Review of Solarbabies (1986) by Melissa R — 26 Jun 2011

So this was one of the weirder movies I've seen in awhile. In fact it was so weird it was kind of funny, which I guess made it worth watching. Surprisingly, being a child of the eighties, I hadn't actually watched too many movies from that time ( I was stuck on the tv shows apparently) and so I'm making up for it now by watching a few. I can definitely see why that whole decade was considered a bit odd now.

It's a post-apocalyptic future where children are gathered and sent to camps that will force them to become a part of the Eco-Protectorate (a group that controls the dwindling water supply). At this camp their main function is to roll around on roller skates it would seem, playing games. They sometimes sneak off the camps to play games though and at one such time something wonderful happens. One little boy, Daniel, finds a mysterious orb of light that he names Bodhai that can do wondrous things and he and his friends (a roller team called the Solarbabies) must protect it at all costs. They also find a new goal for themselves, to save the water from the evil Eco Protectorate. The only problem is it is near impossible to escape from the camps, and when Daniel goes missing, they have to find a way to rescue him.

Characters:

Richard Jordan as Grock.

Jami Gertz as Terra.

Jason Patric as Jason.

Lukas Haas as Daniel.

James LeGros as Metron.

Claude Brooks as Rabbit.

Peter DeLuise as Tug.

Peter Kowanko as Gavial.

Adrian Pasdar as Darstar.

Sarah Douglas as Shandray.

Charles Durning as The Warden.

Frank Converse as Greentree.

Terrence Mann as Ivor.

Alexei Sayle as Malice.

Bruce Payne as Dogger.

The characters are very eighties in this movie. They've got the big hair, big attitude, and love to skate with a whole lot of drama mixed in. The bad guys are complete evil with no redeeming qualities and also have big hair. Throw in some weird dance scenes and that should pretty much round out the picture of this cast. None of them were particularly good actors in my opinion, but as said before the movie was so amusing I could almost ignore that.

The plot seemed fairly standard for a post-apocalyptic world. They have to save a resource and share it with the people, in this case water. The roller skates though, added a whole new dimension. There wasn't anywhere these kids couldn't skate. Made me want to go put on a pair myself and roll through my lawn just to see if it was skate-able. Probably a good thing I didn't though because I don't think it would have gone as smoothly as their skating. Since its a kids movie it is appropriate for all ages and I can see younger viewers identifying with Daniel pretty easy as he was a cute kid who gets to play with the mysterious ball of light.

Definitely a weird movie but if you haven't seen it, give it a watch just for a giggle. It is average in all ways, but highly amusing.

Review by M. Reynard 2011.