Flight of the Navigator

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

The year is 1978: 12-year-old David Freeman (Joey Cramer), playing in the woods near his home, is knocked unconscious. He awakens and heads home, only to find strangers living there. He also finds that the year is 1986, and that he's been officially missing for eight years. NASA officials determine that David was abducted by aliens during his blackout, and hope to scan the boy's brain in order to unlock a few secrets of the universe. Answering the call of a strange, unseen force, David boards a well-hidden spaceship and takes off, guided by the jocular voice of a computer named MAX (voiced by none other than Paul Reubens, aka Pee-Wee Herman). Realizing that he can't fit in to 1986 so long as he's a child of the '70s, David hopes to retrace the steps of his alien abductors and get back to his own time. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Dolby Digital Surround
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Subtitle: Eng/Fre/Spa
• Features:
  • cc
  • French and Spanish subtitles
  • Dolby Digital surround sound
  • Widescreen (1.85:1) enhanced for 16 x 9 televisions

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Joey Cramer - David Freeman
       Veronica Cartwright - Helen Freeman
       Cliff De Young - Bill Freeman
       Sarah Jessica Parker - Carolyn McAdams
       Matt Adler - Jeff Freeman at Age 16
       Howard Hesseman - Dr. Faraday
       Robert Small - Troy
       Albie Whitaker - Jeff Freeman at Age 8
       Arnie Ross - NASA Technician

• Director:

  Randal Kleiser

• Producer:

  Dimitri Villard, Robby Wald

• Screenwriter:

  Michael Burton, John Hill, Matt MacManus, Douglas Day Stewart

• Screen Story:

  Mark H. Baker

• Cinematographer:

  James Glennon

• Composer (Music Score):

  Alan Silvestri

• Editor:

  Jeff Gourson

• Production Designer:

  William J. Creber

• Art Director:

  Michael Novotny

• Co-producer:

  Malcolm R. Harding, David Joseph

• Executive Producer:

  Mark Damon, John W. Hyde, Jonathan Sanger

• Set Designer:

  Scott Jacobson

• Costume Designer:

  Mary Lou Byrd

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Steve Maslow

• Makeup:

  Arthur Goldblatt

• Special Effects:

  Petter Borgli, Peter Donen

• First Assistant Director:

  Peter Bogart

• Camera Operator:

  Craig Haagensen

• Casting:

  Valorie Massalas, Mike Fenton, Jane Feinberg

• Puppeteer:

  Tim Blaney

REVIEW:

• After the box-office and critical success of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, a lot of fantasy adventures about kids and space appeared in theaters in the '80s (such as Explorers, D.A.R.Y.L., and Spacecamp). Disney's Flight of the Navigator is no exception, borrowing the plot of a put-upon kid befriending an alien life form; in this case, it's a flying spaceship named MAX, voiced by Paul Reubens. Director Randal Kleiser doesn't hide the similarities to E.T., even using the phrase "phone home" in the dialogue. The story begins in an interesting direction like an episode of the Twilight Zone, then it quickly falls into place with the other '80s sci-fi kids movies, complete with a space adventure that causes the young boy to gain confidence and return to the loving acceptance of his traditional American family. The special effects and flying scenes are standard fare, a bit repetitive, but mostly just harmless fun for youngsters. Lighthearted and not very emotionally resonant, Flight of the Navigator may be memorable for fans of Sarah Jessica Parker, who appears in a brief role. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi