Review for Flight of the Navigator

Flight of the Navigator is about as 80s as you can get. It stands alongside Poice Academy, Beverley Hills Cop and Back to the Future in terms of films that just symbolise the 80s. I was there and I was worried that this film would suffer from age, but it doesn't. In fact it is almost s good as I remember it.

David Freeman (Joey Cramer, who almost looks exactly like Ellen Page from Juno) goes looking for his brother on July 4th 1978. He falls over, after being scared by his dweeb brother and when he recovers and goes back to his house he discovers that his family no longer live there. In fact he later discovers that it is 1986! He discovers that he has been missing all that time, however in a Twilight Zone -feel he has not aged a day.

He is taken in by NASA who want to analyse him, particularly his connection to a craft (possibly the coolest thing I have ever seen) which has been discovered. David is 'held' by the scientists at NASA until he is helped by Carolyn (Sarah Jessica Parker) and he is able to access the ship where he meets Max (voiced by Pee Wee Herman Paul Reubens). This leads him to discover that the reason he has been missing is that he was abducted and David, who Max refers to as The Navigator has all the data from the ship locked in his brain. It appears that a few seconds in space on the ship can be years passed on Earth.

On the ship David encounters a number of creatures that Max has collected over time which are a great mixture of puppet and stop motion (as far as I can tell, this being before CGI). David and Max go on a crazy trip acround the world to help David find his family again. Really all he wants is to go back to 1978.

This film is amazing and as there was no CGI, the way this film was made makes it even more so. The blue screen, puppet and stop motion effects are amazing and anyone who sees the steps melt and disappear will be forgiven for thinking this was the same effect used to created the T-1000 in Terminator 2. It was actually a mixture of stop motion and time delay which is so cool and I defy anyone who doesn't think that.

The story is great and with so many rumours of it being remade it is possibly one of the few films that could actually work. Though saying that, it is still unnecessary as this film is still as enjoyable in 1986 as it is in 2012.

It should be said that the acting is a little ropey at times, with the lead being bland and uninteresting, however the vocal performance of Reubens as Max more than makes up for it.  A few of the one liner references such as 'Twisted Sister who's she?' and his discovery of various new things such as MTV is a little groan worthy, but some such as him asking whether we still have Big Macs in the future is nice.

The only disappointment was the lack of extra features. The commentary by Director Randal Kleiser is fine in general and it sounds like he had fun making the film and pointing out how they created certain shots. However, it would have been more interesting if the writers Mark H. Baker and Michael Burton or the actor who played David, who didn't really do anything after this film had been involved. Some behind the scenes footage or archive pieces would have been nice, but sadly none are featured.

The Flight of the Navigator is an awesome film and even nearly thirty years on it is still a wonderful film that stands the test of time as one of the best kids sci-fi adventures ever created.