Well-acted domestic drama not quite 'Fantastic'

The sharply crafted domestic drama "Captain Fantastic" propels home-schooling into "home-higher-education."

Radical individualist dad Ben Cash (a fiercely committed Viggo Mortensen) lives in the Pacific Northwest wilderness with his six children. They have been trained to be in top shape physically (they learn survival skills and climb mountains) and to plumb their intellectual reaches (they speak many languages and read the best literature).

Every day, Dad pushes them, grills them and teaches them critical thinking skills.

Ben's mentally ill wife commits suicide early on, removing the maternal buffer for his tough parenting practices.

Eldest son Bo (George MacKay) hides his Ivy League school acceptance notices for fear his father will disapprove.

Twelve-year-old rebelling Rellian (Nicholas Hamilton) resents Dad's narcissistic drive for perfection.

Less attention gets devoted to the younger kids (especially the girls) Kielyr and Vespyr (Samantha Isler and Annalise Basso), Zaja (Shree Crooks) and Nai (Charlie Shotwell).

The plot kicks in as Dad packs the family into an old school bus and heads off to steal his wife's corpse from the conventional church funeral arranged by her wealthy, conservative parents (Frank Langella and Ann Dowd) so she can be cremated in a Buddhist ceremony.

"Silicon Valley" actor (and "28 Hotel Rooms" director) Matt Ross directs and writes "Captain Fantastic" as a more accessible, energetic variation on Harrison Ford's similarly themed drama "Mosquito Coast."

He crafts a cautionary tale about the importance of balance in domestic life, but fails to employ the critical thinking skills Ben advocated by refusing to make judgment calls on Ben's parental choices.

When the bus runs out of gas, Ben orchestrates a shoplifting caper for his kids to execute at a grocery store. How does this square with honesty?

Dad clearly has no income, so how does he buy expensive, military-grade survival knives for the kids? Details, details.

"Captain Fantastic" is an earnest production that, despite its superb cast, clearly possesses an inflated sense of its power and importance.