Flight Of The Navigator

Grease director Randal Kleiser was the man behind the camera for this kid-in-space adventure. Young David (Cramer) falls down a ravine in 1978, but when he comes round a few minutes later and goes home, he finds a different family living there. It seems it’s now 1986 and he’s been missing for eight years (though hasn’t aged a day), and when NASA gets involved they realise that David was kidnapped by a UFO that has since crashed and has data in his brain that can fly the contraption. Of course, the NASA scientists want to observe David further but he has other ideas, and plots his escape with the help of a young woman (Sarah Jessica Parker) who works there.
While this has comic moments that will remind you of Back to the Future, Flight of the Navigator is a fun film in its own right, even when it becomes a straight chase movie (featuring the flying saucer with David at the controls) towards the end. It has dated a bit (check out Parker’s hair) but is a cutely enjoyable junior romp nonetheless.