As a kids movie, this one is definitely one of the better ones out there. This is simply stuff that the kids will enjoy watching. It tells the entire story from the viewpoint of a 12 year old boy, which means that the entire perception of the world and the people that are living in it are also costumed to that of a 12 year old. And I like that in all honesty. It's what makes this a good kids movie, which makes me wish more movies would had picked this approach. Hollywood these days seems to have no idea what kids like and how they should market and make movies for them. Just go back to some '80's movies and take notes.
But having said all that, this movie is definitely not a great one. It had really a potentially great and adventurous concept but the movie did far too little with all of it. There is just not a whole lot happening in this movie movie. Story- and character-wise it's a quite poorly developed one. There is no villain, there is no real danger or conflict and the good original ideas that this movie had did not get developed or wrapped up properly. If the entire movie had been more like its first half the movie and its story could had really gone somewhere good and interesting. It could had been an "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" kind of movie, which this movie also seemed to have been really 'inspired' by in the first place. But instead of developing some more depth and interesting real emotions, the movie decides that it would be fun to set the movie aboard a spaceship, that's flying around the world, without ever letting anything exciting or tense happen.
The story just doesn't make much sense. Not that that seems to matter much for a kids movie but it of course does. Children are not stupid and they just don't take anything for granted, which is something this movie doesn't really always seem to take in consideration with its story. They didn't put enough effort in it, which makes the movie a mostly bland one.
Nevertheless the movie remains a fun, light one, especially for kids, since of its approach, that tells the story from the viewpoint and perspective of an 12 year old. Therefore I can say that the movie serves its purpose and for the right audience it's simply being a good one.
It's also a real decent looking one. It's a Disney movie, who always knows how to spend some real money on these type of movies. The fact that this movie had the money and the backing of a big studio behind them means that this movie can do more than the usual average one, within this genre. They did not only got some big name actors to star in this movie but they also spend some money on its good looking effects. When you take into consideration that this is an 1986 movie. you have to conclude that the special effects in this movie were being quite good for its time. So nothing wrong with its cast or crew basically.
It's good and entertaining enough throughout, especially for kids but yet it seemed to had some far more potential, which got wasted by a below par and not adventurous or fun enough script.
6/10
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