By Oh, how I love 1980s American film. It was the time of crass commercialisation, cocaine and high concept but the decade produced the films that shaped my early movie experiences. We’ve already looked at some of our favourite films from the 1980s including the Top 10 Coming of Age Films and the Top 10 Science-Fiction Films for Children which have some crossover with this list: the Top 10 1980s Childhood Adventure Films.
Unsurprisingly for a child, the adventure story is one that instantly attracts. The sense of journeying into the unknown. The mystery. Good versus evil. Triumph over hardship. The adventure story takes you away from the living room into the fantastical where dreams can come true.
1980s Adventure Films for Kids
Kelly Preston in 1986’s SpaceCamp.
The 1980s saw some of the greatest adventure films ever made, particularly depicting children and teenagers from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Back To The Future to The Goonies and BMX Bandits. The decade’s abundance of great films in this genre is due to Hollywood’s willingness to spend a lot of money thanks to the burgeoning special effects industry.
Through space (The Last Starfighter, Flight of the Navigator, Explorers), through history (Time Bandits), through books (The NeverEnding Story), all the way to high stakes tourism (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) and even babysitting (the aptly titled Adventures in Babysitting). There was something for every taste and desire and as youngsters we had a great deal of fun watching our fellow preteens as the central protagonists.
Top 10 1980s Childhood Adventure Films
For this list we’re focusing on children under the age of sixteen so there’s no room for high school students such as Bill and Ted and Marty McFly. Here are some of the greatest childhood adventure movies from the eighties.
10. SpaceCamp
Dir. Harry Winer (1986)
SpaceCamp was panned by critics and left high and dry by audiences in 1986. It isn’t surprising – the film was released shortly after the Challenger disaster killed all seven on board the spacecraft. No one wanted to see a film about NASA space flight malfunctions.
But, as time distances us from the real life event, the fictional SpaceCamp can be looked at for what it is. It’s a simple tale, endearing tale. Despite it having two-dimensional characters and a cliché-ridden script, its sense of realism – that these kids were learning to fly a NASA space shuttle not a George Lucas X-Wing was interesting.
Joaquin Phoenix is the young kid who joins a group of teens who accidentally end up orbiting Earth’s atmosphere when the space shuttle they are testing malfunctions and has to deploy its boosters launching it into space. It is silly and predictable but affectionately told.
9. Flight Of The Navigator
Dir. Randal Kleiser (1986)
Flight of the Navigator sees twelve-year-old David Freeman head off to fetch his brother from a friends house. When walking home through the woods the two boys get separated; David falls and loses consciousness.
When he awakens he pulls himself together and walks home. But when he gets home he finds his parents aren’t there. Someone else lives in his house and they call the police.
At the police station the officers in charge are astonished to learn that David has been missing for eight years. He is taken back to his family and he finds they have aged eight years while he still looks twelve.
No one knows why but NASA, who have discovered an alien spacecraft, want to take the boy in for research. Unsurprisingly, the boy and the spacecraft have plenty in common.
Flight of the Navigator is one of many family-orientated science-fiction films of the 1980s but distinguishes itself thanks to a great premise and some excellent special effects.
8. Adventures In Babysitting
Dir. Chris Columbus (1987)
The title says it all really. Babysitter Chris, played by Elisabeth Shue, ends up having the night of her life when the two children she is looking after accompany her into the city to save her stranded friend. Everything that could go wrong does go wrong as the kids get into many tight scrapes as the city descends into night.
Firstly, their car breaks down and they become stranded on the expressway. Then the tow truck driver who eventually picks them up gets a call that his wife is cheating on him and the kids have to escape a hail of bullets by jumping into a car that is in the process of being stolen and driven to the chop shop.
Getting away from the car thieves isn’t easy as they pursue the children after one of them steals a Playboy magazine containing incriminating evidence. It doesn’t get any easier as Chris gets separated from the group and ends up scaling a high rise building to escape.
The Chris Columbus-directed film, which targets a younger audience but has plenty of laughs for those adults willing to immerse themselves in the adventure, is a lot of fun.
7. Time Bandits
Dir. Terry Gilliam (1981)
Written by Monty Python members Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin, Time Bandits was always going to be a unique experience. It brings that great Pythonesque quality to the time travel and fantasy genre as it celebrates history through the adventures of a small boy named Kevin.
The special effects have a low-budget feel about them but that adds to the film’s unique charm as it makes its way through mythical lands featuring Robin Hood and Napoleon Bonaparte while we even get a chance to spend some time aboard the Titanic.
It is a mixture of outlandish humour, a celebration of mythology and history, and special effects that come together to make for a hugely entertaining if exceedingly dark adventure story.
6. The NeverEnding Story
Dir. Wolfgang Petersen (1982)
This English-language German film was, at the time, the most expensive to be produced outside the USA or USSR. It is unsurprising given the amount of special effects present in the film.
It tells the story of a young boy named Bastian (Barret Oliver) who becomes the central character of a book he begins reading about the fantastical world of Fantasia coming face to face with its destruction at the hands of The Nothing.
The tale features an assortment of characters including the terrifying wolf-like beast Gmork (one of the scariest monsters ever created for a family film).
5. Honey I Shrunk The Kids
Dir. Joe Johnston (1989)
In Joe Johnston’s fantasy-adventure, a group of children are accidentally miniaturised when a struggling inventor’s latest contraption is unwittingly activated.
The special-effects are excellent – especially for the imagination of a young child. The battle between the ant and the scorpion is a particular highlight – the two insects appearing to be the size of houses to the centimetre-high kids.
4. Explorers
Dir. Joe Dante (1985)
Joe Dante is another director – like Steven Spielberg and John Hughes – who had this innate ability to regress back to childhood. In Explorers, he examines the limitless possibilities of the imagination in a group of young teenagers who create a spaceship out of a fairground ride and fly off into space to meet a bunch of aliens they have been dreaming about.
River Phoenix shows up in a role far removed from his cocky tough kid in Stand By Me. A very young Ethan Hawke joins him for their fantastic adventure. Despite a disappointing final third, this story of friendships and spaceships is classic fantasy from the 1980s.
3. E.T.
Dir. Steven Spielberg, (1982)
Steven Spielberg is a child at heart. As such he has an inherent ability to portray the idealism and sense of imagination that becomes lost as childhood develops into adulthood.
In Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Spielberg was able to realise his preteen aspirations through Richard Dreyfuss’ adult father figure. In E.T. he explicitly centres those emotions on ten-year-old boy Elliott.
Shot from the point of view of a three-and-a-half-foot-tall child, E.T. tells the story of a juvenile, good-natured alien left behind by his family after unscrupulous government agents try to capture their spaceship.
Elliott and the alien form a unique bond as the human child tries to help his otherworldly new friend first acclimatise to earth and then find a way to call his family to take him home.
It is a story enriched with wholesome goals that Spielberg paints with a master’s brush – the wonderful imagery (the flying bicycles leading to the iconic shot as they ride past a full moon), childhood innocence versus adulthood cynicism, subtle use of special-effects, the incorporation of a fine John Williams score.
The sequence when Elliott and his friends evade the government suits, the sustained oily rattle of BMX bike chains set against the grunting engines of government-issue motor vehicles, is one of those special Spielberg moments in which the filmmaker makes the screen come alive like no one else.
When those bikes take to the air to the astonishment of the adults watching on, it is impossible to stop the butterflies fluttering around in the stomach. Like so many sequences in Spielberg’s long list of cinematic masterpieces, the scene doesn’t just resonate, it has a transcendental effect that makes you feel like you’re literally lifting from your seat in unison.
2. The Goonies
Dir. Richard Donner (1985)
The opening sight of a skull and crossbones sets us up for swashbuckling adventure. Richard Donner mixes the search for buried treasure with teens coming of age as they try to find the loot that will save their homes from demolition.
Aside from the great set pieces (including every kid’s dream – a water slide into pirate One-Eyed Willy’s secret hideaway), The Goonies is so much fun thanks to the director’s ensemble collection of characters.
There’s the kids themselves – each individually realised and brilliantly brought to the screen – who have their idiosyncratic ways but relate individually and collective to the audience watching.
Then there’s the fantastic bumbling bad guys led by the brilliant Anne Ramsey and the monster of the story – Sloth – played by ex-professional football player John Daniel “Tooz” Matuszak.
1. Stand By Me
Dir. Rob Reiner (USA, 1986)
It comes as little surprise the Coreys (of the Haim and Feldman persuasion) were teen idols of the Brat Pack age. Haim will be forever remember for the seminal coming of age classic Lucas, while the twosome appeared as vampire hunters in The Lost Boys and wannabe road hogs in License To Drive.
Feldman however kept the limelight burning a little longer thanks to The Goonies and he’s brilliant turn in Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me. In fact, the ensemble that includes River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton and Jerry O’Connell, is one of the best young casts ever assembled. That they deliver such authentic, heartfelt performances is testament to their talent and the ability of director Reiner to work with youthful sensibilities.
The scene in which Phoenix breaks down in tears as he recalls how he has been unfairly singled out as the criminal of his school is immensely powerful in its own right. But it takes on even greater significance given the tragedy that would befall this talented actor, who died at only twenty-three years of age.
As a tale of innocence, friendship, the human spirit and imagination, Stand By Me is easily the greatest childhood adventure story ever told on film.
If you enjoyed our look at the greatest 1980s childhood adventure movies, you may also like:
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THE GOONIES were my fave 🙂 Watched them dozens of times. It’s interesting that I’ve never seen ET.
@Dezmond: Glad to hear you’re a Goonies fan – a great film – could re-watch that endlessly. I think if you like these sorts of 1980s family films with elements of fantasy and sci-fi then you should definitely check out ET.
Man, this list brings me back. I’ve seen each and every one of these during my childhood (I’m a total 80’s kid) and I tinge with nostalgia at the mere thought of them. Great choices here… You totally hit that zeitgeist!
The only one of these I haven’t seen is Explorers, and in a weird case of serendipity, I saw the poster for Explorers just yesterday while looking for something else….
Great list, Dan. I would have had Neverending Story up at probably number 2 (after The Goonies) but any inclusion into the top 10 is good by me!
I bet you had fun writing this, Dan!
I didn’t come along until 1988 so I’m not that familiar with all of them. There are some that I know of, like Stand By Me and The Goonies, and ET really is a classic. Drew Barrymore is such a cutie in that photo!
Nice list. When I saw this on twitter I immediately thought “Stand By Me and Goonies”.
Great list,I felt the Time Bandits a little bit childish for me,but Indiana Jones and E.T. are great to watch.I need to purchase the blu-ray of The Goonies and Stand By Me.
The ten-year-old in me is demanding I track down SpaceCamp. Thanks for reminding me!
You call him Doctor Jones…..
I am just popping in to say HI. I have been manic this week, and I still am inter changing my theme. This also means editing all the posts to fit the new size and look good… GRRRR
Hope you are well
@Dave: Thanks Dave. It is the period of film I remember most fondly so I always view it with rose-tinted glasses. This was a great sub-genre – I’m not sure if any period since has captured it as well but then again I was only in that sort of 7 to 12 age once – that wide-eyed view of the world is lost as we get older. But these films, the ones from that time, are like little time capsules that capture that and keep it bottled for every viewing. I wonder if kids in the 1990s and 2000s will have the same?
@Rodney: I’ve heard there are different versions of The NeverEnding Story – one in particular has an orchestral score. The only version I’ve seen is the one with the American, techno-pop music all over it. For me, the music does detract from the film itself but I’m wondering if other versions are circulating around.
@Claire: I certainly did Claire…there’s more where this one came from. I hope I don’t bore you! You’re still an eighties baby so I can welcome you into my 1980s film appreciation gang! 😉
@Squasher88: Cool…nice to hear we’re on the same page. Stand By Me and The Goonies are such great films.
@David: I’ve got the Stand By Me blu-ray but haven’t got The Goonies as yet.
@Danny: Yeah, it is rarely on TV nowadays. It used to be on all the time!
@Scott: Keep up the good work Scott…it is looking great!
Some oldies but goodies on this list! Special props for mentioning BMX Bandits (cute little Kidman). Definitely one of my cable favorites growing up. I’d throw Gremlins on the list as well as it had all those great 80’s qualities to it as well.
Haven’t seen a few of these like Explorers, SpaceCamp, and NeverEnding Story, or Flight of the Navigator but the rest of the list is very solid. Was Lost Boys disqualified because it featured teenagers? Or because it was more on the horror side of things?
They don’t make them like these anymore, do they? That’s my childhood right there 😀
Dan: Re Neverending Story score; I think you’re thinking of Ridley Scott’s Legend (with Tom Cruise), which had both a traditional score (by Jerry Goldsmith, I think…) and a pop-synth version thanks to Tangerine Dream. To my knowledge, Neverending Story only ever had the score we all know and love. Limahl, you rotten bastard, get out of my head.
Of course, if somebody wants to prove me wrong, I welcome their input to my ignorance! LOL!!!
great list Dan. I have never thought much of this topic, but if I made such list ET, stand by me and Indiana are surely be in my list.
@Markus: BMX Bandits reminds me of summer holidays – it always seemed to be on TV when school was out!
@Evan: The Lost Boys would be a good edition actually as Corey Haim’s age would fit the remit for this list. But, like you say, more of a horror story than an adventure.
@Castor: Glad it brought back some good memories, Castor!
@Rodney: Legend is one if those films I hate with a passion! 🙂 You could be right about The NeverEnding Story but I’ve always thought the music for the film felt distracting. It seems oddly separate and for me it doesn’t work at all.
Like Castor said, they don’t make them like they used to! Awesome list. Adventures in Babysitting was a sleepover classic.
It’s funny you’ve got Temple of Doom lisetd here, I used to love it as a kid, but as I’ve grown up, it’s turned into that middle child film that I can do without.
I can’t knock your #1 and #2 choices. Goonies and Stand by Me are classics. I can’t see those ever getting topped.
Great choices, as a child of the 80s I love your top 5! Haven’t seen SpaceCamp or Adventures in Babysitting, maybe I should?
I’d also through into the mix: Honey I Shrunk The Kids (1989), Willow (1988), and Romancing the Stone (1984) (admittedly the last one is about adults on an adventure ( :
@Chris: Honey I Shrunk The Kids! Of course. How could I forget about that one! One of those films I remember going to see at the cinema as a child.
I only have seen E.T. But great list! Stand By Me seems like a must to see movie.
@Chris: I couldn’t leave this list the way it was without updating it with Honey I Shrunk The Kids! Thanks Chris for the suggestion!
@Andina: These are all must sees – especially the top 7.
I obviously grew up in this decade since I’ve seen all of these films. The only one that I just caught recently was Stand By Me. I’ll really like to revisit movies like Explorers and Flight of the Navigator that I haven’t seen since the theaters as a kid. Both are so hokey (especially the last act of Explorers) that I expect they’ll hold up well.
Great list!
Yet another amazing list! My other half keeps trying to get me to re-watch The Goonies, I haven’t seen it since I was younger and it scared me a bit (must have been an incredibly impressionable, sheltered child as ET freaks me out too!). Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Flight of the Navigator and Timebandits are serious classics though. Takes me right back to long summer holidays and the classics repeated on TV!
I agree 99% with this list …although I would of put Adventures in Babysitting 3rd over E.T. Not a huge fan of this movie. I know everyone loved it, but to me it wasn’t really a kid adventure film. I’m just biased I loved Adventures in Babysitting. It’s a city adventure nonstop the hijinx Elizabeth Shue gets these kids in is hilarious.
my ranking
1. Time Bandits
2. Explorers
3. The Neverending Story
4. D.A.R.Y.L.
5. Flight of the Navigator
6. Mio in the Land of Faraway
7. The Goonies
8. The Quest (Frog Dreaming)
9. Adventures of Babysitting
10. Space Camp