Age of The Nerd
There is no other type of movie like the ‘Adventure film’ that takes the viewer on an exciting quest that is often filled with danger, grand discoveries and action, that often has the capacity to delight many families everywhere.
Classics such as The Goonies, Back to the Future, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and many more are fondly remembered.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to recall the last time cinema delivered an iconic movie filled with adventure on the same scale as the aforementioned. The sequel to 1995’s Jumanji has just been theatrically released, but it is hard to look past the idea that it is designed to cash in on the success of a movie that was made 23 years earlier.
An Indiana Jones sequel has been confirmed, although after the critically panned Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it is difficult to believe that the franchise can be given new strength to endure.
Today, I talk about 5 of the most exemplary adventure movies that are often looked upon by other filmmakers to follow and are often represented in popular culture for future generations to come.
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Perhaps the most famous adventure movie of the 1980’s, Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark gave birth to one of cinema’s most well known archaeologists. The film spawned three more sequels, although many wish that they could forget that atrocious last one.
Although 1977’s Star Wars kick-started Harrison Ford’s movie career, Raiders Of The Lost Ark made him a household name. The film also reignited Steven Spielberg’s directing career after 1941 became an unexpected financial flop and reinstated faith that he was, and still is, one of Hollywood’s most definitive directors!
The Goonies
Not only did he prove that directing was his forte, Steven Spielberg also proved that he excelled at storytelling when a screenplay was adapted from one of his original stories to tell the narrative of The Goonies.
The film, about seven children who embark on a dangerous treasure hunt together, probably has one of the most famous background characters in movie history in “Sloth,” the deformed son of the Fratelli’s who constantly chase our adolescent heroes to get the treasure for themselves.
It is a shame that the film careers of most of the child clan did not take off considering the magnitude of the picture. Still, The Goonies is one that they can all be proud of as it firmly remains rooted as part of 1980’s culture.
Honey, I Shrunk The Kids
It might be hard to believe that a director who made the horror film, The Re-Animator came up with the concept of Honey, I Shrunk The Kids. But it is true. Stuart Gordon gave then first time director, Joe Johnston the idea in order to direct the movie even though Disney were concerned that his idea would involve actually killing off the kids in the end, given his history of directing horror.
But Gordon prevailed in the end in convincing the studio to make the 1950’s B-movie inspired science-fiction adventure flick. Along with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989, it saw the slow decline of live action adventure pictures throughout the 1990’s that would alter and transform into CGI-inspired animated movies such as Toy Story and The Lion King.
For better or worse? You can decide that.
Back To The Future
The shooting schedule for Back To The Future has been said by Michael J. Fox to have been rigorous and exhausting but after the production team let go Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly, they soon got the actor they really wanted all along!
The Delorean may have had a brief production run in the 1980’s, but thanks to Back To The Future it will never be forgotten! The cabled up vehicular time machine transported Doc and Marty into the future (and the past!) to change events that threatened both of their lives throughout three films.
But the original is largely considered to be the best of them and loudly echoes every teenager’s dream to just get away and go on an adventure of their own.
Jumanji
Jumanji is one of them films that was made in the 1990’s that were few and far between in terms of live action. It is possibly one of the reasons why this particular feature stands out as one of the decade’s finest adventure movies.
Perhaps fittingly, Joe Johnston was back on board to direct the film after his hit, Honey, I Shrunk The Kids six years earlier. Interestingly, he was a little worried about having Robin Williams cast since the actor had a reputation for randomly improvising scenes. However, he was assured by Williams, himself, that he would stick to the script. And he did.
Using a combination of computer generated imagery and practical effects, Jumanji broke new ground in terms of creating facial and finer details on certain characters. No wonder the currently released sequel was never going to equal the original!
