"Alaska" is a family movie directed by Fraser Heston, Charlton's son...who also happens to be in the film.
The film begins with Dad (Dirk Benedict) having a run-in with his obnoxious son. The boy does NOT want to live in Alaska and he seems determined to make sure everyone hears about it! As for the daughter, she loves the wilderness and is not whiny or annoying.
It seems Dad gave up flying airliners for being a bush pilot in Alaska. Not sure why...something about his dead wife apparently made him do this. One day, he crashes into a mountain and nothing is heard of him...so the teen and tween both decide to do what anyone would do in this situation...set off in search of Dad without telling anyone or having adequate provisions. Along the way, they come upon some poachers and you aren't sure if the poachers or nature itself will kill these kids. Either way, a polar bear they rescued from these jerks follows them...presumably out of curiosity to see how the pair die.
I like the basic idea of the story. But the annoying, bratty son who whines about how much he hates Alaska seems more like a trope than anything else....and I wish they'd eased up on this part of the story. It just seemed like an over-familiar cliche. It also was weird how sometimes he was whiny...other times he was like "we gotta rescue dad"...even though earlier he told his dad how much he hated him. Even worse is the baby polar bear, especially when it helps rescue Dad near the end as well as the dumb scene where do gooders bring the bear to other polar bears and release it in the wild. This only would have resulted in this cub being eaten and bears do NOT just adopt orphaned cubs...except, of course, in movies.
So is this any good? Well, it's an undemanding family film with enough Mother Nature in it to keep parents from being too bored. As for kids, really young ones would likely be too scared by all this to enjoy it but if your kid is reasonably mature and can understand that it is a movie, then they'll likely get something out of the story. As for me, I just thought it was awfully pretty even though the story was VERY tough to believe and sagged quite a bit towards the end (such as the bear taking out the poacher's helicopter!).
The film begins with Dad (Dirk Benedict) having a run-in with his obnoxious son. The boy does NOT want to live in Alaska and he seems determined to make sure everyone hears about it! As for the daughter, she loves the wilderness and is not whiny or annoying.
It seems Dad gave up flying airliners for being a bush pilot in Alaska. Not sure why...something about his dead wife apparently made him do this. One day, he crashes into a mountain and nothing is heard of him...so the teen and tween both decide to do what anyone would do in this situation...set off in search of Dad without telling anyone or having adequate provisions. Along the way, they come upon some poachers and you aren't sure if the poachers or nature itself will kill these kids. Either way, a polar bear they rescued from these jerks follows them...presumably out of curiosity to see how the pair die.
I like the basic idea of the story. But the annoying, bratty son who whines about how much he hates Alaska seems more like a trope than anything else....and I wish they'd eased up on this part of the story. It just seemed like an over-familiar cliche. It also was weird how sometimes he was whiny...other times he was like "we gotta rescue dad"...even though earlier he told his dad how much he hated him. Even worse is the baby polar bear, especially when it helps rescue Dad near the end as well as the dumb scene where do gooders bring the bear to other polar bears and release it in the wild. This only would have resulted in this cub being eaten and bears do NOT just adopt orphaned cubs...except, of course, in movies.
So is this any good? Well, it's an undemanding family film with enough Mother Nature in it to keep parents from being too bored. As for kids, really young ones would likely be too scared by all this to enjoy it but if your kid is reasonably mature and can understand that it is a movie, then they'll likely get something out of the story. As for me, I just thought it was awfully pretty even though the story was VERY tough to believe and sagged quite a bit towards the end (such as the bear taking out the poacher's helicopter!).