Not suitable under 6; parental guidance to 9 (scary scenes and supernatural themes)
This topic contains:
Children under 6 | Not suitable due to scary scenes, mild adult themes and supernatural themes. |
Children aged 6–9 | Parental guidance recommended due to scary scenes, mild adult themes and supernatural themes. |
Children over the age of 9 | Ok for this age group. |
This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.
Name of movie: | Flight of the Navigator |
Classification: | G |
Consumer advice lines: | The content is very mild in impact. |
Length: | 89 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
It is a normal evening in 1978 and 12-year-old Davey (Joey Cramer) goes searching for his younger brother in the woods. He sees a mysterious light shining amongst the trees, but in going to investigate he stumbles down a ravine and loses consciousness. When he comes to, he runs home to discover that he has somehow travelled forward in time, still in the same 12 year-old body and it is now 1985! Davey’s parents (Veronica Cartwright, Cliff De Young) and younger brother (Matt Adler) have all aged and are shocked that Davey has turned up again, not a day older, after being missing for so many years. It is no coincidence that on the very same day that Davey reappears, a sleek and mysterious UFO is discovered in the woods. In hospital, whilst Doctors try to work out just what has happened to Davey, electric probes attached to his head start to communicate with the laboratory computers, drawing out clearly an image of the UFO. NASA quickly takes over and Davey is whisked away to a top-secret laboratory so that NASA officials can get as much information from him as possible. Davey is confused and lonely, and he keeps hearing a mysterious voice calling to him. Although Davey wants to return to his family more than anything, he also is magnetically drawn to the UFO and knows he must escape the NASA facility and find the ship.
Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.
Time travel; Aliens; UFOs; Space travel; Being trapped and locked up; Incarceration; Government surveillance; Family.
Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.
Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.
There is no explicit violence in this movie however parents should note the following:
Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.
In addition to the above-mentioned scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:
Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:
Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.
The following products are displayed or used in this movie:
There are mild some romantic references in this movie, including:
There is mild some coarse language and name-calling in this movie, including:
Flight of the Navigator is a fantastic introduction to the Science Fiction genre for kids and a good all-round family film. It has exactly the right balance of tension, fun and fantasy. The movie is not suitable for children under 6 and parental guidance is recommended to 9 because it taps into things that children fear the most, such as separation from parents and getting lost. However, it does manage to resolve these things in a way that is filled with fun, gentle humour, and is quite empowering for children. Although it was released in 1986, it is extremely topical in the times of Covid-19 where many children are experiencing feelings of being ‘trapped’ in lockdown – there is a strong theme of being held captive and powerless, yet the main character gets to escape and ultimately takes his freedom into his own hands and flies free. Some young children may find this film quite exhilarating.
The main messages from this movie are that you can take control of your own destiny and make your own choices and that there are unexplained mysteries in the universe.
Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:
This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
Selecting an age will provide a list of movies with content suitable for this age group. Children may also enjoy movies selected via a lower age.
Content is age appropriate for children this age
Some content may not be appropriate for children this age. Parental guidance recommended
Content is not age appropriate for children this age
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