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Flight of the Navigator (1986)

post #1 of 18
12/6/07 at 1:02pm
Thread Starter 
I may be starting the thread, but all credit goes to Ripoll here, who mentioned it in Rath's NEVERENDING STORY thread.

I realize Randal Kleiser was more famous for one of the exclusive club of directors who exploited Brooke Shields, but this is how I came to know him.

Short and sweet: I fucking love this movie. Still do.

- I love the synth sheen of Silvestri's score. Yeah, the main theme is great, but what worked so well was the textural work associated with the craft. It gave the whole thing a mysterious, ethereal quality that works wonders in the first act.

- How about Cliff De Young playing a genuinely good guy? I couldn't believe he didn't try to kill David or make him burn down a house. It's like Kevin Tighe in ROAD HOUSE. You expect something bad to happen and it never does. (Of course I didn't know this when I was 8, but there you go.)

- The computer effects of the UFO. Of course today it looks dated and cheesy, but it was very progressive stuff at the time.

- And the key to the whole thing, Paul Reubens. Some genuinely funny one-liners (not the least of which is Reubens' credit on the film as "Paul Mall"), but it was surprisingly warm voice work. Knowing now what I didn't know then about the Pee-Wee Herman character, it's fantastic to hear him giving such a sincere performance, free of the subversive wink-winks.

"Hey, blimpo! Oink oink! Too many twinkies, heh heh...."
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post #2 of 18
12/6/07 at 1:12pm
I rented this again and again and again and again when I was a kid. The score really did do a lot for the eerie feeling of the first act, even if the second and third acts are goofy. Love the set design of the ship, the little alien dude that becomes his pet, and I love the EXCITING DOGS-CATCHING-FRISBEES montage that kicks off the film.

Love the Twisted Sister cameo as well.
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post #3 of 18
12/7/07 at 12:11am
This has come up a lot recently with the nostalgia fest in this forum, but I've seen lots of people mention that they have certain movies they'd care to remember fondly rather than seeing if they hold up. Since I got burned on this pretty good a year or so back with "D2: The Mighty Ducks," ("Heavyweights," by a proto-Team Apatow, however, really holds up), I've been careful about this.

My point is that I don't want to see this again, because I have too many fond memories of it. This, and all those definitely now crappy Nick live action shows I loved.
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post #4 of 18
12/7/07 at 12:17am
I'll never forget the assload of Transformer toys on the kid's bed when the government takes him in, that plagued my dreams for years as a kid.

I agree with RathBandu, I really don't want to spoil all those memories in finding that the flick sucks, I'll let it remain as good as it was when i was 10.
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post #5 of 18
12/7/07 at 2:22am
I have a sneaking suspicion that it would suck if I watched it these days - but I have fond memories of going to the flicks with my dad for this one.

The main props I can give this film is that it turned me on to the brilliance of Brian Wilson as a kid.
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post #6 of 18
12/7/07 at 11:46am
Thread Starter 
Sure I've got a warm, nostalgic feeling for this flick, but I do like to think I can stay somewhat objective about quality, and to those who don't feel like they should revisit the movie, please do so. It holds up surprisingly well.
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post #7 of 18
12/10/07 at 4:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith Fordyce
Is this the one with the kid from Over the Top?
Nope. RUNAWAY.

Giving this one to my nephews for Christmas this year, amongst other faves from my childhood (Explorers, E.T., Neverending Story, etc).
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post #8 of 18
12/10/07 at 4:16pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DARKMITE8
Giving this one to my nephews for Christmas this year, amongst other faves from my childhood (Explorers, E.T., Neverending Story, etc).
My oldest nephew just turned 6 and I can't wait to start pumping him with great movies. He's not quite ready yet, but he's close.

This is one of the things I'm looking forward to most about being a father, passing along this stuff to my kids.
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post #9 of 18
12/10/07 at 5:12pm
For a few years after I saw this movie I was scared to play around in the woods, for fear that I would fall down a hill and be thrust forward in time without aging.
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post #10 of 18
12/10/07 at 5:29pm
This is a great kid's film and all... but the sheer enthusiasm English twenty-somethings have for it scares me. When I was a student at King's College in Cambridge, the RAs in Spaulding Hostel played this movie almost every single freaking night. The only things they seemed to like more than this film were drinking and smoking.
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post #11 of 18
12/10/07 at 5:31pm
Did the kid make it back to the past or was he stuck with his old parents at the end of the movie? I remember the premise of the film and the kid grooving to the Beach Boys, but that's about it... also, that the ship had really, really cool controls.
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post #12 of 18
12/10/07 at 7:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattioli
Did the kid make it back to the past or was he stuck with his old parents at the end of the movie?
He makes it back, just in time for July 4th fireworks, and with the little orphaned Puckmarin (alien shrew-possum-mole-rat) in his backpack.
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post #13 of 18
12/10/07 at 8:00pm
It's like the 'Mothman Prophecies' for kids!!

Except, years earlier...and without Gere!!
WHO SAYS THE GREYS AREN'T REAL?!?!

THIS WAS THE WAY THEY PLANNED IT!!!
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post #14 of 18
12/10/07 at 10:48pm
I think my favorite part of this movie is the kid flying past the car playing Twisted Sister and saying, "I wonder if that's that Twisted Sister stuff Karen was talking about?"

Out of all the music it could possibly have been OF COURSE it was Twisted Sister. It would've been funny if it had been Falco.
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post #15 of 18
12/17/11 at 7:55pm

Watched this for the first time in maybe twenty years the other day. I didn't remember it taking him half the movie to actually step inside the ship and meet Max. The first half does a solid job of presenting the ship as foreboding and mysterious, and David's plight as truly horrifying without delving into heavy handedness. I like that a hard eight years for David's parents is hinted at, but not shown (obvious plot points could've been alcoholism, divorce, but the movie doesn't go there). 

 

All in all a fun little romp, with hot young Sarah Jessica Parker and an '80s robot, but takes too long for the actual adventure to begin. The tearful farewell between David and Max feels somewhat unearned at the end. Yes they've exchanged memories and personality traits, but they've also only known each other a few hours at that point.

 

Survives nostalgia test. 

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post #16 of 18
12/18/11 at 10:53am

I loved this as a kid. I wonder how modern kids would regard it.

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post #17 of 18
12/19/11 at 3:30pm

Modern kids would react to Twisted Sister the exact same way that David did.

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post #18 of 18
12/19/11 at 3:38pm
I haven't thought about this film in ages. Thanks Bartleby for resurrecting this thread.

It's high time I rewatch this film.

Maybe I'll double feature it with *Batteries not Included
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