From the earliest moments in the film, you descend into the ridiculous until you start to laugh. The Evil British are attempting to enslave America, primarily peaceful farmers who, as you might suppose, start off fearing and hating the Nice Indians who live next door (I'll let you lay bets as to whether they have a dramatic conversion and become friends for no obvious reason, not far into the movie), to achieve their evil plan they need the help of Evil Red Indians, of course, only the ones unable to speak english are evil enough, so the plotting consists of sign language summed up as "kill them all, ha ha ha".

Meanwhile, the hapless American general is soundly defeated despite his obvious skills at rhetoric. Will the Evil British and their unholy allies conquer America? Never, if some beavers have their way (I kid you not.) Quite what role the American general has, was never that clear. He could have been some mad frontiersman if I'm honest.

Watch, spell-bound, as James is cuffed repeatedly and for no purpose while being abducted across hundreds of miles of wilderness with canoes, forests, beavers and Evil Indians. Listen as James is interrogated by the Evil British, to reveal all the military secrets that he no doubt refuses to tell rather than not actually knowing anything worth saying.

Cringe and perhaps get another beer when the plan, based on this interrogation presumably, is to "send in hundreds of Evil Indians to massacre the American village".

Bellow with rage as the Evil Indians massacre the village, although it turns out that everyone was hiding as I don't think they did any killing as such. Certainly, James' family all escaped - very odd business, it seemed they had to "jump out of the window" in order to be safe.

Cheer as the "Nice" Indians from the correct side of the river team up with James' dad who, despite being a farmer, appears to have some mysterious ability to walk into a fortress and pick the dungeon lock, etc. Applaud as the Nice Indians track the Evil Indians and British Generals, who, despite outnumbering them, can only seek to escape.

Sigh with relief as the rescue party eventually use their tracking skills to identify that the Evil Indians and Evil British have decided to go to the Giant British Fortress rather than somewhere else, e.g. making the tracking part relevant. Maybe they went the long way round, I don't know, I was laughing too much.

Weep with joy as James' dad and someone else (might have been the american general - not sure) attempt to walk out of the fortress again but are spotted. Laugh as they escape from the Evil British army with the mysterious aid of some beavers or something, actually quite how they could walk out again once discovered was as puzzling as how they got in - it makes no sense. Why have a fortress with an unguarded back door?

Attempt to pay attention at the end - I didn't so I can't entirely say how come the Evil British were defeated as a result. Maybe they were allergic to beaver skin?

Anyway, there were apparently only a handful of Evil British attempting to enslave the Proud American Nation so I think they were on a sticky wicket in the first place, Evil Indians notwithstanding.

Oh yes, nearly forgot, the beavers might be otters. The film appears to have the subtitle "sign of the otter" so I'll give you that one. Not sure it matters too much for the plot, though.