When will the remake bug die?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney will rehash (and most likely butcher) the 1986 children's sci-fi cult hit Flight of the Navigator. The movie, which was a cornerstone viewing experience of many an '80s child, tells the story of David, a 12-year-old boy who in 1978 falls into a ravine, goes unconscious, and has a close encounter with an unseen alien intelligence. When he comes to, it's 1986, and he's the exact same age.
Later, this is all explained in a great scene that doesn't insult the intelligence of its child audience and outlines the basics of Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which shows that time slows down for an object when it approaches the speed of light (more than 186,000 miles per second, if you're curious!).
David tries to adjust to his friends and family aging eight years, and he is also pursued by agents at NASA, who he says will "treat me like a guinea pig for the rest of my life." He befriends a NASA employee -- played by a twenty-something Sarah Jessica Parker -- and goes for an adventure on a spaceship piloted by a robot voiced by Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman).
Who knows why they decided it was the time to remake this? But then again, you could say that of any number of big-studio projects these days. We just hope Disney won't go overboard on the CGI. In any case, we highly recommend checking out the original, which hasn't lost its appeal as a family-friendly classic. Here's the trailer:
Posted 05.26.09 by reelz