Flight of the Navigator (1986)

Nice effects though.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

This movie is crazy, weird and completely original. It was a brilliant idea that was executed in true 80's style. The special effects are terrible yet fantastic. Bright technicolor, dorky clothing and hairstyles. The 80's was one of the worst and the best decades. As a bonus it's also got adorable strange alien creatures.I have never seen anything quite like this before and it had a surprising amount of substance. I even teared up at one point. Don't underestimate how interesting this movie really is. The story is very strong and has a slight comical edge.Recommended if you enjoy movies like Weird Science, Back to the Future and Gremlins.

What's strange about "Flight of the Navigator" is that it's really two different movies, and they work pretty well together. It's marketed as an adventure flick with a boy and his buddy robot spaceship, but that doesn't actually kick in for a good 45 minutes. Up until that point, David Freeman's an unsolved mystery, missing for 8 years, and there's some dramatic subject matter here for a kids movie (Disney, no less).But then they find each other and that's where the movie really gets its footing. Joey Cramer and Paul Reubens have a good working chemistry; Reubens (and some good puppeteering) breathe some real life into Max, I was surprised.This is one of those movies I'd watched a lot as a kid, and still holds up today. Mainly as an '80s movie. Even though David was a prisoner at NASA, they filled his room with some nice merch; that's what you tend to remember about a movie at that age. As an adult I wouldn't mind having his family's waterfront house. And that synth score really sticks out (this is a positive).It's a movie I did not mind revisiting.7/10

When young David is kidnapped by aliens (or, to be more precise, a sentient alien spacecraft, and then dropped off 8 years in the future, everything in his life turns to complete horrible. His relationship with every member of his family has changed, not to mention the military finding him to be of extreme interest. If only the spaceship would kidnap him back, and drop off when he came from...This is a family film with an original premise, some terrific special effects (state of the art at the time, and they still stand up well), and excellent central performances, particularly from Joey Cramer in the central role of the biggest film in his short career.This film gets nearly everything right. Although there is comedy (Paul Reuben's voice performance of spaceship Max), it is not overdone. The relationships and reactions are all spot on, and the story really works.Recommended.

omg. omg. every time i watch stuff like this i feel like 'StarSearch' is back on television and it's the 80's all over again. this movie is even better than i remember it. as usual, another under-appreciated Disney classic from the much maligned period of the Disney 80's films.the Disney films from the 1980's are usually thought of by most critics and audience fans as underwhelming and forgettable. i'm starting to think that belief couldn't be further from the truth. i've always really liked Disney movies from the 1980's and have tried to defend them to detractors whenever i could. 'The Black Cauldron' and 'The Black Hole' are two of my all time Disney favorites along with the long under-appreciated 'Tron'. i actually would have liked to have given 'Navigator' ten stars since it was so quirky and entertaining, but given the lightness of the approach and subject matter, i felt a eight was probably more realistic. i'm not sure if i'm even right on this because the Disney films of the 1980's just seem to get better and better with each passing time period. i mean heck, if you're a true Disney fan, some of the 80's Disney films were some of the last produced at the Disney studio in Burbank.'Navigator' makes for imaginative children's sci fi and excellent Disney. much of this movie is down right hilarious with a lot of the quirky humour aided and abetted by the fabulous Paul Reubens who strangely is listed as Paul Mall here. the sci fi FX also compete with some of the best CGI to date.if you haven't seen this delightful little Disney gem, then i don't want to spoil the clever fun by revealing to much about it. part of the film's impact is it's element of surprising originality.this really is memorable stuff. and classic Disney. in our recent times when so much seems to have gone to waste morally, it's always a breath of fresh air to see something as wholesome and unoffensive as this in mainstream, media entertainment. there is no swearing, no hint of sexual suggestion, no substance use, and no violence. that prospect might bore most kids today, but their parents would be smart to at least encourage them to try a little with this kind of thing. man does not live by cynicism alone. a little true optimism and wholesome thinking can't hurt. not when times get as morally bankrupt as these. God Bless.