Good effort.

Rating: 6/10 (9 September 2001)

This movie portrays the typical 'stranded-on-a-deserted-island' storyline. I give this movie credit for the following reasons:
1. Realism - while no movie can truly portray an accurate depiction of real life, this movie makes an honorable attempt. A truly believable story overall, but believable in the same way that 'The Old Man and the Sea' is believable... it is so dull that it might actually happen.
2. Creativity - I give this movie a higher rating because of the writers/producers creativity in making everyone's favorite piece of sporting equipment 'Mr. Wilson' an integral part of the plot. Unlike the 'Old Man and the Sea' I mentioned earlier, the leather bound counterpart to the protagonist works much more effectively than a large decaying fish. While the fish is treated more as an object to be worshiped, the volleyball is treated more as a companion, and makes for much better dialouge.
Overall, a good movie. Very respectable performance by Tom Hanks... who incidentally lost a decent amount of weight for his part. Also, this movie is yet another example of his ever-expanding variety of roles and how his characters continue to evolve and mature.