However, as good as the supporting performers are, this is really Hanks' film. And, to no one's surprise, he's more than up to the challenge (not that anyone would have questioned his commitment after he starved himself for months).

It probably helps that he's being directed by a familiar face, "Forrest Gump" filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, whose direction lacks its usual level of bombast and trickery (most noticeable recently in "What Lies Beneath") and instead sticks to the basics.

Of course, both Hanks and Zemeckis are working from a smart script (by "Apollo 13" scribe William Broyles) that somehow manages to make a convincing, if not likable, supporting character out of a volleyball. It also includes a wry, fitting ending that might best be described as Capra-esque (as in Frank Capra, the maker of such films as "It's a Wonderful Life").

"Cast Away" is rated PG-13 for gore (as well as glimpses of a dead body), scattered profanity, plane-crash violence, brief crude humor and brief partial male nudity. Running time: 122 minutes.

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