Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe (2016) is a Belgian-French family animated film you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Vincent Kesteloot. It retells Daniel Defoe's classic story from the animals' perspective — which turns out to be considerably more entertaining than they expected.

Tuesday is a parrot with big ambitions and a very small island. He and his friends — a chameleon, a tapir, and a few others — have built a comfortable routine, until a violent storm deposits a bewildered two-legged creature on their beach. Tuesday immediately sees Crusoe as his ticket to the outside world. Crusoe, for his part, realises the animals are the only reason he's going to survive. They figure out how to help each other — just in time for two feral cats to arrive with plans to take over the whole island.

The film moves at a quick pace, the jokes land without being too clever for younger viewers, and the friendship between Crusoe and the animals develops naturally rather than through a series of lessons. A solid pick for an afternoon with kids. Stream Robinson Crusoe (2016) online on iFILM.