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Explorers

Explorers

Science Fiction · Adventure · Family · 1985

Middle schooler Ben spends his free time watching sci-fi films, playing video games and reading comic books. Surprisingly, his affinity for all things fantastical yields a real result – when he has a vivid dream about technology, his prodigy best friend Wolfgang manages to create a working spacecraft. Joined by their buddy Darren, the boys take off into outer space and encounter some very odd extraterrestrial life.

Movie details

Explorers

“The adventure begins in your own back yard.”

1985 Science Fiction · Adventure · Family 1h 49m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.4 / 10

25.9K votes

Metacritic

58 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.3 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Middle schooler Ben spends his free time watching sci-fi films, playing video games and reading comic books. Surprisingly, his affinity for all things fantastical yields a real result – when he has a vivid dream about technology, his prodigy best friend Wolfgang manages to create a working spacecraft. Joined by their buddy Darren, the boys take off into outer space and encounter some very odd extraterrestrial life.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Explorers?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Tomorrowland

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*batteries not included

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Joe Dante

Written by

Eric Luke

Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke

Ben Crandall

River Phoenix

River Phoenix

Wolfgang Müller

Jason Presson

Jason Presson

Darren Woods

Amanda Peterson

Amanda Peterson

Lori Swenson

Bobby Fite

Bobby Fite

Steve Jackson

Dana Ivey

Dana Ivey

Mrs. Müller

James Cromwell

James Cromwell

Mr. Müller

Court is in session

Put Explorers on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Popcorn Loyalist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.