Beverly Hills Family Robinson is a 1997 American Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

 television film based on the novel Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss

Johann David Wyss

Johann David Wyss is best remembered for his book The Swiss Family Robinson. It is said that he was inspired by Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, but wanted to write a story from which his own children would learn, as the father in the story taught important lessons to his children...

. The film features Dyan Cannon

Dyan Cannon

Dyan Cannon is an American film and television actress, director, screenwriter, editor, and producer.-Early life:...

, Martin Mull

Martin Mull

Martin Mull is an American actor who has starred in his own television sitcom and acted in prominent films. He is also a comedian, painter, and recording artist...

, Sarah Michelle Gellar

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...

 and Ryan O'Donohue

Ryan O'Donohue

Ryan Sean O'Donohue is an American voice actor, most notable for his performances in many Disney projects.O'Donohue began his acting career at the age of nine when he played Zeke Byrd on the 1994 ABC drama Byrds of Paradise, filmed in Hawaii. The show was cancelled after a 13-episode run despite...

 as the main cast and was aired on ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

. This Disney film was shot in the Far North of Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Plot

Marsha Robinson (Dyan Cannon) is a famous TV personality and has her own lifestyle and cooking show. Together with her husband Doug (Martin Mull), a dentist, her daughter Jane (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her son Roger (Ryan O'Donohue) she lives in Beverly Hills. Marsha's TV show takes her and her family to Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

. When the Robinsons arrive in Honolulu their yacht is captured by 'modern pirates

Piracy

Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...

' at night and when they wake up in the morning they find themselves and their unbidden guests on the open sea. But being the Robinsons they trick the pirates and leave them behind in a lifeboat.

When things finally seemed to be good and the Robinsons try to sail to the next harbor, the yacht gets into a storm and the family shipwrecks on a deserted island. Of course, Marsha Robinson - being a socialite - freaks out and threatens her husband with a nervous breakdown if they aren't saved within the next 45 minutes and the rest of the family isn't fond of their situation either. But nobody saves them and nobody knows where they are. So there's nothing to do but settle in, survive and build a tree house.

Life on the island turns into routine, although Marsha films herself while giving statements about her family's miserable situation after the shipwreck - just in case they'll be saved and she has footage for TV shows.

Meanwhile the pirates have been stranded on the island, too, which the Robinsons do not know. The island also has an inhabitant, a shipwrecked surfer named Digger, who secretly eats all of Marsha's chocolates. The Robinsons get to know him when Doug has an underwater-accident and needs to be saved by a good swimmer. Jane falls in love with him. He helps the Robinsons finish their treehouse and becomes a member of the family.

The pirates discover the Robinsons and now the Robinsons need to struggle with the unbidden guests once again.