Explore the fun
We saw this in the 80's when it 1st came out. Now, it's just as entertaining. A different slant on alien contact, after all if they do exist, they must have teenagers, too. And it appears an older gent also had been contacted sometime in the past. Very good when they begin to get the picture this is an invitation and actually build their travel craft. Highly recommend this. Fun for all ages...maybe a bit scary for the very young ones when the heroes 1st make alien contact. Don't miss this alien encounter of a teenage kind.

EXPLORERS - Good family movie (for a sci-fi Dad)
EXPLORERS - was a very good family movie (four stars) that I first saw with my very young boys in the year it was made. As a family movie it was great and my boys were not disappointed with the (weak) ending. Of course, these kids spoke up in defense of MAGIC FLUTE when I quietly complained to my wife at the breakfast table about having to sit through that one.

This film had a good plot with lots of development, decent special effects, fine young actors (including young River Phoenix) and a very effective musical score. My wife also enjoyed this film and it was an overall hit as a family movie with special appeal for me with my interest in sci-fi. I especially enjoyed the stereotypically German family living in a small American town, all portrayed as bright and scientifically minded.

Wolfgang was portrayed by River Phoenix. Incidental to the plot, Wolfgang trained a pet mouse to request cheese and offer different comments verbally in the background by pressing buttons on a speech synthesizer. When Wolf's experiments got out of control this mouse would press the button for squeaking out with his tiny computer generated voice "help!" at appropriate times. This is typical of the many fine and subtle comedic details of the movie almost missed during all the excitement.

great 80's Sci Fi movie, great kids movie also
The 80's was a good time to be a kid as far as movies went.

Speilberg's influence was big at that time, mainly due to "E.T.", a movie that had a big sense of innnocence and childlike wonderment. ET had a big influence on a lot of the other sci fi and fantasy movies that came out after it, for a number of years, including this film.

It was directed by Speilberg collaborator Joe Dante, & is for sure similar in many ways to "ET", but with a 50/50 blend of Spielbergian wonder and Joe Dante's classic movie nostalgia and wisecracks.

The three kids get the help of unseen, freindly aliens in making a sort of "force field bubble" that can fly anywhere, even into space...after converting an old abandoned carnival Tilt-O-Whirl car into their spaceship, they are able to put themselves inside the bubble, which, after some test runs, takes the three kids off into space, where they visit with the aleins who contacted them, being pulled in to a giant alien spaceship floating somewhere in space...
However, the aliens themselves, rather than be some sort of "source of knowledge" as the main character hopes, instead make the kids laugh with their own wisecracks and jokes. It is especially funny that the aliens learned to speak english from intercepting tv broadcasts that have gone out into space...thus the aliens impersonate cartoon characters, celebrities, etc...

this was not as major a film as ET was, in fact back at that time it was sadly undermarketed...I remember seeing it for the first time on HBO over a year after it came out...However, This movie is, to me, a lesser known 80's classic...not as famous as "Goonies" or "ET", but similar for it's own child-like and optimistic story.

Explorers
I give this a 4 instead of a five, because it did not hold the children's attention the way I like to see of a movie.
And my son said to me, "Mom what are you watching? It looks wierd."
4 is a good number, though, because it is cute with good messages woven in for the younger set.
There is a point in the movie when it seems that the writers don't know where to go with the story. That's when the costumes come in and are really extreme and distracting, from my point of view, but
The kids loved that part.

So close, yet so far
I stumbled upon this movie in our family's archive of recorded videos. I was caught into watching it from the very beginning, a great story, and the acting was good. Then in the last 30 min. of the movie everything went terribly downhill. Either someone was trying to make a point or they ran out of budget, but believe me this movie is not worth watching, well the end anyways. Watch it only up to the point where they get into space, then turn it off. You'll be much happier.