ABC. Director Harry Winer; Producer Patrick Bailey, Walter Coblenz; Screenplay W.W. Wicket [= Clifford Green, Ellen Green], Casey T. Mitchell; Camera William A. Fraker; Editor John W. Wheeler, Timothy Board; Music John Williams; Art Director Richard MacDonald
Kate Capshaw
Lea Thompson
Kelly Preston
Larry B. Scott
Tom Skerritt
Tate Donovan
SpaceCamp is a youthful view of outer space set at the real-life United States Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama for aspiring young astronauts. Pic [from a screen story by Patrick Bailey and Larry B. Williams] never successfully integrates summer camp hijinks with outer space idealism to come up with a dramatically compelling story.
Hampered by cliche-ridden dialog, performances suffer from a weightlessness of their own. Kate Capshaw as the instructor and one trained astronaut to make the flight neither looks nor acts the part of a serious scientist.
As for the kids, Tate Donovan as the shuttle commander-in-training is uninteresting and Lea Thompson as his would-be girlfriend is too young and naive for words, even the ones she's given.
(Color) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1986. Running time: 107 MIN.
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