El vuelo del navegante

This movie is an entertaining fantasy, but there's quite a bit more to it just beneath the surface. The protagonist is a 12-y/o kid raised, as most are in Western culture, to be incompetent, overly dependent on adults, and untrusting of his own judgment. When he finds himself aboard an alien spacecraft, he naturally first attempts to transfer that dependency to the robotic pilot Max, which, all-seeing eye and all, represents the omniscient grown-up. As time goes on, though, David begins to realize that: 1) his own interests do not in fact always coincide with Max's, 2)that therefore he must advocate for himself to achieve a favorable outcome, and 3) that he's the one who has to decide just what outcome will best meet his needs. Much unlike most "kid movies," this character shows real growth, and in the end confronts a real moral and personal dilemma. Whether you agree with his choice or not, you have to respect him for what he has become.

Flight of the Navigator is directed by Randal Kleiser and is adapted to screenplay by Michael Burton and Matt MacManus from a story by Mark H. Baker. It stars Joey Cramer, Veronica Cartwright, Cliff De Young, Sarah Jessica Parker, Howard Hesseman and the voice of Paul Reubens. Music is by Alan Silvestri and cinematography is by James Glennon and Eric McGraw.

Young David Freeman (Cramer) is out in the woods near his home in Fort Lauderdale when he falls down a ravine and is knocked unconscious. Waking up he finds that the world around him has advanced by 8 years but he hasn't. After being reunited with his overjoyed parents, it becomes apparent that David has had an encounter with a extra terrestrial life form, which of course greatly interests the authorities...

It's a family friendly sci-fi with a difference, in that it doesn't have to take us into space for its tale, yet this in no way detracts from how enjoyable Flight of the Navigator is. It is told from young David's perspective (with Cramer impressionable), thus it firmly engages the kids in the audience. The relationship between David and the Phaleon computer system (Reubens) engages with witty chatter and educational purpose, and the effects work should not be taken for granted either. If we are to be picky then the build up is a touch long before the pic goes "extra terrestrial", and Cartwright and De Young are barely given time to impact as parents coming to terms with a family life turned upside down. But small complaints really and this is a lovely film, one that isn't just for 1980s nostalgists. 7/10

For the fist time I saw Flight of The Navigator when I was a kid, nearly twenty years ago. I remember young soviet kids flocked into the theaters to see a strange American movie and somehow taped it but too many time has passed and all these years it was like a rather unclear distant memory for me, a distant memory of something pretty good and even beautiful. Since then I was unable to find it and watch it again and only recently I caught in on a cable TV channel. Despite being twenty seven years old now I still liked it a lot.

Flight of The Navigator is a very good Sci-fi family movie despite (or some people could say thanks to) it is not as overloaded by the special effects as most of such modern movies. That left enough place not only for pure entertainment bit also for emotions and some pretty nice scenes with rather good dialogs. It the story of an eleven years old boy, who after a strange and quite inexplicable contact with something looked like an alien ship got moved through the time into future several years ago, which passed for him like a couple of hours. In this future he takes an adventure to find an explanation what really happened with him. Flight of The Navigator is a very enjoyable movie for whole family, which deserves much more appreciation than overwhelming majority of recent family movies.

9 out of 10

Fun sci-fi family movie about a twelve year-old boy (Joey Cramer) who disappears and returns eight years later, still twelve years old and unaware he's been missing. At the same time, NASA finds a spaceship but are unable to open it. NASA attempts to hold the boy against his will, but he escapes on board the spaceship. Paul Reubens is great as the voice of Max, the ship's computer.

This is an awesome '80s movie. A good story told with nice special effects and lots of heart. The cast is terrific. In addition to Cramer and Reubens, there's Sarah Jessica Parker in an early role, Veronica Cartwright and Cliff De Young as the boy's parents, and Howard Hesseman as the film's antagonist.

Flight of the Navigator is one of those terrific adventure films for kids, even after all these years. It also falls into a long line of fun 80s sci-fi/adventure family movies.

Davey (Joey Cramer) goes into the woods looking for his little brother one evening in 1978. When he wakes up after a brief period of unconsciousness, he turns into a scientific marvel. Nothing is as Davey remembers it, but he can't figure out why because he only fell asleep for a brief period.

Davey is told that his parents reported the young boy missing in 1978, the evening that he went searching in the woods for his younger brother, referring to the incident in the past tense because it is 1985. Only Davey is still exactly the same age and everything he was from 1978, while time has passed for everyone else. His little brother is now his big brother (Matt Adler). His parents are old. Everyone is confused and the scientific world find the situation fascinating.

The scientists turn Davey into their personal guinea pig, running tests and probing him and all that junk. And soon they discover, that Davey was abducted. Davey, understandably a confused little kid, can't figure out what's going on and he sure doesn't want to be locked up in some lab where people prod at him all day long and tell him very little. So, he breaks lose, and hops aboard the spaceship that took him through time before. While it is an escape from the scientists and their security (briefly), it also holds the answers to what happened to him. It is also an opportunity for Davey to learn everything from this spaceship. And a kid's movie isn't complete without personifying inanimate objects. The spaceship is essentially controlled by Max, which is like it's CPU, a CPU with a cool sense of humor who likewise tries to learn about human emotions and condition from his passenger, Davey.

Filmed around Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, it is still a cool movie for kids...teenagers...whatever, having a little bit of something for everyone. Great humor, cool special effects, and the like.