Kidnapped

What a shame that the movie, while being excellent in its own right, has absolutely nothing to do with the original book by Stevenson. Aside from the names and places, only about 5% of the novel made it into the movie. As a fan of the book and some of the older versions of the movie, I was horrified by the amount of information in the film that was 'made up'. While I'm sure it was all accurate for the time period, very little of what occurred in the film ever happened or was even alluded to in the book. If you completely ignore the fact that the movie is based on a book this film is very enjoyable and exciting however I disagree with the re-writing of this classic just to make it into a more compelling tale.

Armand Assante turned in a superb performance as a Scottish loyalist in Robert Louis Stevenson's "Kidnapped." Mr. Assante was totally credible in his role as a man who would stick to the principles of truth, justice, and loyalty that the author highlighted in the novel. Any fan of Robert Louis Stevenson must definitely see this outstanding motion picture.

This version of Kidnapped boasts the best cast yet, led by Armand Assante, Brian McCardie (Rob Roy), Brendan Gleeson (Braveheart), David Kelly (Waking Ned Devine) and a brilliant portrayal by Patrick Malahide as Uncle Ebenezer. It moves along smoothly and quickly and never drags. It was filmed in Ireland which fills in perfectly for Scotland. Although it looks exactly like Scotland, I wonder why they didn't film there; production costs I'm guessing. At any rate, production values are superb, the music score is fine and director Ivan Passer did an exceptional job. McCardie is perfect as David Balfour and is adept at both serious and comical scenes. Assante is as good a swashbuckler as ever there was. I've been waiting for years for this to come out on DVD and now it has arrived (1/2007). I very highly recommend this film.

Most movie adaptations of novels are just that: they pick and choose scenes in the novel to present in movie form, but basically tell the same story to be found in the novel.

This is not that. It does present much of what is in Stevenson's novel, yes, and rather faithfully. But it also includes a LOT that is not in the novel, scenes that Stevenson had suggested but never developed. Indeed, as others have pointed out, there are significant characters here who do not exist in the novel.

I found it to be a good presentation of Stevenson's novel, and I found Assante to be a lot of fun as Alan Breck Stewart, even if he is more Erol Flynn than ABS. Viewers just have to understand that this is not solely what Stevenson wrote. For that, as others have observed, the Disney treatment from the 1960s is better.

Still, this is FAR better than the BBC travesty of the novel, which is far too often unfaithful to the novel, which this really is not. It just adds a lot that is not in the original.

Although this version of "Kidnapped" has a lot of swashbuckling energy going for it, there are major points in its disfavor. As other commentators have written, it adds in all sorts of needless superfluous plots that weaken Stevenson's tale. The army office Reid did not appear in RLS's novel, nor did Flora McDonald, nor did the girl with whom Davie falls in love. Yes, David Balfour does fall in love in Stevenson's sequel "Catriona," but with a different girl.

In addition, Ireland does *not* look like Scotland. Nor does Armande Assante, for all his swashbuckling, look like RLS's description of Alan Breck, which was based upon historical fact. True, the movie is beautifully photographed, and the few portions that do homage to Stevenson's novel are well done. But in many respects, this film owes rather little to that novel.

The only film version that respects the novel is the Walt Disney version. That one is not yet available on DVD. Go figure.