MIKE SAYS of the movies we've seen so far, Explorers is probably the one I remembered the least, aside from a few snippets, and an odd enlargement of a few small details. For example, I had in my mind that the boys stumbled onto a game show recreation for their benefit. After watching the film again, I see that memory is false; however, I can also see where it came from.
With Goonies, Monster Squad, Lost Boys, and many, many more, the teen ensemble was something of an 80's motif, with the kids using their smarts and pop culture knowledge to defeat the bad guys. This approach was so successful that it exists today, in many ways as a direct homage to this era (See Super 8). While some of these films are definitely more popular and successful than others, the fun of these films was the ability to see yourself, with your own friends, out having an adventure.
I'll admit it now . . . I remember watching every single one of these films on our VCR in our living room. Video renting was a mid-80's phenomenon, and we lived across the street from a rental store.
Explorers actually has a fun approach, and a great payoff. The step-by-step process of learning what they need to finally head into space is great stuff, with fun little episodes of silliness leading up to a big finale. The reveal of the aliens as kids is one of the few things I remembered about the film, though the musical number was a complete surprise.
Films like these always minimize the roles of the parents, but something I liked about this film was that while the parents themselves are very much absent, their impact on the children, and the importance of the parents in their lives, is readily apparent. These kids think, act, and believe as they do because of their parents' influence . . . whether to emulate or rebel depends on the kid.
This leads to a great payoff when the boys realize that the "Space Pirate" is actually The Dad by nothing but body language. The parent/child relationship is pretty universal. The plot itself is fairly simple, though there are a couple plot lines, such as the police officer, that get dropped with no real resolution. While I understand that the kids needed some motivation to get into space, some background on the cop, and maybe his childhood dreams of exploration, would have helped give his behavior some closure and purpose.
Despite the era, the special effects are actually pretty fun, though a little choppy. The make-up is pretty well done, and I LOVED Robert Picardo's performance (both in costume and out in his fun cameo at the drive in).
I think the biggest impact the movie had on me when I was a kid was the idea of childhood being a universal concept. We rebel, act out, and explore our world as we grow up. It was kind of cool for me to think that somewhere, across the Universe, there was another kid getting in trouble for the same things I was.
KATE SAYS amazingly enough, this is another 80's movies I hadn't seen! However, I immediately recognized the genre--ah, the 80's popularity of early adolescent boys: Gremlins, Goonies, Stand by Me.
And I admit, I find boy ensembles easier to watch than girl ensembles. THE young teenage girls' movie of the 90's was The Babysitters' Club (which we are not watching for this list). It actually isn't half-bad, but it involves crying and hugs and babies and pink things.
The most attractive thing about teenage boys' movies isn't just the adventure aspect of the films but the way the characters talk, that kind of "oh, yeah, this is Darren" off-handedness. You see this in Hope & Glory when the kids start blithely cheering because their school got bombed. It isn't that girls can't or don't talk this way but that movie male teenagers tend to do it more.
The movie uses a classic approach--introduce a new friend to whom things need to be explained. This sounds glib, but it is actually really, really smart (would that Lucas had remembered how to do this).
The beginning of the movie is quite believable to me. I grew up the youngest of seven after two sisters and four brothers. Remember Sid from Toy Story? That guy is my brothers. Explorers gives us the same kid, only positively rather than negatively. My brothers made go-carts, welded stuff, fixed television sets, burnt ants, made Lego planes and tested them, etc. etc. etc. Trailing behind the youngest brother by four years, I totally would have believed they could build a spaceship if the idea had ever been mooted. Why not?
The movie gets slightly less interesting once the boys get into space and eventually, downright strange. I got a kick out of the premise: after all, who would teenagers meet when they went into space but other teenagers? (And how totally normal would it be for them to want to continue the friendship in a "hey, can we come over?" kind of way.) But I didn't reach the end of the movie thinking, "They accomplished their dreams!" They went into space and space . . . turned out to be pretty much like home. Wouldn't they have accomplished the same goals if they'd met a couple of kids next door?
Setting aside the ending, the first hour completely convinced me of the title. Maybe it is just more interesting when explorers don't reach their destinations!
I do have to mention the endearing innocence of these 80's movies. Explorers is PG for language "and a brief scene with a beer" (my emphasis). 80's movies also seem completely content just to tell a story. There's no big PC message. Movies of the 80's are sort of like the realism school of literature before it got all serious and upset about factory conditions: here's life! How interesting!
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