Explorers is still one of the finest and most fun movies from the '80s with amazing storytelling and wonderful characters brilliantly executed with Dante's keen eye for storytelling.Įxplorers makes contact to Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Select with a two Blu-ray Disc set. And it's easy to see the pure genius in the young River and Ethan who even displayed extraordinary acting performances at their young age. Jerry Goldsmith's score is inspiring and grand that accentuates every motive and action in the film with a sense of wonder and amazement as these kids build their spaceship and take their first flight. It was ahead of its time and could have gone a more violent or sinister direction, but instead, Little Richard makes a big appearance in the form of an iconic song. The third act is a bit different than one might expect from this type of film, however, it's highly intelligent for how it executed a first-time meeting with humans and alien life in this certain style of storytelling. With Explorers though, the kids come from all different backgrounds and are inspired by their own fascinations with science that sets this film apart from its contemporaries. There's adventure, thrills, drama, and comedy throughout, much like most Spielberg films that deal with kids. Soon enough, these three start having the same dream where they figure out that some life force from outer space is calling them to come to visit, which leads them to discover life outside of Earth.Įxplorers feels a little like E.T.in parts, but has something different to say, but that Amblin form of entertainment is smack dab in the center of the story where kids are the focal point of some fairly adult situations.
Together they set out to find an old carnival tilt-a-whirl ride at a junkyard and build a spacecraft to explore outer space or at least their local drive-in movie theater. Ben has some vivid dreams where he illustrates what he saw during his sleep, where Wolfgang draws up those images on his Apple II computer that creates a bubble that can move from one location to the next and make into a larger bubble.Īfter Wolfgang and Ben are bullied at school, a classmate named Darren helps them and becomes their third amigo as they realize they can fly in this bubble everywhere. Wolfgang is a nerdy stereotype who would rather skip school to work on his experiments at home where Ben is obsessed with science fiction and outer space comics and television. Joe Dante's Explorers brings Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix to the big screen for their first time as best friends Ben and Wolfgang respectively. Its light-hearted feel mixed with some real-life drama and thrills makes this nostalgic movie still stand the test of time with its Spielberg elements. Director Joe Dante ( Gremlins) took this childhood notion and brought it to the next level in his film Explorers that followed three school friends who build a spaceship and actually fly it to outer space and meet intelligent life. They build makeshift spaceships out of cardboard boxes, turn out the lights, and presented to be in the vast expanse of space. EXPLORERS features highly imaginative special effects and entertaining space creations from George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic.Most kids dream or talk about going into space and seeking out other life and befriending aliens at some point in their young lives. With the help of their new friend (Jason Presson), they create a homemade spacecraft and embark on a secret adventure to another galaxy where they find that things are not always as different as they seem. But one night he has a vivid dream of flying over a space-like circuit board and shares his visions with his best friend Wolfgang (Phoenix), a young scientific genius who is able to translate his dreams into a complex computer program that actually works. Ben Crandall (Hawke) is a young visionary who dreams of space travel while watching late-night B monster movies, pouring over comic books, and playing Galaga in the confines of his bedroom.
Aliens Synopsis This adventurous space tale stars Ethan Hawke (in his film debut at the age of 14) and young star River Phoenix as misfit best friends whose dreams of space travel become a reality when they create an interplanetary spacecraft in their homemade laboratory.