Allie Fox (played by Harrison Ford) is a visionary inventor struggling to make ends meet. The family live in rural USA and survive on the odd jobs Allie does while he tinkers with his latest invention as he adds to the 9 patents (6 pending) he has accumulated. But Allie is becoming disillusioned with the way American society is heading and makes a snap decision to head off to the Mosquito Coast to try to create his version of some sort of Utopian society on the jungle. He packs what little they own and the family (wife, two boys and twin girls) all board a tramp steamer to start the adventure of their lives. On board they meet up with a preacher and his family, also heading to the Mosquito Coast, and the tension between the two heads of the families is patent. Allie does not like the concept of missionaries and knows enough of the Bible to be able to quote scripture right back at the missionary. This sets up a sub-plot for later in the film, as does the preachers daughters approach to Charlie (played by River Pheonix).
Now I suppose we can argue the sense of heading off to a place called the Mosquito Coast until the cows come home. I for one would reckon I would be heading somewhere with a nicer name like Paradise Beach or something but maybe I am just a little soft at my age. The most curious aspect of the whole deal is that there doesnt seem to be any evidence of mosquitoes at all. I spent the film waiting for someone to whack themselves on the neck/face/arms to kill the little blighters but it just never happened. Maybe there had been a big spraying program just before the film was made  who knows?
Anyway, the family finds that Dad has bought ownership of a town called Geronimo so they head off up river to take over. (Dont get me started on a name like Geronimo in the middle of the jungle). To their initial disappointment the town consist of a few miserable shacks and a few locals but in true visionary style Allie can see the many improvements that are required to turn the jungle town into Utopia. He is able to turn the vision into reality with the help of some hard work from everyone and soon Geronimo is a pretty good place to live. The living quarters are improved out of sight, fresh vegetables are available to eat, many mechanical devices do the work previously done by hand and in perhaps the ultimate triumph an ice-making machine that doubles to provide air-conditioning is built. Life is pretty perfect, or so it seems.
But, as is the way, things start to go a little awry. The preacher attempts to visit to try to covert some of the locals and Allie sends him away after a heated argument. His reference to the locals as savages is a heavy blow to the harmonious relationships that had been built up. Telling the wife, (played by Helen Mirrell) who he calls Mother throughout the film, and kids that America had been destroyed in a nuclear holocaust didnt seem to be the best way to impress the family either. An attempt to take ice to the indigenous people who live off in the jungle strains the relationships between Allie and his second son Jerry and turns out to be a bit of a farce when the ice melts before they get to SHOW the Indians the new jewel. While there, Allie finds three white men who appear to be being held prisoner but they turn out to be a GROUP of criminals.
Utopia is shattered when these men with their guns arrive and decide they like the place and want to take over. The obvious danger to the serenity of the community forces Allie to act and he tricks the bad guys into bedding down in the ice-making machine building. With Charlies help he traps the men inside and then sets the machine on fire destroying it completely and murdering the three criminals at the same time. The family and the community cannot believe that Allie has stooped so low and lose their respect for him. But things go from bad to worse when the fire spreads to envelope the whole of the rest of Geronimo, wiping the Utopia off the map and sinking his most faithful servants boat.
Undeterred, Allie moves the family to the mouth of the river, intent on living off the flotsam and jetsam thrown up on the beach. Despite the faithful servant Mr Haddy remaining loyal enough to offer that the family move round the coast to live in his community Allie refuses and stubbornly decides to stay put, again using the term savages to describe his kindly servants family. Allies idealism is floundering on the rocks of his obsessiveness, stubbornness and underlying racism and the Utopian adventure flounders along with it.
But nature knows how to fix Allie up and a raging storm, as predicted by Mr Haddy, hits their new abode and almost washes them out to sea. They manage to jury rig an outboard to their raft like conveyance and travel upstream, once again looking for the right place to settle. Allies inability to countenance any opinion other than his own creates friction with the two boys and the family begins to fracture as the tension rises. They eventually make it to the missionarys place and Charlie meets up with the young girl again, who offers the keys to the car to help the family get away from Allie. He finds out and all hell breaks loose as he torches the missionary post. Allie gets shot in the process and we leave them punting down the river as Allie goes through a final reflection on his life, before dying from the gunshot wound. The family are finally truly free at last.
The concept of the idealist who cant handle the reality is not new in films or books. Allies rantings about American society set a scene of a flawed genius who just didnt know when he had it good. The way he treats the rest of the family as underlings who will go where he wants to go, do what he wants to do and enjoy it is a sad thing, especially the way he excludes them from any of the decision making. Ford gives a reasonable performance, as do the others, but the film just doesnt quite cut it. Maybe if the mosquitoes had been there after all and gave him an early dose of malaria we would have all been better off. I can remember there was a fair bit of controversy about the making of the film at the time and it was panned by the critics. I agree.

THE EXTRAS

I suppose with a $15.00 price on the cover I shouldnt have expected much. I was not disappointed as apart from the chance to SELECT subtitles or English for the hearing impaired there were none. No trailer, no bios, no nothing.

CONCLUSION

Visionary inventor Allie Fox takes his whole family to the Mosquito Coast to create a slice of Utopia in the face of Allies perception of the decline in American society. The family faces many battles to set up, to live and to deal with the ever-increasing paranoia Allie suffers.