Simply A Masterpiece

Pretty Good

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

"Selkirk" is the first feature length film directed by the Uruguayan animator Walter Tournier, which in the past years directed many good animated shorts, such as "Caribbean Christmas".This movie, loosely based in the life of the Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk (which also inspired and Daniel Defoe's book, Robinson Crusoe )starts as a typical adventure flick, but the correct direction from Tournier, the good voice acting and the cute (albeit a bit simplistic) animation style are able to make this a worth-watching experience.Considering that this is a very modest production with a much lower budget than the stop motion films that are made in Hollywood, the visual aspect from this movie looks fair good enough: In a time where almost all the animated films seem to be done using CGI, there is a lot of love and effort that can be appreciated here, with cute designs, a lovely use of colors and beautiful sceneries, having also a great atmosphere which perfectly captures the light-hearted tone of the story and makes it enjoyable, even at the most awkward moments; that being said I wish that this would have a more elaborate script, with a bit less of forced humor and heavy-handed morals and more character development.Actually, the weakest aspect from this film is Selkirk, the protagonist, which in this movie is pretty much a flat character with almost no personality at all. His character development is one of the key factors of the story, so I was somewhat disappointed about the fact that while I was watching this movie, I didn't care very much for him. However, and despite this, I enjoyed this movie. I appreciate a lot the effort put in this, and for me this is an example of an honest entertainment that whole family could enjoy.

"Selkirk, el verdadero Robinson Crusoe" is an Uruguayan film (co- produced with Argentina and Chile), directed by Walter Tournier. The story begins with a Pirate in search of "El Manila" an incredible treasure. He has a unique map that describes with detail a zone where a lot of ships were lost. Therefore, he joins with a group of pirates in the search of that treasure. There are some things to take into account before watching the movie: 1 - The movie was made with a low budget for this kind of movie ($ 1.250.000, while Corpse Bride, $ 40.000.000) 2 - Was made by a small crew, with lots of technical problems 3 - The first stop-motion animated film ever made in UruguayThe film is purely made for little children, so it has lots of child humour. But don't desperate, there are some really good jokes for the adult audiences that you will get right away. And the most important thing is, the message that the movie leaves for the children is very simple but significative.Taking all this into account, my puntuation is: 7/10

This is the first Uruguayan animation movie ever. There have been some shorts before (many from Walter Tournier), but this is the first long one, made with the "Stop Motion" technique (the same as used in "Corpse Bride" for example). The story is about an adventurer (Selkirk), who has a treasure map, but needs a ship to make the trip. Finally he manages to find one. During the trip there are many troubles (as it's an adventure film), that finally deliver him alone into a remote island, where he has to live all by his way. The story is nice, specially for kids. Maybe, if you're used to Hollywood's animation films, you'll miss the "classics" as the love scenes or some adult jokes... But as the director said, it's a film developed 100% thinking in kids, and for example, a relation between Selkirk and the only girl there, is just a man-woman friendship relation. Nothing else will happen, so don't expect it. In few words, it's a good movie made by a great working team (with a VERY reduced budget). You can take your kids, to enjoy a nice adventure, and also, you can delight yourself with the magic stop-motion delivers... and always have in mind, that it was made by a very small team of craft-men and women, from a very small country called Uruguay!