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Explorers poster

Movies that feel likeExplorers (1985)

Middle schooler Ben spends his free time watching sci-fi films, playing video games and reading comic books. Surprisingly, his affinity for all things fantastical yields a real result – when he has a vivid dream about technology, his prodigy best friend Wolfgang manages to create a working spacecraft. Joined by their buddy Darren, the boys take off into outer space and encounter some very odd extraterrestrial life.

If you loved Explorers, the closest films we have are Escape to Witch Mountain (1975), Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005) and Flight of the Navigator (1986). All three share Explorers' cerebral and epic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Ikarie XB 1 (1963).

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If Explorers hit the spot, these will too

Escape to Witch Mountain poster
Escape to Witch Mountain
1975 · dir. John Hough
🍅 87%★ 6.3adventure · fantasy · science fictionDisney+

Cerebral and epic in the same breath

The difference: Easier on the awe than Explorers

Tia and Tony are two orphaned youngsters with extraordinary powers. Lucas Deranian poses as their uncle in order to get the kids into the clutches of Deranian's megalomaniacal boss, evil millionaire Aristotle Bolt, who wants to exploit them. Jason, a cynical widower, helps Tia and Tony escape to witch mountain, while at the same time Tia and Tony help Jason escape the pain of the loss of his wife.

Zathura: A Space Adventure poster
Zathura: A Space Adventure
2005 · dir. Jon Favreau
🍅 77%★ 6.3science fiction · adventure · familyNetflix

Both are working the same pair: space travel, alien

The difference: Made in the 2000s, in a different era of the craft

After their father is called into work, two young boys, Walter and Danny, are left in the care of their teenage sister, Lisa, and told they must stay inside. Walter and Danny, who anticipate a boring day, are shocked when they begin playing Zathura, a space-themed board game, which they realize has mystical powers when their house is shot into space. With the help of an astronaut, the boys attempt to return home.

Flight of the Navigator poster
Flight of the Navigator
1986 · dir. Randal Kleiser
🍅 85%★ 6.9family · science fiction · adventureDisney+

Both are built on the same subject: alien

12-year-old David is accidentally knocked out in the forest near his home, but when he awakens eight years have passed. His family is overjoyed to have him back, but is just as perplexed as he is that he hasn't aged. When a NASA scientist discovers a UFO nearby, David gets the chance to unravel the mystery and recover the life he lost.

Ikarie XB 1 poster
Ikarie XB 1
1963 · dir. Jindřich Polák
🍅 100%★ 6.9science fiction

The same preoccupation in both: spacecraft

The year is 2163. Starship Ikaria XB-1 embarks on a mission deep into space in search of alien life. During their perilous journey the crew confront the effects of a malignant dark star, the destructive legacy of the 20th century and, ultimately, the limits of their own sanity.

Journey to the Beginning of Time poster
Journey to the Beginning of Time
1955 · dir. Karel Zeman
★ 7.1adventure · fantasy · family

Both land warmth and comfort at once

The difference: Leans harder into fantasy than Explorers does

Four schoolboys go on an awe-inspiring expedition back through time, where they behold landscapes and creatures that have long since vanished from the earth.

The Dark Crystal poster
The Dark Crystal
1982 · dir. Frank Oz
🍅 78%★ 7.1adventure · family · fantasyPeacock

Dreamlike adventure, and it commits to that

On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal and restore order to his world, before the grotesque race of Skeksis find and use the crystal for evil.

Return to Oz poster
Return to Oz
1985 · dir. Walter Murch
🍅 59%★ 6.7adventure · family · fantasyDisney+

Family with a pulse of scale, in both cases

Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, finds herself back in the land of her dreams, and makes delightful new friends, and dangerous new enemies.

The Black Stallion poster
The Black Stallion
1979 · dir. Carroll Ballard
🍅 90%★ 7.4family · adventure

Both lean on warmth more than on science fiction

While traveling with his father, young Alec becomes fascinated by a mysterious Arabian stallion that is brought on board and stabled in the ship he is sailing on. When it tragically sinks both he and the horse survive only to be stranded on a deserted island. He befriends it, so when finally rescued both return to his home where they soon meet Henry Dailey, a once successful trainer. Together they begin training the horse to race against the fastest ones in the world.

The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter poster
The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter
1990 · dir. George T. Miller
🍅 14%★ 5.1family · fantasy · adventure

Cozy adventure in both cases

Once again, Bastian is transported to the world of Fantasia which he recently managed to save from destruction. However, the land is now being destroyed by an evil sorceress, Xayide, so he must join up with Atreyu and face the Emptiness once more.

Jason and the Argonauts poster
Jason and the Argonauts
1963 · dir. Don Chaffey
🍅 85%★ 7.3adventure · family · fantasy

Family built on dream logic, twice over

Jason, a fearless sailor and explorer, returns to his home land of Thessaly after a long voyage to claim his rightful throne. He learns, however, that he must first find the magical Golden Fleece. To do so, he must embark on an epic quest fraught with fantastic monsters and terrible perils.

The Amazing Mr. Blunden poster
The Amazing Mr. Blunden
1972 · dir. Lionel Jeffries
★ 6.8family · fantasyPrime Video

Warm science fiction in both cases

Mysterious old solicitor Mr. Blunden visits Mrs. Allen and her young children in their squalid, tiny Camden Town flat and makes her an offer she cannot refuse. The family become the housekeepers to a derelict country mansion in the charge of the solicitors. One day the children meet the spirits of two other children who died in the mansion nearly a hundred years prior. The children prepare a magic potion that allows them to travel backwards in time to the era of the ghost children. Will the children be able to help their new friends and what will happen to them if they do?

Time Bandits poster
Time Bandits
1981 · dir. Terry Gilliam
🍅 92%★ 6.9family · fantasy · science fictionMax

Cerebral science fiction in both cases

Young history buff Kevin can scarcely believe it when six dwarfs emerge from his closet one night. Former employees of the Supreme Being, they've purloined a map charting all of the holes in the fabric of time and are using it to steal treasures from different historical eras. Taking Kevin with them, they variously drop in on Napoleon, Robin Hood and King Agamemnon before the Supreme Being catches up with them.

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The best-reviewed films that share Explorers’ defining feeling.