Spec's DooYoo Review: Flight of the Navigator (Flight Of The Navigator (DVD))

Member Name: speculator

Product:	Flight Of The Navigator (DVD)
Date:	04/12/00 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good cast, great SPFX for 1986

Disadvantages: It's a kids film - the plot is very simplistic

A young boy goes for a walk, and when he gets home he discovers that
8 years have passed. His parents [Cliff De Young and Veronica Cartright] are overjoyed, but naturally curious as to what happened.

Meanwhile, the US Government has recovered a crashed UFO. Howard
Hesseman [ ] plays the scientist in charge of researching the UFO. He
has the boy taken into government care, to establish what happened to
him. Sarah Jessica Parker is a friendly intern at the base who
introduces the kid to 1980s inventions like music videos and
different varieties of Coca-Cola.

The kid manages to get aboard the UFO, and flies off it. This is the core of the film: we get to see the UFO fly around thanks to some then-groundbreaking SPFX. The UFO has a kid-friendly AI and a menagerie of cute beasties collected from distant worlds.

The moral of the story? Well, one kid's selfishness is more important
than mankind's progress to the stars. Also, because the ending has an easy get-out clause the real issues the film evokes do not have to be answered.

Summary: