The movie had everything, coolness, comedy and smoking hot chicks. I used to watch All the Right Moves for all the wrong reasons and became a huge fan of Lea Thompson in the process. Kelly Preston was smoking hot in Space Camp as well, but she's been smoking hot in everything for 20 years. I'll bet that I wasn't the only kid who spilled some semen thinking about what space camp was like.
I was flipping through channels the other day with the kids around and decided to give Space Camp a little viewing through my adult eyes. What a load of horseshit this movie is.
First off, they're training these kids in the movie as though they're actually going to pursue a career with NASA. And that what they do in space camp at age 16 is actually going to dictate how their career with NASA will go. Like I'm so sure when Tate Donovan is interviewing with NASA after a 4 year stint at Cal-Poly they're going to bring up the time he was caught out after curfew with Lea Thompson that time at Space Camp.
Second, they would never ever ever allow kids on the fucking space shuttle while they were test firing the engines. But, you know, I can let that slide because it's the only plausible way to get the fucking kids in space which makes the movie. It's like the opposite of Full Metal Jacket, the second part in space is the most watchable part. The only interesting thing in the first half of the movie is the possibility that Tate Donovan is going to get in Lea Thompson's pants and recreate the stripping of the band uniform (only this time it's the sexy little fake NASA jumpsuit). But, it never happens.
Third, what's up with the space station? Wouldn't they have put the oxygen tanks in storage somewhere near the living area? I don't know if you know this or not, but it's kind of a hassle being outside in space and you want to avoid it if you can. Why would you put the oxygen cans so far from the living space and then make it hard to get to them? Not every space mission is going to have a little fat kid on it to squeeze into little places.
Tom Skerritt and Kate Capshaw do an admirable job of overacting in the movie which I always enjoy more than actors mailing in a performance. Locke from Lost has hair in this movie, see if you can pick him out (he's also in All the Right Moves and The Cutting Edge). It's always fun finding Locke in a movie.
Aside from the bad acting and plot devices that make no sense, Space Camp is at least watchable for an adult. I'd like to see a Space Camp reunion movie to see where these characters ended up. I'd bet that Lea Thompson is a driven career gal with a wife and adopted kid. Kelly Preston is a sex worker with a PhD in psychology. Tate Donovan would be a college professor making his way through several sets of undergraduates' panties and Joaquin Phoenix would be the inspiration for Leonard on the show The Big Bang Theory and Larry Williams would be an everyday schmoe with a knack for getting in trouble.
