Explorers
by Joe Dante
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bobby Fite, Bradley Gregg, Ethan Hawke, Georg Olden, River PhoenixDirector: Joe Dante
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 106 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-10-19
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of Explorers
Movie Review: EXPLORERS - Good family movie (for a sci-fi Dad)
Summary: 4 Stars
EXPLORERS - was a very good family movie (four stars) that I first saw with my very young boys in the year it was made. As a family movie it was great and my boys were not disappointed with the (weak) ending. Of course, these kids spoke up in defense of MAGIC FLUTE when I quietly complained to my wife at the breakfast table about having to sit through that one.
This film had a good plot with lots of development, decent special effects, fine young actors (including young River Phoenix) and a very effective musical score. My wife also enjoyed this film and it was an overall hit as a family movie with special appeal for me with my interest in sci-fi. I especially enjoyed the stereotypically German family living in a small American town, all portrayed as bright and scientifically minded.
Wolfgang was portrayed by River Phoenix. Incidental to the plot, Wolfgang trained a pet mouse to request cheese and offer different comments verbally in the background by pressing buttons on a speech synthesizer. When Wolf's experiments got out of control this mouse would press the button for squeaking out with his tiny computer generated voice "help!" at appropriate times. This is typical of the many fine and subtle comedic details of the movie almost missed during all the excitement.
Summary of Explorers
It's only in retrospect that one can see that Joe Dante's Explorers is an awful lot like Robert Zemeckis's Contact. An alien race, determined to make contact with earthlings, feeds some unsuspecting individuals the blueprints for space travel. Instead of the big gyroscope that Jodie Foster was strapped into in Contact, the three kids in Explorers make their intergalactic trip in crystalline blue Flubber. River Phoenix looks shockingly prepubescent (which he was) as Wolfgang, the brains of the trio, while Ethan Hawke looks like a young lady-killer as Ben. Fitting into the "whatever happened to?" category is Jason Presson as Darren, an outcast who joins the two eggheads. Joe Dante's career, cruising after Gremlins was a smash, faced a serious "hitch in the giddyup" when this film sputtered through the 1985 summer season without much of an impact. The effects still hold up nicely, as does Dante's incessant need to pay homage to other, older sci-fi films. The whole thing seems like a lot of trouble for some smackingly bland and silly results, but it's a harmless, initially involving diversion. --Keith SimantonEXPLORERS are the inventive story about three idealistic and thrill-seeking boys who combine their wits and astuteness to build their own spaceship. Accordingly, the boys blast-off into the galaxy and embark on journeys both whimsical and weird.
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