A brilliant, principled, irascible and uncompromising inventor relocates his browbeaten family from their New England home to the coastal swamps of Honduras where he plans to lead his own empire which will be based primarily on a gargantuan ice generator of his own creation. Peter Weir's The Mosquito Coast is tremendously, almost slavishly faithful to Paul Theroux's book (which was adapted by Paul Schrader) but tries to cram in way too much in under two hours (glossing over much in the process), loses momentum, and really drags its heals following the Act 2 climax. Ford is excellent in one of his finest roles, fully embodying his complex, larger than life character, and Helen Mirren and River Phoenix are great per usual.
** 1/2 out of ****
