Space Warriors (2013) Reviews

• Space geeks will envy the rip-roaring adventures in this movie

  rannynm2013-05-31

  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the plot was simpler than I imagined. Before I watched the movie, the title made me cringe, suggesting that it was about teenagers battling aliens in a cheesy rampage through outer space. Clearly, I was wrong to judge a movie by its poster. "Space Warriors" is a fun and unexpectedly down-to-earth film for all ages. Jimmy Hawkins (Thomas Horn, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"), the son of a retired NASA astronaut, is a complete astronomy geek. His dream is to go to space, and the opportunity arises in the form of Space Camp, where teams can compete for the chance to go to space. His parents, played by Dermot Mulroney and Mira Sorvino, forbid him to join Space Camp fearing for his safety, but Jimmy joins anyway. At Space Camp he meets the brightest, nerdiest group of astronomy-lovers, called Space Warriors. They have to learn to work together as a team not only to win the competition, but to save the lives of three astronauts along the way as well. Colonel Manley (Josh Lucas), one of the commanders at Space Camp, is one of my favorite characters – he's witty and smart with just a touch of dry humor and sarcasm. Sean McNamara ("Soul Surfer") is the director of "Space Warriors." Along the same lines of "Soul Surfer," this movie has many great themes that include teamwork, leadership, overcoming fear, thinking outside the box, making wise choices and most importantly, it shines a positive light on youth. The Space Warriors don't let anyone look down on them because of their age – they prove to the entire world that age doesn't matter as long as you have passion, a love of discovering, and an open mind. The movie incorporates footage from history in outer space and was shot on-location at the Space Camp in Alabama. For science-lovers, this movie is the ultimate "Easter egg" hunt, where geeks will want to shout and announce to other viewers, "That's the actual footage of landing on the moon!" or "I've been on a moon-gravity simulator just like that!" I found myself thinking that if I could go to a Space Camp that looks even half as fun as the one in the movie, it'd be the best summer of my life. I recommend this movie for all ages, especially for aspiring scientists. I give it four out of five stars. "Space Warriors" will inspire viewers to look up and rekindle an excitement for learning about the unknown universe of space. Learn more about a world outside our own that we've barely begun to discover. Reviewed by KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Cassandra H. Watch her video review at kidsfirst.org

• it is childish fun, inspirational for children.

  Hunky Stud2013-08-29

  This film is obviously not for adults who can think. but i am sure that it is good entertainment for children or teens. the storyline is weak, and there is no way in real life that children will actually take over shuttle's operation. but it is inspiration for children who watch this film, they might be motivated to become an astronaut in the future. sometimes, due to its childish plot, it is very apparent that those people were acting. actor thomas kasp is a good discovery, he is way better looking than zac efron, but he may not become famous due to this low rating film. Overall, I enjoyed watching it. You will, too; as long as you don't take it too seriously.

• Are you kidding?

  wpdurrell2013-08-04

  The acting is some of the worst ever. Its as if there were no auditioning for the child parts. Why in the world would a child actor be given a role and have to create a weird southern accent? Aside from that, the plot was based around totally incompetent adult characters who had no clue what to do with a disabled space station. The main character narrating as if the space camp was in the past for no apparent reason was bizarre. All of this is such a shame because there were some other good actors in the movie. I rented this movie for a family movie night and when kids watching the movie laugh at the cheesy nonsense and mock the terrible acting, it has to be bad.

• Could have been a great kids film, but lacks so much

  MaxDome2015-01-16

  As my title states - if would have been a great movie for ages 13 and below. That's fine- kids need movies that inspire them to be greater than what they are, that they have the chance to be the heroes of their fantasies. However, this movie fails in a few major areas. The first is the casting of Thomas Horn as Jimmy. His acting is horribly over the top and he plays that clichéd role of the overly optimistic kid who just ends up being annoying to everyone, including the audience. I almost turned it off because I got tired of his overly squeaky voice. The Space Camp competition was rushed and unnecessary - they didn't even give us an over view of what the events were going to be. Then we had the obligatory "evil" team (led by the evil blond haired rich white kid, too...not sure if that's a cliché or racist yet) that served no purpose in the end. The music pandered too much to what the director felt was kid friendly. It could have gone without the pop music and just had a better written score to give it a more epic feel. On top of that - for a movie that presses the importance of being precise and not cutting corners along with trying to inspire the next generation of engineers and scientists, it takes as much liberty with the laws of physics as Armageddon did. (And that's saying something). It would have been a great concept, but the movie talked down to its audience way too much. They should have taken a longer look at the original Space Camp movie and gone that route than this Disney's pandering and perception of what the intelligence of children actually is.

• Terrible. Confusing. Space Camp?!?

  brw00632013-05-02

  I saw this at the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center. A decent museum with a few interesting exhibits and some cool rockets and replicas. Unfortunately this museum also has movie theater where they charge additional money for films relating to space. The problem began when the attendant recommended "Space Warriors" to us because it was filmed on location at the Space and Rocket Center and in the greater Huntsville area, and also told us, falsely, that it was 45 minutes long. As far as the movie itself goes, it is a complete mess of a film which changes tones for no apparent reason, can't decide whether it's a film or a commercial for space camp and includes actual movie stars who would rather be anywhere else (exception for Josh Lucas who actually seemed to be acting and enjoying chewing the scenery). This brings me to the films biggest problem, Thomas Horn. He plays the lead kid so whiny, so annoying and as such a limp-wristed wiener that you can't possibly take anything in Space Warriors seriously (and it does make the huge mistake of trying to be serious, especially in its third act). There many moments of unintended hilarity in this move. First the "bad" kid from the other team is doing his absolutely best to imitate Val Kilmer as Ice Man in "Top Gun." Second, the team is made up of a complete Burger King Kid's club of stereotypes: nerdy Asian engineer, sassy black girl, Russian computer programmer - they're all here. Add in some WTF unintentional double entendre and you've got movie whose only value is to be made fun while watched Mystery Science Theater style with a few cold ones.