Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
80s Classic 'Great Fun For Both Kid's And Parents..., 22 Sep 2006
Another Spielberg-ian family film from director Joe Dante, although unlike his previous film, Gremlins, it isn't produced by Steven Spielberg's production house, despite its very derivative leanings. Dante has claimed that his film was never quite finished, with the studio dumping it into theaters before it was quite ready for release. Dante subsequently revisited the film, adding an extra scene he had filmed, removing others in the home video release years later. Even with the production problems, the story holds together remarkably well, and it is even a modestly enjoyable experience, helped tremendously by quality casting.
Explorers marks the big screen debuts of two future stars, Ethan Hawke who also stars in movie's such as (Mystery Date, Before Sunrise) and River Phoenix (The Last Crusade, Sneakers), who, along with Jason Presson (Lady in White, The Stone Boy), make up the three young boys with a thirst for adventure and scientific exploration. In their dreams the boys have a connection to a circuit board that they eventually use to build their own little hovering spacecraft, thanks to the help of a strange spherical energy capsule that they use their apple llc and a 9-volt battery to control. The makeshift spaceship gets them into all sorts of adventures, before culminating in a close encounter with aliens from outer space Oooooo lol
Fans of Joe Dante will recognize many of his trademark elements, starting with the aforementioned alliance with the wide-eyed outlook commonly associated with Steven Spielberg's style of filmmaking. Dante also pays many homages to early animators and cinematic influences stemming from a lifelong love of B-Movies, cartoons, and 1950s television. He also continues to employ a plethora of in-jokes for the adults to wax nostalgic over, while still dishing up enough exciting visual elements to keep the kiddies entertained in the audience.
While Explorers is a simplistic and not terribly mind-expanding adventure, it retains a likeability through good characterizations and a sense of fun. 'im in my late 20s and i still love this movie' In many ways, Dante reversed the trend that he had started in the much more malevolent Gremlins by imbuing his characters and situations with a good deal of sweetness, which comes off as genuine and innocent. Like other Spielbergian influenced films, this one is all about the fulfillment of one's boyhood dreams in a time when we all believed that anything could happen.
Despite the finer qualities, the patience for some members of the viewing audience will start to wane when the overly cutesy aliens are introduced, spewing out gags that are neither funny nor necessary. The costume and set design are also not altogether viscerally appealing, which probably resulted in frustration for the marketers of the film who probably wanted cute little creatures that every boy and girl would want to own a doll of. As a result, the film tanked at the box office, but it has gained a small following over the years among people nostalgic for the family films of the mid-1980s, such as The Goonies and Stand By Me.
All in all i wouldnt be without this movie, it's fun very entertaining and great for those sunday afternoon's if you like the goonies & stand by me then your collection wouldnt be complete without 'the explorers by it now or forever regret it.. lol if u do enjoy =)
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An often overlooked treasure, 12 Aug 2006
The eighties managed to churn out some of the greatest and most enduring children's films that thus far have gone completely unmatched in their dreamlike quality as well as the sheer integrity of the story, The Goonies and Stand By Me are very good examples of such and the Explorers manages to fall under exactly the same thread.
The story in short is about a group of boys, who following the technical displays that appear in the dreams of romanticistic Ben construct a device that they soon realise can transport them wherever they like. Though the boys soon learn that these plans that Ben "dreams" must be coming from somewhere.
In all honesty this film really is an absolute treasure that for some unknown reason has not managed to maintain as high a popularity as some of the other films in its category. Its very dreamlike and innocent quality is something that I simply do not think kid films can get away with nowadays, especially with reference to Ben who is such a sweethearted dreamer of the sort that I think we can all relate to when we were young.
Maybe I am going through a phase where I am wanting to recover all of the films that I remember seeing as a kid, or maybe just remember what it felt like to be a kid. This film is certainly filled with a magic that should not ever be overlooked.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great film, although the ending was somwhat "Alien"..., 18 Oct 2004
I first saw this film when I was 12 or so... I rate it as one of the films which gave me an interest in science, electronics and computers... I love this film, although I've always thought the end was a bit odd (Very clever, and tries to get across an interesting point, but strange none the less).. I've always wanted to own a copy, it's like a window into my childhood.. If you like this one, also concider D.A.R.Y.L (Also unreleased, but on the way I understand), Weird Science, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
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