Space Camp (1986)

Space Camp: Directed by Harry Winer. With Kate Capshaw, Lea Thompson, Kelly Preston, Larry B. Scott. The young attendees of a space camp find themselves in space for real when their shuttle is accidentally launched into orbit.

“Why does every 70s and 80s film about space try and crowbar in either a cute robot, a cute chimp or a young child? When I was little I always hated these intrusions on the proper action, and found u0026#39;Wesley Crusheru0026#39; characters that I was supposed to relate to just intensely irritating. The u0026#39;cuteu0026#39; robot in this film is annoying, and is so unrealistic that you wonder whether he was tagged onto the script at the last minute by some executive worried about selling the picture to u0026#39;familyu0026#39; (i.e. u0026#39;braindeadu0026#39;) audiences.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIncidentally, donu0026#39;t be fooled by the setting, this is a 1980s u0026#39;isnu0026#39;t it hard being young, rich and middle class in a developed nation?u0026#39; film featuring ambition, whining and cliches.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOne interesting thing to note is that the fault in the shuttle that causes the launch in SpaceCamp is rather unfortunately a problem in one of the solid fuel boosters, the same location of the fault that caused the Challenger disaster.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film implies in a moment of Strangelove-style propaganda that the booster fault has a one-in-a-million chance of actually happening, but the truth of the matter is that space travel is a very risky business. Were civil airliners to have the same failure rate as spacecraft thereu0026#39;d be several jumbo crashes a day. There was none of that risk brought across in SpaceCamp, where the only criteria for success in space are how much above average you were your exams and how you cope with the emotional turmoil of making a mistake.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf you like kids-as-adults films of the Disney Family Movie saccharin variety, then this is for you.”