Disney adventure. Quite a nice little film. David (Joey Cramer) is kidnapped by a well-intentioned drone space craft from another planet so that he can be studied. He wears jeans. Why can't the movie makers adjust to the fact that American boys commonly wear short pants as well as jeans. At any rate, when he is returned to earth, 8 years have passed by earth time, but he is still 12 years old. NASA wants to hold him against his will. David reboards the space craft, but the drone has lost its star charts and can't go home without them. Joey makes a deal, if the drone will take him directly to his house, he will let it access his brain (where a set of charts was stored in an experiment). The drone, however, absorbs all the motley information in the brain of a normal 12-year old who watches too much television. Consequently the drone never shuts up and talks like Pee Wee Herman. Joey performs his part quite well. A boy in shorts, probably OPs, appears briefly at a filling station. I think Disney was afraid of costuming their main boy characters in short pants as they would be perceived by film viewers (the boys anyway) as sissies.

Filmology

Disney adventure. Quite a nice little film. It's a well made and entertaining sci-film. .

Cast

The main character Davis is played by Joey Cramer. Joey performs his part quite well. The alien maybsound like Pee Wee Herman because Paul Reubens, or "Pee Wee Herman", supplies the voice for the alien.

Stting

The film is set in July in south Florida; the humidity and the summer heat would make long jeans, socks, and a pull-over shirt feel heavy and binding to most boys. This costume seems especially odd when we see David and his family at a park early in the film. He's the only character under age 40 in long pants.

Plot

David is kidnapped by a well-intentioned drone space craft from another planet so that he can be studied. When he is returned to earth, 8 years have passed by earth time, but he is still 12 years old. NASA wants to hold him against his will. David reboards the space craft, but the drone has lost its star charts and can't go home without them. Joey makes a deal, if the drone will take him directly to his house, he will let it access his brain (where a set of charts was stored in an experiment). The drone, however, absorbs all the motley information in the brain of a normal 12-year old who watches too much television. Consequently the drone never shuts up and talks like Pee Wee Herman.

Costuming

David wears jeans. Why can't the movie makers adjust to the fact that American boys commonly wear short pants as well as jeans. A boy in shorts, probably OPs, appears briefly at a filling station. I think Disney was afraid of costuming their main boy characters in short pants as they would be perceived by film viewers (the boys anyway) as sissies--rather a 1950s mindset. David appears in a striped pull-over shirt with a collar, jeans, and white tennis shoes throughout the film, except for one scene. When a NASA official advises the family they want to run tests on David, we see him in a light blue pull-over shirt, white shorts, well above the knee, and brown top-sider shoes (sometimes called deck-shoes, I think). As I remember, this would have been right for 1986. When David enters the NASA facility, he's reverted to his original clothing. The changes in clothes seem abrupt. A HBC reader writes, "I agree with the reviewer, Disney wasn't realistic in its choice of clothes for 12-years old David."

Created: February 14, 2004
Last updated: February 14, 2004