Saturday, November 30, 2024

Flight of the Navigator (1986)

I'd heard of this title a few times and knew it to have had a moderately warm reception. When I saw it listed on Disney+, I figured it promised to be uplifting (in more ways than one) and appealing to '80s nostalgia. And short, at 90 minutes.

In Fort Lauderdale in 1978, unaccompanied 12-year-old David (Joey Cramer) falls into a ravine. When he wakes up, eight years have passed, yet he doesn't look or sound any older. Furthermore, he subconsciously has a telepathic connection with computers. A NASA official (Howard Hesseman) soon links him to a captured ET spaceship, which must have transported him at ultra-relativistic speed to an uncharted planet, where his brain was augmented. David doesn't like being taken to a national-secret government stronghold for study, so he sneaks out to the craft -- which opens only for him. A robot in control (Paul Reubens), whom David nicknames Max, identifies him as the navigator. Max needs to copy backup records from David's brain in order to go home; in return, Max promises to drop David off where he wants. Of course, NASA wants them both back....

Some of those details come from about halfway through the movie, if not later. What can I say? It gets off to a slow start, and I don't want to leave you wondering how the villain-free conflict comes together. It took me a while to understand why the aliens did what they did. Mostly, the story seems a slim excuse to show a kid flying advanced tech, for young viewers' vicarious enjoyment. As much as I appreciate the valid use of relativity theory, the writing overall isn't very smart, as by relying on the 10% brain myth.

I'm afraid David doesn't explore space exactly. He never goes further than 20 miles above the Earth's surface, and he doesn't even mean to do that. He'd rather just zip around where lots of humans can see. Maybe he dreads another time skip.

Nor does he get to meet any of the aliens who enhanced him, assuming Max isn't one of them. The only organic beings on board besides David are Muppety nonsapient passengers abducted for other research, who are usually kept out of sight and have no bearing on the plot. Good thing Max is well-intentioned and charismatic even when at odds with the navigator, tho you might not like when Reubens switches to a Pee-wee imitation for much of the third act. (He was credited as "Paul Mall" in order to surprise the audience.)

I did take some interest in the early premises, not least when long-gone David reunites with his parents (Veronica Cartwright and Cliff DeYoung) and no longer younger brother, Jeff (Albie Whitaker, then Matt Adler). Previously, the boys did not get along, and we were to see Jeff as the bigger jerk, but all resentment has dissipated at this point. Pretty sweet amid all the pained confusion. David also makes a new friend in a NASA intern (Sarah Jessica Parker), who enables his escape.

FotN makes for sporadic fun. Its 6.9 on IMDb is about right. I don't particularly recommend it, but if you have a little time to kill without deep engagement, it's not a bad choice.

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