmaking is pretty good, so props to the crew for their work here.
Another Bechdel test fail, to no one’s surprise
Megan: The only named female characters in this film are Mary and Haakon’s mother, Anna. Though they have speaking roles, the two women never speak to each other, so the film fails the Bechdel test. The only other females in the film with speaking roles are the prostitutes Haakon and Jens encounter when they take shore leave in London. Haakon’s two younger sisters never get a chance to speak, though they do appear on screen at various points in the film. Bechdel test aside, the way female characters are portrayed in this film is a bit mixed. On one end, there’s the incredibly unflattering prostitutes who are made to look unattractive and a bit witchy with their messed up teeth, messy hair, and cackling laughter. On the other end, however, is Mary, who not only sneaks aboard a ship to flee life in an orphanage and seek the only family she knows, but also volunteers to sneak aboard yet another ship, weapons in hand, to free the captive crew members. I wish that Mary’s character was always as badass as I just described her, yet even in that scene we see Haakon and Jens questioning whether or not she should be the one to sneak on board the ship—when she clearly proved earlier in the film that she was more than capable of the task. On top of that, we also see her become a damsel in distress that Haakon (and Jens) must rescue from Merrick. Even when she is on the island with the friendly natives, the boys of the island are terrible to her. As Mary says in the film after Haakon sees her fighting off the boys:
MARY: They claim me as their sister, and now they expect me to clean up after them. Well they can forget it.
JENS: She fights with them every night.
EVERY NIGHT?! Not only do these boys have a terrible preconceived notion of what it means to have a sister (a sister is not your maid!), they also clearly have a problem understanding that when a woman says “no,” she means “no!” As much as I enjoyed Mary as a character, I hate that the only female character who gets to do anything fun is also the one who has to deal with male characters being shitty to her throughout the film.
The villain could have been further developed
Megan: I think the filmmakers were trying to give Merrick a more complex backstory, and some of it did make it onto the screen, but it wasn’t enough for us to completely understand what his motivations are. We know that he was once in the British Navy, and we know that he was presumed dead before apparently becoming a pirate, but why did he leave? Did he intentionally fake his death or was he presumed dead and found by pirates who turned him to their ways? When he is hired on as “Lt. Howell,” what does he hope to accomplish? What are all those guns for? Is he merely smuggling weapons and turning a profit? Is he trying to start a war somewhere? Had there not been a storm that left him shipwrecked, where might he have taken the crew? Would he have diverted their path into pirate waters so that his friends could attack and capture the previous crew, leaving Merrick with their ship? With so many questions as to Merrick’s motives, it’s hard to know just how bad this bad guy is. Sure, we know he’s definitely not a good guy because he murders someone in the opening of the film and he threatens to keelhaul a young girl for being a stowaway and very nearly whips a young boy for concealing a stowaway. However, without really knowing why he does all these evil things, it’s hard for us to see Merrick as a villain we love to hate. Honestly, even when Haakon figures out that Merrick is a pirate and will return for his treasure, we in the audience aren’t really all that afraid of Merrick. So he’ll come back to the island. So what? Why must Haakon make sure Merrick doesn’t get his treasure back? What dastardly thing will Merrick do if Haakon doesn’t stop him? Alas, we never find out, and that’s part of the reason the conflict of this film falls a little flat.
Final Thoughts
Kevin: Shipwrecked is a decent family adventure film. I could definitely see this as something my family would have watched together when I was younger. It’s very similar to the adventure films of Disney’s past with none of the flashy blockbuster material we will see in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. But it stands out from its predecessors, too. It’s a bit darker and grittier which makes it just a touch more realistic. I have a feeling this might be because it wasn’t actually produced by Disney themselves, so it doesn’t need to be too light-hearted. The interactions between the characters is fun and I liked the action on the island towards the end of the film. It’s definitely worth watching once. Would I watch it again, though? Well… maybe if it was on T.V. or someone else bought it and turned it on. I can’t say for sure I would go onto Disney Plus and watch it again, but perhaps time will tell.
Megan: For me, I don’t think I’ll go back and watch this again. It was fun, I guess. Certainly better than Treasure Island, but only a little. Haakon was a decent main character with a decent character arc, yet so much of the film was predictable (for example, as soon as the captain tells Haakon to sleep on it before revealing another sailors secret, we know the captain is gonna die before Haakon can tell him anything). Between the slow plot, the underdeveloped characters, and the sexism, I’m okay only ever seeing this movie once.
