SCREEN IT! PARENTAL REVIEW: CAST AWAY

"CAST AWAY"
(2000) (Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt) (PG-13)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Mild	Heavy	Moderate	Heavy	None

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Minor	None	None	None	Mild

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Mild	Minor	Mild	Mild	Moderate

QUICK TAKE:: Drama: The lone survivor of a plane crash must figure out how to survive the physical and mental hardships of being stranded alone on an uncharted, tropical island.

PLOT:

Chuck Noland (TOM HANKS) is a systems engineer for Federal Express who works and lives by the clock. Jaunting around the world with fellow employee Stan (NICK SEARCY) and instructing international centers how their package delivery system works, that one lives or dies by the clock, and that it's a sin to loose track of time, Chuck barely has time for his girlfriend back in Memphis, Kelly Frears (HELEN HUNT).

Although he gets back in time to be with her on Christmas Eve, Chuck gets a page that he must leave for yet another job. Telling her he'll be right back after giving her what she assumes to be an engagement ring but is afraid to open, Chuck heads off on his flight over the South Pacific.

Encountering a bad storm, the small crew of the FedEx plane diverts off their course to get around it, but ends up crashing, with Chuck being the sole survivor. Washing up onto the shores of a tropical island, Chuck is happy to be alive, but soon finds that he's all alone on an uninhabited isle, with nothing but water surrounding him and only a few remnants of civilization to help him survive.

Nevertheless, he does just that, learning how to build shelter, hunt for food, start a fire and overcome the rampant loneliness that descends over him day after day, month after month, and year after year. As he does so, he hopes that at some point he might be rescued, not realizing what might then lie in wait for him after being gone for so long.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: If they're fans of Hanks or director Robert Zemeckis' films ("Forrest Gump," "Back to the Future"), they just might.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13: For some intense images and action sequences.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: TOM HANKS plays a Federal Express systems engineer who's so busy that he barely has time for his girlfriend. Once he washes up on a deserted and uncharted island, however, he has plenty of time, but must figure out how to survive from both a mental and physical standpoint and becomes very resourceful at doing just that.
HELEN HUNT plays his girlfriend who must decide how to get on with her life once Chuck is presumably dead.
NICK SEARCY plays one of Chuck's good friends.; HELEN HUNT plays his girlfriend who must decide how to get on with her life once Chuck is presumably dead.
NICK SEARCY plays one of Chuck's good friends.; NICK SEARCY plays one of Chuck's good friends.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

The following is a quick look at the content found in this film that's been rated PG-13. There's a very intense, "Saving Private Ryan" style plane crash in the ocean that kills everyone onboard except for the protagonist (although we don't see the others' actual deaths). After that, there are a few additional scenes that might be tense or unsettling to some viewers, as well as the overall concept of being stranded alone on an island for several years.

Some of them involve blood and gore, as the film includes the sight of a severe leg wound, scraped/cut/bleeding feet, other bloody wounds and some brief views of a dead man's body that's slightly begun to decompose (and/or show the effects of being in the water for some time).

Profanity consists of a handful of expletives (including 2 "s" words), some brief drinking and smoking are present, and we see that a miscellaneous character is having an affair (although we don't see any related sex). We do see several brief shots of part of the protagonist's bare butt in his loincloth type wrap as well as some brief, passionate kissing.

Beyond that, the film's remaining categories have little or nothing in the way of additional major objectionable content. Nevertheless, should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for anyone in your home, you may want to take a closer look at our detailed content listings for more specific examples of what occurs during the film.

For those concerned with the repetitive flashing of bright lights, some full screen, strobe-like instances of that occur in several scenes.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: Stan pours what's presumably wine for himself and Chuck (from a brown paper bag) while on a FedEx flight.
Various people have wine at a holiday dinner.
Chuck sings a few lines from a Doors' song that includes, "Girl we couldn't get much higher" (but he's singing the song as related to the word "fire" since he's finally just succeeded at making one).
People have champagne at a party.

BLOOD/GORE: A man has blood on his head and then on his shirt after severely banging his head inside a plane.
We see some diluted blood in the surf as Chuck walks through it and then see that his feet are a bit bloody from various cuts (he has no shoes).
Chuck finds a man's body floating in the surf (from the crash) and we see that it's begun to decompose a bit (on the neck and face) and/or show the effects of being in the water for too long.
We see Chuck get up from having just been squatted down and evidently relieving himself (but we don't see anything other than him getting up from behind a plant and pulling up his pants).
We see Chuck's urine stream between his legs as he urinates in the ocean with his back to the camera.
We see blood in the surf again as Chuck makes his way back to the shore after severely cutting his leg on some coral. Later, after the bleeding has stopped, Chuck examines the wound and it's rather bloody and gory looking.
We see some green looking goo come out of a crab that Chuck has just speared, hoping to make it his dinner (but he can't eat it after seeing that).
Chuck accidentally cuts his hand and it's rather bloody. He then washes it off in the surf and we see a bit more blood. We also see his bloody handprint on a volleyball (that's later used to make a human-like face on it).
We see that Chuck's bad tooth is now very infected.
We see a little bit of blood fly from Chuck's mouth just as he knocks that bad tooth from his mouth.
We see a small stream of blood run down the top of Chuck's hand as he uses that to repaint a human-like face on a volleyball.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: We see that a miscellaneous man is having an affair (he answers the door with a woman that he kisses and announces that the package he just received is from his wife).

FRIGHTENING SCENES: Chuck's flight (on a FedEx plane with only a few other people) runs into some turbulence from a storm and diverts its course. Chuck then goes into the bathroom to wash his face when a loud explosion of some sort shakes the plane and he's nearly sucked out of the bathroom due to a loss in cabin pressure. Another man then scrambles about to get Chuck an oxygen mask and get him back in his seat. He does that, but Chuck then gets back up -- as the plane dives in a partially controlled descent toward the ocean -- to retrieve the pocket watch Kelly earlier gave him. As he holds onto some netting, the plane hits more turbulence and that other man is thrown into the ceiling where he bangs his head hard enough to draw blood. After a few moments, the plane slams into the ocean (seen only from the inside of the plane) and quickly fills with water and Chuck finds himself trying to get out before it sinks. As it does and he inflates his rubber raft while underwater, something else he's holding onto becomes caught in the sinking wreckage and he finally must let go of that.
Once on the surface and in his raft, he encounters not only rough, storm-tossed seas, but also his raft being pulled toward the jet's engine that's still running. It then explodes, sending him back into the water, but he then returns to the raft and must then endure extremely rough and turbulent seas.
Once on the seemingly deserted island, Chuck hears various odd noises in the vegetation and tropical growth (which may be a tiny bit unsettling for some people), but it just turns out to be coconuts occasionally falling to the ground.
Chuck finds a man's body floating in the surf (from the crash) and we see that it's begun to decompose a bit (on the neck and face).
Thinking he's seen a ship, Chuck takes his rubber life raft out into the surf, hoping to paddle out to it. Unfortunately, he runs into the huge waves at the breaker line around the island and finds himself buffeted by the waves and finally turned over into the surf where his leg is severely cut on some underlying coral.
Some viewers may not like a scene where Chuck, who can't take the pain from his infected tooth anymore, lines up the edge of an ice skate to that tooth and then prepares to hit the latter with a rock to knock out the former. Although he does so, we don't see the actual impact.
High atop a cliff, Chuck tries to reach some vine that's just out of his reach, thus offering the possibility of him slipping and falling or grabbing ahold of the vine and then it giving way, sending him hundreds of feet to the rocks below (neither happens).
On a self-made raft, Chuck heads out into the surf again and must deal once more with the huge waves that crash into him.

GUNS/WEAPONS: None.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: Phrases: "Sh*thole."

JUMP SCENES: None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): None.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): None.

PROFANITY: At least 2 "s" words, 2 hells, 3 uses of "Oh my God" and 1 use each of "G-damn," "My God" and "Swear to God" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY: On several occasions we see part of Chuck's bare butt while he wears a self-fashioned loin cloth that doesn't completely cover him at all times.
Chuck and Kelly briefly engage in some passionate kissing.

SMOKING: A few miscellaneous people smoke.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: We hear that a man's wife has cancer and then later learn that she died from that.
We see that a miscellaneous woman has evidently divorced her husband after learning he had an affair.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: The will to survive and Chuck's ability to adapt to his surrounding and adapt them to his needs.
The survivors back home of such accidents and their dual need to grieve and hold out hope for a miracle along with then eventually getting on with their lives.

VIOLENCE: A plane crashes and presumably kills everyone onboard except for Chuck (we don't see their deaths, although we later see one body).
A huge wave knocks Chuck from his raft and he severely cuts his leg on some underlying coral.

Reviewed December 8, 2000 / Posted December 22, 2000

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