Wolff rating: NOT BAD
Plot summary: Robinson family goes on a mission to find a new, clean Earth and set up a warp gate there. Gee, do you think they find their way there?
Biased, pithy comments: Someone had the plan that they'd make ``Star Wars'' all over again. A big, bombastic space film with great special effects, classic heroic characters, and ``family values''---yeah, that would be great. And indeed, this movie has all of those, but lacks a few things. First, it doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense---wouldn't you send trained astronauts instead of young children on a dangerous, unknown space mission? If faced with a terrorist on board your Earth-saving mission, wouldn't you just freeze the dork in your coldsleep chambers? Probably, which makes some of the central character conflicts silly. Secondly, although they spent a mint on the effects (and the external spaceship effects are stunning; it was exciting just watching them fly around), no one seemed to care whether or not the effects actually helped the story. I particularly hated the cute animated alien they find on a lost ship; I kept waiting for it to do something besides make silly faces, but it never did. And lastly, even with good stars and good effects, you still need better internal character conflicts than simply ``Parents don't spend enough time with their kids.'' All told, this was a brainless space opera with a rambling, aimless story and trite dialogue. For me, I had a good time (some of the time travel bits were clever; in particular I liked what Dr. Smith finds as he and Will go to find Dr. Robinson), but I was in a good mood; serious sci-fi fans will be disappointed. Matt LeBlanc gets points for his role as the space hero from ``Wing Commander.''
Other Notes: Other reviews are mixed---everyone agrees that the dialogue and the story are for the dogs, but whether or not folk were thrilled by the SFX or not is a tossup. Note from watching the DVD version---the cute space alien actually had a major role in some scenes they shot but didn't include in the movie. They were hokey and irrelevant, so I can see why they were cut, but it at least explains the existence of the little monster.
How many times I have seen it: x2
Starring: Gary Oldman, William Hurt, Matt LeBlanc, Mimi Rogers, Heather Graham, Lacey Chabert, Jack Johnson.
Directed by: Stephen Hopkins