Flight Of The Navigator
Flight of the Navigator (1986)
Image From IMDB
A young kid takes a joyride across the world in a spaceship while playing with a pet alien puppet and having a laugh with the onboard crazed computer, it’s no wonder I loved this movie so much when I was younger. It’s been a long time however since I last watched Flight of the Navigator, and as an adult, I have to say… it still retains all its magic.
It was made back when Disney still believed in creativity. When kids movies could be daring and risky. When a child could be in peril for more than a couple of seconds without everyone freaking out. When everything wasn’t spoon fed and explained every step of the way, because structurally, Flight of the Navigator is unlike any kids film i’ve seen.
While going to pick up his young brother twelve year old David falls down a ditch and wakes up eight years later looking exactly the same with no recollection of what’s happened to him, until he starts hearing voices, and tests show that he seems to be somehow linked to a recently discovered spaceship. David just wants to rekindle his relationship with his aged parents and younger/now older brother, but he also needs to know what exactly happened to him.
It’s a fantastic concept, and as mentioned, crazily structured for a kids movie. There’s loads of teases from the offset as to what could be the alien craft, and plenty of time (nearly three quarters of an hour) setting up the story before he even goes near the spaceship. The time jump is done in such a matter-of-fact way that as an audience you don’t know what’s happened, which isn’t very kid friendly at all in normal terms. You really are lost for a while, but very intrigued. (There’s a sound cut on the whistle of a train that is absolutely fantastically subtle, but nowadays would just be considered a mistake rather than incredible film making)
Then comes the spaceship stuff, which is what I and everyone else my age remembers about the film from when we were kids. David bombing along the open plains listening to The Beach Boys. Stopping off to ask Big Al for directions. Calling the kids in the car geeks. The alien computer mooing at the cows. Shooting upwards into space to get twenty miles away form the NASA guys. The adorable puppets on the ship. It all still feels amazing, and looks pretty damn good for the time as well.
The ship is an early example of CGI, but there’s also a lot of practical effects with rear and front projection, model work, puppets, possibly some stop motion, robots delivering mail. Plenty of fun camera work and ok performances. The ships computer isn’t as annoying as it should be and actually strikes up a great relationship with David making you care.
It really is a wonderful movie, and not just for nostalgic purposes. The movie has heart, without really making anyone the villain. You have the NASA guys somewhat manipulating David, but they never hurt him. The parents are kind. The younger brother is annoying in that way that younger brothers are, but has David’s back when he’s older. It’s just a very sweet sci-fi adventure kids movies, and I really wish films like this still got made now as I can’t think of any modern equivalents despite some things being obviously inspired by it (looking at you Star Wars Skeleton Crew)
I hear rumours from time to time of a remake of Flight of the Navigator, and for once i’m actually kind of for it (if they do it justice) It’s a cool story that I think kids would still enjoy if the heart is kept in the movie. For now however, i’d highly recommend checking out the original as it really is a lovely film.
