FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR
US, 1986, 90 minutes, Colour.
Joey Cramer, Paul Reubens, Cliff de Young, Veronica Cartwright, Sarah Jessica Parker, Howard Hesseman.
Directed by Randall Kleiser.
Flight of the Navigator is a pleasing children's fantasy. Produced by the Walt Disney Company, it capitalises on the popularity of Steven Spielberg's perspective on children's adventures. It is a Back to the Future kind of story with an eight-year-old boy going out and coming back home to find that he has not changed, but it is eight years later. There is also a spacecraft and interesting aliens.
The film was directed by Randall Kleiser (Grease, Blue Lagoon, Grandview USA). Joey Cramer seems to enjoy his role as the boy and Veronica Cartwright and Cliff de Young are his parents.
The film was co-produced in Norway and has some enjoyable special effects as well as scenery. However, the film is very American, Florida style - but enjoyable nonetheless.
1. An enjoyable children's and family adventure?
2. The atmosphere of Florida, the recognisable America, David returning and seeing it all eight years later and strangely? The blend of the familiar and the unfamiliar? The importance of the creatures? The special effects? The flying sequences? Musical score?
3. The focus on David in 1978, his parents, sending him out for his brother Jeff, his fall? Regaining consciousness, going home? The impact of finding his home changed, different occupants? The police? The police and their reaction to him and his comments about Jimmy Carter etc.? His going to his parents' new home, his seeing that they had aged? His being lost for eight years? His seeing Jeff and his being older? Going to the hospital for the tests, his brain and its frequency patterns? The computer graphics? The flying saucer? Dr Faraday and his investigations? Further tests, communication? His having travelled faster than light to the planet Phaelon? David and his being restricted in the Centre? The voice? Going to the flying saucer? The occupant and David calling him Max, Max greeting him as the Navigator? The importance of the link-up to David's brain? The Charts, the crash-landing? The occupants of the saucer - the specimens, going to the various planets? The study purposes? David deciding to phone his family, to warn them? The authorities and their confrontation? His decision to go? The importance of the flight, Max's directions, his instincts? His ability to fly the machine? Max leaving him back on Earth? In the ravine? 1978 again? Going to find his family? - But his still having the specimen? The experience for David? The audience sharing the time shift? The changes of perspective?
4. The sketch of David's parents, Florida, 1978, their love for their children, ordinary family activities, picnics etc.? Their ageing, their concern about their son, moving? Jeff and his place in the family, his growing older and his larding it over David? The strange phenomenon of the two brothers? David's parents and their concern? The phone call? Their returning to 1978?
5. Max and the aliens, their mission, the plans for specimens from Earth, the charts and the crash-landing, the computer waves and the need for a brain, travelling faster than light, Max and his invitation to David, the Navigator? The various specimens on board? Max urging David to fly, his success? Max leaving David on Earth?
6. The background of the scientists? Dr Faraday, the experiments and tests? The effect on David? The effect on the scientific world? The pursuit of the space craft? its escape?
7. An enjoyable fantasy? Science and what if… A Boys' Own adventure?
