El último vuelo del arca de Noé

In fact, it wasn't Bette Midler who first brought new blood into the heavy-handed 7O's and 80's Disney productions. It was people like Elliott Gould who originally provided the shot in the arm that Disney needed. In this movie he lends his wise-cracking, go-to-hell character to the role of Noah Dugan and it's a joy to watch! The whole cast is great, and the whole movie is a delight from start to finish.

I remember it being very good. Christians won't be offended. A missionary brings a man to Christ, and they do not make Christians appear to be idiots. A good adventure movie, with a tinge of action and adventure, though not violent.

this is the best feel-good movie of all time. nothing too bad happens but it's not boring. nothing too surprising happens but it's not predictable. nothing too funny happens but it's not stupid. it's corny but perfectly so. Elliott Gould is good. he is a better actor when it comes to serious/comedies, like Robert Altman's "The Long Goodbye" and/or "California Split", but he's having fun here and so does the audience. the woman in the movie is cute. she is a missionary and Gould flies her to an island but they go the wrong way and end up on the wrong island, this one seemingly deserted. tagging along, as it were, are two kids played by Ricky Shroder (now Rick) and Tammy Lauren, who would grow up to be very gorgeous. also there is a bull and a duck, as the kids pets, and two Japanese men on the island who've been there for 35 years and don't know that the war is over. they are gungho with the rising flag, but then they turn good when the missionary lady goes and meets them. and then they put the rising star flag on the plane that crashed that they all transform into a boat. here i had my only problem. the Japanese, during the war, sided with the Nazis. wouldn't Elliott Gould or the missionary lady have a problem with having that flag as the main mast on the ship? and wouldn't the two men, upon learning that America nuked three of their cities to win the war, get sort of angry? but oh well, it doesn't matter. there is a shark in the movie too and it's very scary, even though it's only stock footage, and the ending is almost sad but then gets happy and you will smile during the end credits. oh and another funny thing is that the credits in the beginning happen twenty minutes into the movie after a couple of thugs, who are after Gould for owing them money, are chasing the airplane that is taking off. and the two thugs are played by Dana Elcar of "Baretta" fame, and John Ryan ("Runaway Train"), usually a heavy in movies. here he's bumbling. Vincent Gardenia makes an important cameo. he played the chief inspector in "Death Wish" who was always sneezing.

First off, I'd like to say that I haven't seen this movie since I was a kid. I just finished watching for the first time in 16 years, with mixed opinions. First, the story is good. The dialogue is decent (swearing in a Disney kids movie? Right on!). The cinematography is ok. The directing is pretty good. The acting is okay. The music is HORRIBLE. I've noticed, not only with this picture, but almost every Disney movie from the late 60s on into the mid 80s, if you turn the music off, it's actually more enjoyable to watch. Being a music theory major in college, I have come to really appreciate good scoring for movies. There are several scenes where the music is entirely inappropriate (such as after the crash, when they're rounding up all the equipment and animals and the music is straight from Yee Haw). Still, after all these years, it was good to watch it again. So if you can cringe your way through the sappy music, you're good to go with this edgy Disney movie.

Despite real talent in this movie -- Charles Jarrott directing Genevieve Bujold and Elliot Gould from a story originally written by Ernest Gann, this one is a real misfire.

Gould is the pilot of a B-29 Superfortress converted to island-hopping cargo. He's got a load of assorted animals, missionary Bujold, and a couple of kids, including the always-annoying Ricky Schroeder. They crash land on a Pacific island where they encounter two Japanese soldiers who don't know the war is over. Eventually everyone makes friends and they convert the plane to a boat to try to get back to civilization.

The problems with the movie seem to stem from its script and Disney's uncertainty of what this movie was supposed to be. It borrows from several other movies, including FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX, SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON and FATHER GOOSE to sheer adventure on the high seas and vague Biblical references, with no consistency of tone, and no real character engagement. Each actor seems to be playing a one-note character, only to switch gears as the plot dictates.

I blame Ron Miller, in his last credit as producer, at the trough of Disney's post-Walt era. After this, it was back to the office and only "Executive Producer" credits as Disney's CEO, where he tackled the company's problems by eventually replacing himself with abler movie people.