Flight Of The Navigator (1986, Dir. Randal Kleiser)
Synopsis:
David Freeman (Joey Cramer) falls into a ravine and is knocked unconscious after going out to look for his younger brother in 1974. When he awakes, seemingly just a short time later, someone else is living in his parent’s house and the police tell him he’s been missing for 8 years. A crashed UFO has been discovered by Dr Faraday (Howard Hesseman)and his team, nearby and he begins to suspect that there might be a link between David and the UFO that would explain where he’s been for the past 8 years and why he hasn’t aged at all. Faraday convinces David’s parents to let him study David at the military base, where they have the crashed UFO, for 48 hours. Whilst there, David realizes that UFO is trying communicate with him. He eventually escapes in the UFO, which he names ‘Max’, in an attempt to find out what’s happened to him and have a chance at getting back to 1974.
For the penultimate film in my series on underrated Sci-fi, I’ve chosen a film that I saw as a child, but didn’t really appreciate until quite recently. Flight Of The Navigator appears to be a standard family Sci-fi film, a late entry in what had become a burgeoning genre by the end of the 80s; thanks in the most part to the phenomenal success of E.T. Both this film and the next film I’ll be looking at, Explorers, were clear attempts at melding some of that film’s elements with Close Encounters and another new 80s genre: the kids adventure movie — typified by films such as The Goonies.
What makes Flight Of The Navigator stand out from some of the other films, made around the same time, is how it chooses to tell its story and, in particular, what stood out for me re-watching it as an adult, is how dark the initial setup of the narrative seems. Can you think of another kids sci-fi movie which puts the chief protagonist into such a scary situation such as the one facing David in this film, where he suddenly discovers he’s been missing for 8 years? That’s a bold move for a children’s film, which also sets up some nice bits of science (faster than light travel, earth time vs space time) as part of the movie’s plot — but that’s also quite an ambitious bit of plotting for younger viewers (Since rediscovering the film again, I’ve now introduced my kids to it — who love it, but there were a lot of questions on first viewing). For me, this is a textbook example of how kids movies from the 80s treated their audience far more intelligently than kids films do these days. They also weren’t afraid to let the story dip into slightly darker territory at times.
The script is sharp and pacy — it also has a nice ring of truth to it, helped by some fine and naturalistic performances by the supporting cast. Of particular note are Veronica Cartwright (Alien) and Cliff De Young as David’s parents and Howard Hesseman (best know to viewers of my age as the teacher in tv’s Head Of The Class) as Dr Faraday, the scientist trying to discover the connection between David and the crashed UFO. His is a particularly interesting character, much like the character played by Peter Coyote in E.T. Set up, initially, as an antagonist for David; he’s not really a bad guy, more simply a character that wants to find out what David knows. It’s interesting character arc and plays it well, alternating between stressed, charming and amusing. Speaking of amusing, it’s funny to spot Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex And The City) in an early role as the quirky waitress/postal delivery clerk on the base where David is being studied.
As with many kids movies, it’s the performance of the child actor or actors on which the movie hangs. In my opinion, Joey Cramer’s performance as David comes a little too close to being an annoying brat as times, to be truly likeable. His best scenes are those near the beginning, when he’s scared and freaking out after discovering he’s been gone for 8 years. His scenes with the Trimaxion ship’s computer (which I didn’t realize until writing this post, had been voiced by Pee Wee Herman himself, Paul Reubens ) are hit and miss. There are some nice moments but like many child actors, his attempts to do broad comedy seem forced and overplayed. This may not have been totally Cramer’s fault, after all this is an American film made in the 80s when kids were expected to be precocious; and whatever the flaws in his performance, it’s not enough to ruin the film, though it might explain why he wasn’t offered many other roles afterwards. Once his career as an actor was more or less over he moved back to Canada. As an adult he’s had several run ins with the law and I was depressed to discover, during the course of writing this post, that he had been arrested for his part in a bank robbery last year.
The film is competently directed by Randal Kleiser, who made a reasonable name for himself as a family film director in the 70s, 80s and 90s. The most notable film on his c.v. being the movie, Grease. Like many of his other films, there’s nothing particularly notable about his work here — it does its job in service of the story, but that’s about all. The score is by Alan Silvestri, best known for his work on films such as Back To The Future, Forrest Gump and Predator. Unusually for someone known for big Hollywood Orchestra movies, Silvestri chose to compose an almost totally electronic score — recorded using the same Synclavier system that he would use for his score to Clan Of The Cave Bear the following year (and which co-incidentally also featured Joey Cramer). A lot of the score, aside from the very cheesy 80s theme tune, is surprisingly moody and spooky for what is supposed to be a kids movie and it adds a nicely serious tone to the film’s more atmospheric or dramatic moments. It’s another interesting facet of an above average kids Sci- Fi movie, that deserves a re-watch; particularly if, like me, you haven’t since you were a kid yourself.
