David Freeman (Joey Cramer) is an average twelve-year old boy until one day he disappears. Eight years later he is back, but has not aged a day, much to the bemusement of his parents (Cartwright and De Young) and the local authorities. Perhaps that shiny spacecraft that came down in the night had something to do with it...
by William Thomas |
Published on
Release Date:
01 Jan 1986
Running Time:
90 minutes
Certificate:
PG
Original Title:
Flight of the Navigator
Another sci-fi fantasy where the hero of the piece is a normal boy on the brink of the journey into adulthood, at least Flight of the Navigator inverts the usual pre-teens dilemma. Here our boy doesnt age a day, and sees some of the untold mysteries of the universe, whilst his parents have been going about their day-to-day cornball lives.
Thanks to canny casting (its hard to look at Veronica Cartwright without remembering the horrors of Alien, whilst Joey Cramer is the epitome of fresh-faced), a decent sprinkling of genre in-jokes and just enough visual wizardry, the Navigator is pleasant and well-made enough to keep the family happy, but it certainly wont challenge them.
Never brave enough to feel far-reaching (or, ironically, far-fetched, when time-travel and space flight are so popular at the movies), Navigator still fulfills its mission, distracting the family for bang-on an hour and a half.
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