I saw it 20 years ago once and was looking for it since as I could not remember the title, but could not forget the simple and yet very touching story. The story is about LOVE. a "must see"family movie. i think it is as good as the "Christmas Story", showing that one can have a fairly good childhood even with crazy parents. I love characters in it, the geeky father and agoraphobic mother, the kid who is about to start to suspect that his parents are not as good as "others'". I like the plot of the film that is about a journey to reach the "Craters of the Moon National Park" in Idaho and drive an exact amount of miles to scale the real distance Apollo had to make. the father and son have to go quite a distance from California through Montana to make the miles match. The story gets more interesting as the mother has to overcome her fears to join them, ultimately saving her family and marriage.
While the story presented as a memoir of the child the overt part of the plot is quite simplistic. Yet what actually happens on unspoken level is extremely dramatic and revolutionary, even for just one family. For me it was the key to my enjoyment of the whole film. The simplicity of a road movie reflects just the quality of the childhood memory, deliberately put there to give the film a tone, yet symbolic meaning of it has so many layers. In short, this could be just a dream or fantasy where anything goes and open for the endless interpretations. Especially towards the end of the film things are supposed to get really dreamy and even bizarre.
While the story presented as a memoir of the child the overt part of the plot is quite simplistic. Yet what actually happens on unspoken level is extremely dramatic and revolutionary, even for just one family. For me it was the key to my enjoyment of the whole film. The simplicity of a road movie reflects just the quality of the childhood memory, deliberately put there to give the film a tone, yet symbolic meaning of it has so many layers. In short, this could be just a dream or fantasy where anything goes and open for the endless interpretations. Especially towards the end of the film things are supposed to get really dreamy and even bizarre.
Tell Your Friends