A charming Disney fantasy which revolves around the extraordinary experiences of 12-year-old David Freeman (Cramer), who in 1978 falls into a ravine and is knocked unconscious. When he comes to, it's 1986; and while he is still 12 years old, his little brother is now his big brother.
The folks at NASA are convinced that there is a connection between David's disappearance and the recent discovery of an alien spacecraft. Using space-age technology, they discover heretofore-unseen star charts imprinted on the young boy's brain. Escaping from NASA, David is called to the spaceship
that carried him away eight years earlier (it was trying to take him home when its computer malfunctioned). With David aboard, the spacecraft takes off, and Max, the Hal-like computer that operates the ship, uses the star charts in the boy's brain to plot its return voyage.
Kleiser (THE BLUE LAGOON, GREASE) provides a steady directorial hand for this film, which ironically was being shot in Florida when the space-shuttle disaster took place. Credit should go to Paul Reubens (a.k.a. Pee-Wee Herman), who provides the voice of Max. Not a particularly original or
insightful film of its kind, and marred slightly by the whining of Cramer in the lead role, this is nevertheless enjoyable fare for kids. leave a comment
