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Mosquito Coast, The
EMAILPRINTWarner Bros. Pictures
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 12 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Adventure | Drama | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Paul Schrader
Paul Theroux (novel)
Directed by: Peter Weir
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 26, 1986
DVD: December 14, 1999
Running Time: 117 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG
Starring Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, River Phoenix, Jadrien Steele, Hilary Gordon, Rebecca Gordon, and Conrad Roberts
Allie Fox (Ford) moves his wife (Mirren) and their four young children to Central America to form his own Utopia.
Also On Metacritic
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Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)
A courageous and serious film that explores the limits of the mythic American virtues of persistence, inventiveness, and rugged individualism.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Sheila Benson
Weir's orchestrated The Mosquito Coast's action to match Fox's progressive mental state, from rage to explosion to squalls and finally to hurricane velocity; however, the film leaves us not with an apotheosis, but exhaustion. [26 Nov 1986]
Variety Staff (Not Credited)
It is hard to believe that a film as beautiful as The Mosquito Coast [adapted from the novel by Paul Theroux] can also be so bleak, but therein lies its power and undoing.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Paul Attanasio
The Mosquito Coast is the only movie you'll see this season that has too much ambition for its own good - its subject, really, is nothing less than the American experience.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Rita Kempley
As a persona of epic polarities, [Harrison Ford] animates this muddled, metaphysical journey into the jungle.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jay Scott
The Mosquito Coast is a work of consummate craftsmanship and it's spectacularly acted, down to the smallest roles (Martha Plimpton as a classically obstreperous preacher's daughter, for example), but its field of vision is as narrow and eventually as claustrophobic as Allie's. [28 Nov 1986]
Chicago Reader Pat Graham
Peter Weir's 1986 adaptation of Paul Theroux's best-selling novel is literally that - an adaptation without much character of its own.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The movie has been directed and acted so well, in fact, that almost all my questions have to do with the script: Why was the hero made so uncompromisingly hateful?
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
What keeps The Mosquito Coast from being a great movie is too much caution.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Vincent Canby
In spite of its authentic scenery (it was filmed in Belize), this Mosquito Coast is utterly flat.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Julie Salamon
The picture's blandness - and hollowness - is startling when you consider the collaborators. [26 Nov 1986]
Time Richard Schickel
The problem is that the high-pitched whine of Allie's character finally vitiates not merely the viewer's sympathy for him, but sympathy for the movie he dominates, despite the care and courage that went into its making.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jay H. gave it a7:
Fascinating direction by Peter Weir, one of Harrison Ford's best performances and outstanding cinematography make this one a must see. Excellent story, always interesting. Excellent performances from everyone.
Michael L. gave it a6:
A mediocre adaptation of Theroux's great novel. While Ford is fine in the central role, the movie (and script) don't give enough breathing room for the inconsistencies and contradictions that ultimately doom Allie Fox to become apparent to the viewer. His character just never felt fully formed to me, which is a big problem since he dominates the story. I hate to fall back on cliches, but in this case it's really true: the book was way better.
Steven G. gave it a10:
Possibly my favourite movie of all time beautiful, unusual and a chilling portrayal of shattered dreams.
