ExplorersIt is a generally accepted truth that young boys dream of adventure. Some boys like Ben Crandall (Ethan Hawke) dream of far away planets and exciting alien species. When Ben literally experiences an alien dream of strange shapes, he puts them to paper, and shares the images with his extra studious friend, Wolfgang (River Phoenix), who discerns that his drawing is a blueprint for a computer board. Between the two boys, and their newest friend, the more grounded Darren (Jason Presson), they discover that the images emergent from the dreams are like a trail of candy, leading them on an interstellar adventure.
|
|
Explorers is an adolescent-targeted fantasy film, where the three boys--outcasts in one way or another--escape their undesirable lives on Earth to play in the stars. The messages which come in their dreams are an invitation to meet with others they presume to be like-minded, choosing them to be the ambassadors from their home world. Although there are momentary glimpses into the world which the boys inhabit, the majority of Explorers deals with their determined effort to realize their literal dreams and understand these cryptic messages, and ultimately take them into the stars, carried (in part, at least) on their own ingenuity. The boys are a little different from one another--Wolfgang is a bit too serious about his intellect, Ben's obsessed with sci-fi and a pretty girl at school named Lori (Amanda Peterson), and Darren's troubles at home have made him a bit cynical--but all three become close knit friends over their interest in producing something special, something bigger than themselves. Each of the boys contributes something to the creation of their spacecraft, which is dubbed "Thunder Road". Their comical inaugural flight over their town is met with stunned onlookers at a drive-in, and even catches the attention of a local helicopter pilot, Charlie (Dick Miller), who we gather envies the kids' opportunity to pursue their galactic dreams in the relatively short time he's a part of the story. He makes mention of having similar, strange dreams, intimating that although Ben might have been one of the first to experience the dreams from on high (or at least he was most receptive to it), that others are being invited in one way or another. Although Explorers focuses primarily on the story of Ben, Wolfgang, and Darren, there is an undercurrent of a kind of collective unconsciousness, a force at work that motivates others in their dream state to visualize these shared thoughts and imagination, hence Charlie's comment, and Wolfgang and Darren's eventual sharing of what was at first presumed to be exclusively Ben's dream. As Ben is arguably the most imaginative of the group, it stands to reason that he is most receptive to the idea of communication via dreams, not missing a beat when he awakens in the middle of the night to jot down the imagery for future reference.
Explorers belongs among other films from the 1980s featuring young boys on an adventure beyond their wildest dreams, including E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and The Goonies, not to mention director Joe Dante's own Gremlins. The style of this film and the dynamic of these outcast boys discovering otherworldly adventure around their quiet home town has been emulated recently by the movies like Super 8 and television shows like "Stranger Things", complete with late-night walkie-talkie conversations and jaunts through misty ravines. The appeal comes from genuine sense of nostalgia that personally, I can identify with from my own childhood...playing out in the yard, running through the woods, imagining all the cool things from comic books and movies on television coming to life. That escapism and the sense that the kids in Explorers are just like I was as a child gives it that instantly familiar vibe. Largely through Ben, Explorers references a variety of other sci-fi films which this film builds from, including Forbidden Planet and War of the Worlds. The irony is that just as Ben's view of other worlds has been influenced by television, the alien life forms he and the others encounter later on have also been influenced about Earth by television. At first glance, Explorers seems to shift gears somewhat dramatically following the trio's encounter with alien life after arriving at their fated destination. They navigate a massive--and even scary--alien star craft, but encounter not grisly or intimidating aliens, but rather silly and playful ones named Wak (Robert Picardo) and Neek (Leslie Rickert), who quote lines from movies and play rock and roll. Their invitation to the boys is, in fact, not all that different than from when Ben invites Darren to join him and Wolfgang at the onset of their experiment to build Thunder Road, a gesture born from benevolence and the spirit of friendship. Furthermore, after spending time with Wak and Neek, it also becomes clear that the Earth-born boys share similarities with the aliens when they learn that the aliens are also "kids", inquisitive and looking to make new friends, discovering that they share more similarities than their superficial differences would suggest.
Recommended for: Fans of a playful and light-hearted sci-fi adventure story, entrenched deep in the style and manner of similar Eighties-era family films, and for those who still dream of alien worlds far out in the stars.
Explorers belongs among other films from the 1980s featuring young boys on an adventure beyond their wildest dreams, including E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and The Goonies, not to mention director Joe Dante's own Gremlins. The style of this film and the dynamic of these outcast boys discovering otherworldly adventure around their quiet home town has been emulated recently by the movies like Super 8 and television shows like "Stranger Things", complete with late-night walkie-talkie conversations and jaunts through misty ravines. The appeal comes from genuine sense of nostalgia that personally, I can identify with from my own childhood...playing out in the yard, running through the woods, imagining all the cool things from comic books and movies on television coming to life. That escapism and the sense that the kids in Explorers are just like I was as a child gives it that instantly familiar vibe. Largely through Ben, Explorers references a variety of other sci-fi films which this film builds from, including Forbidden Planet and War of the Worlds. The irony is that just as Ben's view of other worlds has been influenced by television, the alien life forms he and the others encounter later on have also been influenced about Earth by television. At first glance, Explorers seems to shift gears somewhat dramatically following the trio's encounter with alien life after arriving at their fated destination. They navigate a massive--and even scary--alien star craft, but encounter not grisly or intimidating aliens, but rather silly and playful ones named Wak (Robert Picardo) and Neek (Leslie Rickert), who quote lines from movies and play rock and roll. Their invitation to the boys is, in fact, not all that different than from when Ben invites Darren to join him and Wolfgang at the onset of their experiment to build Thunder Road, a gesture born from benevolence and the spirit of friendship. Furthermore, after spending time with Wak and Neek, it also becomes clear that the Earth-born boys share similarities with the aliens when they learn that the aliens are also "kids", inquisitive and looking to make new friends, discovering that they share more similarities than their superficial differences would suggest.
Recommended for: Fans of a playful and light-hearted sci-fi adventure story, entrenched deep in the style and manner of similar Eighties-era family films, and for those who still dream of alien worlds far out in the stars.