Captain Fantastic

2016 • 119 minutes

About this movie

Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings series) stars in The New York Times Critics'' Pick, Captain Fantastic, about an unconventional man who raises his six children in the forest of the Paci, Northwest, isolated from society. When he is forced to bring his family out of seclusion and into the world, it leads to a confrontation with his father-in-law (Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon), who wants his grandchildren to have a normal life. Now Ben must question if his methods are the best for his family. Rolling Stone raves, "Viggo Mortensen is magnifcent. A career best work." (Original Title - Captain Fantastic) - 2016 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Ratings and reviews

SPOILERS. Important look at child abuse & effects of mental illness in parents and spouses. Couple raises 6 kids in woods with no electricity or running water, in a small shed & tents. Wife kills herself due to bipolar disorder. We later learn that it began as postpartum psychosis & husband wouldn't let her get treatment. When narcissist dadtells the kids, he offers no comfort as they sob. They later dig up & steal her corpse, burn it & flush the ashes. Alienation of affection from grandparents.

There was some weird, little funny and mostly boring watching socially awkward children and their dad on a road trip for their dead mom. Really weird at the end and more than one action dad did would at least get DHS involved or worse arrested. Describes why raising your kids in a granola vacuum created awkward social skills.

I see why people like it, but I found the kids annoying and pretentious and it feels a half hour longer than its running time. It got a little weird at the end. If this is what living in the woods. Does to you, I'd rather be a capitalist pig and corporate sellout. How does not a single person notice this family burning a corpse on this lake??? They are literally singing and dancing in the smoke of their moms burning corpse. Bizarre and totally falls off the rails. Oh and what happened with Grandpa??? He just gave up? I hope there is no sequel to find out.