bad/awesome flixxx review: Flight of the Navigator (1986)

Damn right! This was one of my favorite flicks growing up... (on Venus). What happened to Disney? They made a lot of movies in the old days that weren't afraid to have a bit of language in them... A "shit" here, a "damn" there, everything but the "f" word really. And it wasn't used frequently, but with proper timing for comedic effect or to nail home a point. That's what off-color language and colloquial terms were made for! Now its just a bunch of prancing fucking preteens that they're preening to be the next big pop star. Hey, if they don't do it, then American karaoke Idol will... All that shit makes me wanna puke. Too bad Tonya Harding has a gig over on Tru TV, she could jump out of the stands and pull a move on Bristol and any of those other Dancing w/ the "stars". Anyway, I digress. At one time, someone over at Disney worked to make badass creepy movies like Watcher in the Woods, Escape from Witch Mountain, and um... the Apple Dumpling Gang. And somewhere along the lines, they popped out this gem. Johnny Fever himself- Howard Hesseman, Sarah Jessica Parker, and the voice of "Pee-Wee" Paul Reubens in FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR!



After watching this movie, whenever I played in the woods growing up, I would always wish that when I came out of the woods, somehow, years would have gone and crazy shit would happen. Such is the story of David Freeman. Picture this: Its the 4th of July 1978. His stupid dog lost the frisbee championships, and his little brother is such a jerk. David is 12, and his brother Jeff is 8. His parents drop his brother off at a birthday party. Later in the day, his mom tells him to walk through the woods and make sure his brother gets home safe. He goes in, and his brother scares the shit out of him. When he goes to head home, his dog is barking in the other direction. He goes to see whats up, looks down in a ravine and falls in, passing out. When he awakes, he walks home, knocks on the door thinking his brother has locked him out. But when an old lady answers the door, he bursts in and tries to figure out why everything is changed and why his house doesn't have his stuff or his family in it anymore.




the people call the police, and David learns that he's been missing for 8 years! His family has moved a few miles away, and when he gets there, his folks look old, and his little brother in now 16, but David hasn't aged a day at all. He's freaking out, and they take him to a hospital. While all this is happening, a spaceship is found, and taken to NASA. Turns out all the maps and shit are in David's head. NASA gets him to come over, and they extract maps of Phalon from his gordon. But the ship is calling to David. A young Sarah Jessica Parker shows him a robot named RALF, and he escapes to the ship in it. Once inside the hangar, the ship opens up for him and his adventure really begins. It had been over 20 years since I saw this, and it still made me smile when it was through. If you're looking for a semi-creepy sci fi flick from the past, I totally recommend this one for pure nostalgia. word.