good but something missing

Rating: 8/10 (14 February 2002)

I liked this movie, but from start to finish, I kept feeling like something was missing. I think what it may have been was character development. I'm sure the director as well as the viewers wanted to get on with the main character getting deserted on the island but I think they hurried it a bit too much. The whole time that Chuck (I think that's right) is on the island, we see just how much he loves his wife Kelly but we can't really relate because we hardly know her. That's the way I felt anyway. And even Chuck, we don't really know him, we know that he takes his work very seriously and allows it to take time away from his wife but that's about it. I just didn't really feel I knew the characters. But the portion of the movie starting from the crash and the time he is on the island, I thought was very good. I know many people would have laughed at the idea of a grown man making friends with a volleyball but I think if anybody was alone on an island for 4 years, they might be desperate enough to form a close personal relationship with a volleyball. I might talk to an inanimate object after being left alone for a few hours but then again, I might be a little crazy... anyhow, overall, I liked the movie and I gave it an 8 but I thought it needed better character development. Tom Hanks did an excellent job but the lack of character development took away from his good performance I thought. Also, I thought it should have explained that "special" package a bit more. For some reason, this package meant a lot to Chuck. I chalked it up to, well he had an intuitive feeling but I thought maybe I was missing something.