Kid’s movies are hard to judge because I am not sure to watch it as a mature adult or let the inner kid in me to tell you about it. But good movies should not matter who watches it, it should be just good. But not all movies can be that good, so watching “Explorers” was going to be a surprise for me. Due to the fact that I wasn’t sure how this movie was going to turn out. I love the 80’s and kid’s movies so it can’t be that bad, the fun stuff after the jump.
The movie starts off with Ben (Ethan Hawke) waking up from a bad dream, he sees a circuit board which he reproduces on a piece of paper. Right after getting a good drawing down, he calls his genius friend Wolfgang (River Phoenix) to tell him about his dream. Where after they figure out that this circuit board is the basis for a spacecraft, they build it to have some fun space adventure. The two invite Ben’s new friend Darren, the tough guy to fly along. But with the cops suspicious and right on their tail, they decide to go for it all. They fly into space into a space ship, get into some awesome adventures and even meet aliens.
Here we have the gang with the friendly aliens.
I would like to start off and say that I wish I saw this when I was 8. I would of easily of enjoyed it a lot more. The biggest problem with this movie is that the humour and story really target kids. The jokes are goofy and childish, and I would bet that most kids would find this funny. I did not, it was boring and very bland. The humour wasn’t too unique, most I’ve seen from other movies and cartoons so I did not get a rise out of that. And same goes with the story, nothing ever really entertained me about it. It was just another boring linear kid’s story. They find something, figure how to use it, get into an adventure, they learn how to be great friends, get into a conflict and get out of it. Very boring stuff here.
Now we get to the acting, and I generally don’t expect a lot from child actors, because they're kids. But I found this strong hatred for Ben, not sure if it was because of Hawke or the character himself. I just resented the kid, he should be having the time of his life but he seems bored through the movie. What I did really enjoy were the aliens. They would learn English by watching TV, and communicate by repeating famous quotes from popular culture. Most of the quotes were well timed and brought back some nostalgia. But it was too little too late.
Don't you hate when an UFO disturbs you while watching a drive in movie?!
The CGI was typical 80's, pretty terrible and it did show it's age. Though I didn't really hate it, just excused it. The thing that bothered me the most was the lack of imaginative spacecraft. They do build it out of scratch, but did the kids not have an imagination to at least try to make it look cool. By far the spaceship in "Flight of the The Navigator" was 100 times better.
I found this movie to be more boring than anything. It can be best described as the most general kid’s movie I have ever seen. Besides Ethan Hawke, I really didn’t hate anything in the movie; it was just nothing got me interested. I am sure I would of enjoy this a lot more as a kid, but after seeing better kid’s movies, this was mediocre. A depressing point, this 80’s film barely had anything fun about the 80’s in it. And I generally dig those cool 80’s habits in movies, even the CGI was terrible for its time.
Ooooh! Speaking of movies you saw as a child and wonder if they would've held up, I'm wondering if you ever saw Warriors Of Virtue? If I recall correctly, this teenage kid falls down a sewer or a well or something like that and ends up in a place with humanoid kangaroos that know kung fu and each controls a specific element (earth, wind, fire, water).
ReplyDeleteOr, I was wondering if you've ever seen Surf Ninjas? Basically two kids that are basically royalty get whisked off an island but they're too young to remember this. But the dude that controls the island finds out they're still alive and the kids old guardian tracks them down to protect them and for some strange reason the younger kid can control the guardian with this video game he plays on his Sega Game Gear.
A note I'd like to make about the spaceship the kids make and you have the screenshot of it in front of the drive-in theater screen. The main body of it is made out of an old carnival ride, which I don't think are really around anymore. But when I was a kid, and I did see this movie when I was around 8 or possibly younger, I would then go to the carnival when it came to town and I could go on those rides and sit in that exact same big seat and it was like it was a space ship. It was so cool. The ship they make has the same kinda look and quality that a tree fort in your backyard would have. Or the secret club you made with your friends in the woods. That home-made junk yard kinda look. You say now that they didn't make it cool, but it was the coolest looking thing in the world when I was a kid! ;)
ReplyDeleteone of my favourit movies!!!
ReplyDelete