steven@ism70.UUCP (07/15/85)
EXPLORERS Starring Ethan Hawke, River Phoenix and Jason Presson. Also starring Amanda Peterson and Dick Miller. Directed by Joe Dante. Written by Eric Luke. Produced by Edward S. Feldman and David Bombyk. Photographed by John Hora. Production Designed by Robert F. Boyle. Edited by Tina Hirsch. Music by Jerry Goldsmith. Visual Effects Supervision by Bruce Nicholson for Industrial Light and Magic. Special Makeup Effects Created by Rob Bottin. From Paramount Pictures (1985). I can't in all honesty recommend "Explorers" to anyone, yet. If it ends up, as I suspect it will, as a $30 million dollar albatross around somebody's neck at Paramount Studios, it may also end up as one of those picture that gets "critically reevaluated". Meaning that people who miss it in the theaters will catch it on cable and go, "That's not so bad. It's not so weird. In fact, it's kinda neat." Ben, Wolfgang and Darrin are three junior high students who live in a gentle small-towny suburbland. One night, Ben begins dreaming about a circuit board. Wolfgang builds it and hooks the circuit board up to his Apple IIc and lo and behold, you've got yourself the beginnings of a spaceship! Most of the movie is pleasant but almost completely devoid of conflict and action and believe me, you'll suffer for it. After a dull but watchable hour of pretty standard storytelling, this picture zooms off into an unexpected realm. When it gets there, there's about 20 or 30 minutes of hysterically funny, really original stuff. If the rest of the picture were as good, you'd have yourself a huge hit. But that sequence doesn't lead anywhere in terms of the story, and that's one of many reasons why "Explorers" fails to live up to expectations. I commend Joe Dante and Eric Luke for trying a different approach to the kids-and-special-effects genre, and maybe it'll look better in a few years. But for now, it's crash and burn at the box office. No "Explorers II". Two stars out of four.