Kind of a ... simple movie in a lot of ways - a kid dreams (hallucinates?) a spaceship, he teams up with a kid who sort of saves him from bullies and his science whiz-kid friend (the Quintessential "Hey, why don't you sell one of your inventions you seemed to make offhandedly and make millions but you wont cause Movie" kid character) and they... Build it, and fly around, and then go off to another world.
This is a perk because it allows Dante's fun to come out (and that Jerry Goldsmith score, goodness gracious), but I also could have used more... Personality from these kids, past their single defining traits (which they play fine, but it's not anything past that). And while I don't see in the storytelling per-say, as far as story construction, that Dante didn't get to finish his cut (not that it was tampered with, it just got released before tweaks were done), there is a "and then..and then...and then" quality that makes it basic on the level of a children's book, and I do see it in some of the VFX in places.
(In the interest of full disclosure, this wasn't a movie I saw as a kid and kept inside of me all my life like the Gremlins movies, I'm seeing it now as a grown man so what interests me more is the largely background familial stuff, how the kids are from varying households, and the occasional satirical touch from Dante, so take that as a grain of salt - albeit I think this probably holds up better than The Goonies which is from the same year and the same ballpark of Kid Wonderment fantasy).
It certainly has its sweet charms, I think Ethan Hawke right away had an engaging screen presence (as far as untrained child actors go). and as I said Dick Miller is perfect in every second of his allotted screen time. And the more it sinks in, I enjoy the message more about why the aliens are how they are; come to think of it, it has more in common with The Twilight Zone than your typical 80s coming of age saga. So in other good news, it starts as a kids fantasy sci-fi, and in the last third becomes a weird subversion of alien encounter stories.
Speaking of which, this is also one of those times I wish the credits had been at the end and not the beginning as I had no idea Rob Bottin was the effects artist until the opening credits... And made me just itching in anticipation for when they'd show up. Luckily, they didn't disappoint.
This is a perk because it allows Dante's fun to come out (and that Jerry Goldsmith score, goodness gracious), but I also could have used more... Personality from these kids, past their single defining traits (which they play fine, but it's not anything past that). And while I don't see in the storytelling per-say, as far as story construction, that Dante didn't get to finish his cut (not that it was tampered with, it just got released before tweaks were done), there is a "and then..and then...and then" quality that makes it basic on the level of a children's book, and I do see it in some of the VFX in places.
(In the interest of full disclosure, this wasn't a movie I saw as a kid and kept inside of me all my life like the Gremlins movies, I'm seeing it now as a grown man so what interests me more is the largely background familial stuff, how the kids are from varying households, and the occasional satirical touch from Dante, so take that as a grain of salt - albeit I think this probably holds up better than The Goonies which is from the same year and the same ballpark of Kid Wonderment fantasy).
It certainly has its sweet charms, I think Ethan Hawke right away had an engaging screen presence (as far as untrained child actors go). and as I said Dick Miller is perfect in every second of his allotted screen time. And the more it sinks in, I enjoy the message more about why the aliens are how they are; come to think of it, it has more in common with The Twilight Zone than your typical 80s coming of age saga. So in other good news, it starts as a kids fantasy sci-fi, and in the last third becomes a weird subversion of alien encounter stories.
Speaking of which, this is also one of those times I wish the credits had been at the end and not the beginning as I had no idea Rob Bottin was the effects artist until the opening credits... And made me just itching in anticipation for when they'd show up. Luckily, they didn't disappoint.