The Flight of the Navigator

Movie review bySarah Wenk, Common Sense Media
The Flight of the Navigator Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 10+
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'80s time-travel adventure has some cursing.

PG 1986 90 minutes
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Parents say

age 9+

Based on7 reviews

Kids say

age 8+

Based on7 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

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What Parents Need to Know

父母需要知道Flight of the Navigatoris a 1986 science fiction movie in which a 12-year-old Miami boy from 1978 is abducted by an alien and ends up eight years into the future. There are some moments of iffy humor: The bratty little brother of the lead character calls the lead character's dog "retarded"; this same little brother, after a name-calling exchange between the two culminating in "skuzbucket" and "buttface," sticks out his rear end and at his brother while making a face. As a spaceship briefly hovers over Tokyo, all of the several Japanese people observing the spaceship immediately take out and start clicking on their cameras. A fat joke is made at the expense of an obese Florida gas station and gift shop owner. Occasional profanity: a teen says "s--t," adults say "s--t," "hell," and "bastard."

Community Reviews

The Average American
The Average American Adult
July 1, 2019
age 5+

Horrible film

This film is VERY slow and has the most horrible acting. It’s like the film is trying to compete with ET but the child acting is bad. It’s hard to sit through because of how slow the film is. It could have been 1/2 hour long, but was dragged out!
Heather L.
Heather L. Adult
June 30, 2019
age 12+

Scary start

My kids, ages 12, 9, 7 were all too scared in the beginning to keep watching. The alien abduction and separation from parents creeped them out more than I realized it would. While the rest of the movie would have been fine (at least for my older two), this was a rougher start than I remembered from childhood when alien movies were more commonplace. It was pretty foreign to my kids.
See all7 parent reviews

What's the Story?

THE FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR begins as David Freeman (Joey Cramer) comes home one night to discover that his family has aged eight years and think he's dead. For David, only a few minutes have gone by. The mystery slowly unravels, leading to David's being taken away by NASA and escaping in a space ship. Eight years have changed things a lot -- David has never seen a music video, and can't believe thatStarsky and Hutchisn't on anymore. When David is aboard the ship, he makes friends with its mechanical occupant, Max, who is voiced byPaul Reubens(credited here as Paul Mall), clearly working in his Pee-Wee Herman mode.

Is It Any Good?

This is an above-average offering from Disney. The sequences on the ship are both funny and touching, as Max and David each try to get home. The special effects are, for the most part, surprisingly fresh and believable, and the opening sequence of dogs playing Frisbee is spectacular.

一切都很好,聪明的马的照片ke everyday objects look like they just might be from a spacecraft, and very affecting scenes between David and his new, older family. Joey Cramer does a good job in his role. This is a charming movie, with enough drama and humor to please almost any viewer. Just be aware that there is more profanity than you might expect from a PG movie, and there are some stereotypes and dated jokes.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how they would feel if everyone in their family were suddenly older while they stayed the same age.

  • How is this movie similar to and different from other movies centered on time travel?

  • In a brief scene, humor is attempted by employing the stereotype of Asians overusing their cameras. What are the damaging effects of movies and TV shows that stereotype by race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc.?

Movie Details

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