The Blue Yonder (1985)

It's rare to see me liking movies made purely for television, but this one, while by no means great, is okay.Time travel has always been a fascinating subject. Perhaps this movie isn't the most original because it has many similarities with 'Back To The Future'. The similarities have to be more than coincidence and they even came out in the same year.I'd like to travel in time, visit other generations, times I didn't live in. It would be fun to experience some of that, although, like everything in life, there would be risks. But sometimes it's necessary to take chances, otherwise we do nothing in life.Other than the interesting idea of time travel, this movie also delivers good cinematography, good performances by Peter Coyote and the charming Huckleberry Fox, a decent combination of the year 1985 (present day) and the year 1927 (almost 60 years before), good environment and feeling of both times (especially 1985), decent amounts of adventure, action and cleverness.

This movie is just boring. The story is a rip off of every sci-fi movie about time travel, with absolutely no innovation and an uninspired cast. The movie just goes on and on about this little boy that never met his grandfather (Peter Coyote) who was a great aviator an also, you can tell cause the movie just spit this information at you, a bit of an inventor. So, obviously, the guy had future plans for a time machine - plans that come out true when his friend attempts to build it and get to the past so he can save the boy's grandpa from a plane accident while Peter Coyote tries to fly from USA to France. The historical argument is just ignorable so I won't even mention it. It was hard to watch it till the end.

This is a wonderful story about early aviation and how several pilots lost their lifes trying to cross the Atlantic before Lindbergh. When a young boy hears a story from his granfather, played by Art Carney, about his great grandfather, played by Peter Coyote, trying to make the crossing he decides he must help him. With the help of his greandfather he travels back in time. It is a shame a wonderful family movie like this is not on VHS let alone DVD.

Although it seems to borrow heavily from "BACK TO THE FUTURE", this certainly qualifies as one of my all time favorite family films. Of course, I'm a fan of time travel stories anyway. Peter Coyote and Huckleberry Fox turn in a fine performance; as does Art Carney, who, prior to this, appeared in the awful "THE NIGHT THEY SAVED CHRISTMAS", one of my least all time favorite family films.A worthy addition to anyone's video collection.