Flight of the Navigator (1986)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Randal Kleiser

Writers:

Mark H. Baker (writer)
Michael Burton (writer)

Release Date:

30 July 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Come along on the greatest adventure of the summer!

Plot:

In 1978, a boy is moved 8 years into the future and has an adventure with the alien ship that is responsible for that.

Plot Keywords:

Independence Day | 1970s | Frisbee | 1980s | Brain Scan

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Joey Cramer	...	David Scott Freeman
Paul Reubens	...	Trimaxion / Max (voice) (as Paul Mall)
Veronica Cartwright	...	Helen Freeman
Cliff De Young	...	Bill Freeman
Sarah Jessica Parker	...	Carolyn McAdams
Matt Adler	...	Jeff Freeman, 16 Years
Howard Hesseman	...	Dr. Faraday
Robert Small	...	Troy
Albie Whitaker	...	Jeff Freeman, 8 Years
Jonathan Sanger	...	Dr. Carr
Iris Acker	...	Mrs. Howard
Richard Liberty	...	Mr. Howard
Raymond Forchion	...	Detective Banks
Cynthia Caquelin	...	Woman Officer
Ted Bartsch	...	Night Guard Brayton

Also Known As:

The Navigator (Norway)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA | Norway

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:G | UK:U | USA:TV-PG (cable rating) | New Zealand:G | Norway:7 | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | USA:PG | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Florida, USA

Company:

New Star

Trivia:

Reference to _E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)_: David gets out of the spaceship at the gas station to "phone home".

Goofs:

Continuity: While first looking at the road map on board the ship, David is shown chewing a piece of the Nestle Crunch bar that he bought at the gas station. The next shot shows the bar close-up, but in that shot a bite hasn't been taken out of it yet. When the camera cuts back to a wide shot, the bar once again has large bite missing from it.

Quotes:

Radar operator 1: Japanese air force report sightings of the aircraft above Tokyo sir.
Dr. Faraday: Tokyo?
Radar operator 2: Japanese air force reports the aircraft has left Japanese airspace.
Dr. Faraday: Where's it going now?

Movie Connections:

References Grease (1978)

Soundtrack:

I Get Around

Come along and ride on a fantastic voyage!

Flight of the Navigator is one of those terrific adventure films for kids, even after all these years. It also falls into a long line of fun 80s sci-fi/adventure family movies.

Davey (Joey Cramer) goes into the woods looking for his little brother one evening in 1978. When he wakes up after a brief period of unconsciousness, he turns into a scientific marvel. Nothing is as Davey remembers it, but he can't figure out why because he only fell asleep for a brief period.

Davey is told that his parents reported the young boy missing in 1978, the evening that he went searching in the woods for his younger brother, referring to the incident in the past tense because it is 1985. Only Davey is still exactly the same age and everything he was from 1978, while time has passed for everyone else. His little brother is now his big brother (Matt Adler). His parents are old. Everyone is confused and the scientific world find the situation fascinating.

The scientists turn Davey into their personal guinea pig, running tests and probing him and all that junk. And soon they discover, that Davey was abducted. Davey, understandably a confused little kid, can't figure out what's going on and he sure doesn't want to be locked up in some lab where people prod at him all day long and tell him very little. So, he breaks lose, and hops aboard the spaceship that took him through time before. While it is an escape from the scientists and their security (briefly), it also holds the answers to what happened to him. It is also an opportunity for Davey to learn everything from this spaceship. And a kid's movie isn't complete without personifying inanimate objects. The spaceship is essentially controlled by Max, which is like it's CPU, a CPU with a cool sense of humor who likewise tries to learn about human emotions and condition from his passenger, Davey.

Filmed around Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, it is still a cool movie for kids...teenagers...whatever, having a little bit of something for everyone. Great humor, cool special effects, and the like.