The movie has its problems, but nonetheless it was a nice little watch. "The adventure begins in your own back yard."Įxplorers is a pretty good little sci-fi children's movie, and like most Joe Dante films it has a feeling of nostalgia all over it. So I recommend watching this movie until the boys make it clear that they're going to visit the aliens. With that said, everything else leading to that third act is quite good and entertaining. There will, obviously, be some people that'll enjoy this third act more than I did, but the movie just lost a lot with the third act honestly. But, and I've already outlined my issues with the film, so I won't get into that again, but those flaws, at least they were to me, dragged the movie down tremendously. So the issues I have with the film have absolutely nothing to do with the cast, the cast is great. I mean he was still good, but Ethan and River, unsurprisingly, stole the show. Jason Presson is also good, but he didn't really do much of note after this film, his most high profile role after this would've been Gremlins 2. The acting is real good, particularly considering that both River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke would've been in their mid-teens by this point in time and they were already really good. Like I mentioned, everything leading to the meeting was good and entertaining. Not like Charles Grodin and Robert De Niro in Midnight Run where they insulted the shit out of each other, but they were pretty much in each other's cases for the majority of the film, so I thought that was pretty fun. I think the chemistry between the leads is actually quite good and, surprisingly, antagonistic. I just think there's a certain charm about it that carries a lot of it, it's also a pretty entertaining film. With that said, I was enjoying the film prior to the boys meeting the aliens. You don't want something in your film to detract from everything that came prior to it, but that's exactly what this movie does. It actually detracted from the film instead of adding to it and, of course, you want the opposite to be the case. In all, as the climax to the film, it just didn't do anything for me at all and it actually brought the movie down a lot, to me. The comedy is also not very good in this segment. It's like, supposedly, meant to be this life-changing experience for these three boys, but it just doesn't feel like it. It just felt way too forced and contrived to be effective. Perhaps that's a little strong, but considering that the film pretty much spent all its time building up to the moment when they make contact with an alien species, the execution of it definitely left a lot to be desired, at least in my view. And then they went to the alien spaceship and it all fell apart. The Dog who Stopped the War can also be found by its original french title Guerre des tuques, La (1984).I was actually enjoying this movie for the most part. If you enjoyed this film I also recommend watching The Dog that Stopped the War (1984) a great film put out by La Fete immediately before the Peanut Butter Solution. This film was produced in english, the first film released by La Fete that I am aware of, to be produced in english not just dubbed over. One notable point about this film for most Canadians in their twenties and thirties will recognize several faces from other Canadian films and television from the early 1980's. The acting isn't award winning, and the special effects certainly wouldn't stand up to today's standards, however this film does have a unique premise and the dialog rarely comes off as childish, this isn't really a childs movie and I feel it was mis-marketted as one. I do feel however that this movie does deserve a second look by adults. Now, this film was somewhat frightening when I was seven, it does have some spooky elements, I don't recommend it for young children. I just finished watching the film again moments ago, the first time as an adult. I saw this film when I was a child of seven, again when I was ten and snippets of this film have followed me ever since.