Space Camp (PG, 1986)

In SPACECAMP, filmed on location at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, a motley crew of campers led by an ambitious astronaut must overcome their inexperience when they are mistakenly launched into space without adequate training or supplies. Relying on ingenuity, courage, and a helping hand from the ground-based Mission Control, the crew of five includes teens Lea Thompson, Kelly Preston, Tate Donovan, and Joaquin Phoenix when he was still young enough to be called Leaf.

Of the movie's many problems, the worst is timing; it was released six months after the Challenger mission ended in disaster, and nothing about the threat of an inadvertent shuttle launch seems funny or entertaining. The fact that the mistaken launch follows a series of highly implausible actions by a robot who sounds like a cross between E.T. and R2D2 just adds to the misery. The movie is a 1980s set piece, with references to nuclear annihilation, Star Wars, and one "Whip me, Beat me, Take away my charge card!" from Preston, who dresses like Madonna in her "Lucky Star" years.

One place where the movie gets it right is in its respect and awe of the American space program, too often relegated to the back of public consciousness. The NASA training facility and mission control, as well as details of the shuttle's flight, may captivate young astronauts in training.

Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Director: Harry Winer
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Kelly Preston, Tate Donovan
Genre: Action/Adventure
Run time: 107 minutes
Theatrical release: June 6, 1986
DVD release: March 2, 2004
MPAA Rating: PG