the groundhog day project

The thing about SpaceCamp is, nevermind the silly space visuals of the opening titles (and when Max freaks out looking into deep space), nevermind the silly turns of the plot, and the simplicity of the characters, I still liked it back in ’86, and I still kinda dig it. I can see all of its parts moving now, of course. And the one part that fits badly, but I’ll get to that. Tish is super smart, so of course her passing knowledge of morse code will save the day later. Despite her urge to be otherwise, Kathryn is a great pilot, so of course her piloting skills will save the day. Max is too small (and is friends with Jinx) so of course his diminutive size (and his robot friendship*) will save the day. (* his relationship with Jinx is also, of course, why they are all endangered in the first place.) Before I continue the obviousness, there is some cheap audience attention getting early on. Kids are picking up their team tags, and the people handing them out say their names, but ...

SpaceCamp is not streaming anywhere, and that is just my first complaint. This movie has been (mostly) forgotten, and yet it was #6 its opening weekend, and was only—and I mean only --beat by Top Gun , Raw Deal , Cobra , Poltergeist II , and Short Circuit . Action movies, horror and sci fi, and this nice wholesome* film holds it own. (* to be fair, Short Circuit is pretty wholesome as well, but not nearly as wholesome as Short Circuit 2 .) The release of the film was delayed, of course, by the Challenger explosion in January, so that didn’t help. Andie suggests—sarcastically—that Kevin is “clean cut, well motivated, all American”, but he seems to be very much that. That Tate Donovan plays the “bad boy” of the film is really weird. He does steal someone else’s team tag soon after his arrival, so I guess he’s absolute evil. The various characters are interesting—ambitious Kathryn, hyperintelligent Tish, troublemaker Kevin, the too young Max, and entrepreneur Rudy. Plus t...