It’s adventure in the high-seas adventure in this 1990 Disney classic!
I remember watching this movie with my Grandparents. Based on the 1873 classic Haakon Haakonsen: A Norwegian Robinson by Oluf Falck-Ytter, a book my great-grandfather had read as a boy, so I was even more excited to watch it.
In the mid-1800s Haakon Haakonsen (Stian Smestad) takes a commission as a ship’s boy to help support his family and ensure that they don’t lose the family farm after his father is injured and can no longer sail. His father’s shipmate and friend, Jens (Trond Peter Stamsø Munch) promises to look after him in the two years he’ll be gone. Difficult at first, Haakon’s hard work ethic and innocent disposition soon earn the respect and friendship of his senior shipmates.
Center Left: Haakon Haakonsen (Smestad) and Jens (Munch) with other crew members
Making landfall in London before entering more dangerous waters, a British naval officer, Lt. Howell (Gabriel Byrne), joins the crew to provide protection from pirates. However, in actuality, Howell is a notorious pirate John Merrick, who killed the real officer to assume his identity and commandeer a ship. After the death of the captain, Howell takes command of the ship, bringing on his own men (more pirates). Haakon later discovers the ship has gained a stowaway, Mary (Louisa Milwood-Haigh), whom he befriends.
When Howell discovers the stowaway, his methods of punishment are as effective as the death penalty for someone as young. However, before the punishment can be delivered, which Howell forces Jens to administer, a tropical storm turns their lives, and the ship, upside down. In the confusion, Haakan, Jens, and Mary are separated. Waking up on (what he thinks is) a deserted island, Haakon starts to explore. In his travels, Haakan discovers an incredible treasure as well as Merrick’s wanted poster. He also meets, and later befriends a Gorilla, who starts behaving towards him more like a pet than a wild animal capable of breaking him in half without breaking a sweat.
After spending months alone, one day Haakon spots smoke from a nearby island. Once he’s able to get there he discovers Mary and Jens have been living with a local tribe. For a minuscule amount of time, the three live together like the Norwegian Family Robinson until Merrick and his band of pirates show up looking for their treasure, which Haakon has moved to a more secure hiding place. He’s also set up several boobytraps. The three friends also discover that Merrick and the Pirates have taken their real cremates hostage. Working together the trio rescue their friends and defeat the pirates, leaving them stranded on the island as they return to Norway with the loot.
Clocking in at just over 90 minutes, the film is a quick, but fun adventure story and after that initial viewing, it became an annual staple. Shot on location in Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Fiji in the summer and fall of 1989, Shipwrecked premiered in US theaters on 1 March 1991 (3 October 1990 in Norway) to favorable reviews and a descent box run grossing $17 million against an 8 million dollar budget. Produced by John M. Jacobsen and Nigel Wooll the international version of the film includes both English and Norwegian dialog.
The film also boasts one of my favorite scores composed by Patrick Doyle composed. The soundtrack was released on CD and Cassette from Walt Disney Records in 1991. Scholastic also released a novelization of the film by B.B. Hiller (based on the screenplay, not the original novel).
Though Walt Disney Pictures has released the film on DVD, it has not had a Blu-Ray release (yet), it can be viewed in glorious HD on the Disney+ app. It’s been almost 15 years since I watched this film, but it still holds up.
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
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