You wouldn’t necessarily expect slightly dystopian undertones about the oppressive state of labor in a Disney family-friendly sci-fi film (released during the writers’ strike, no less), but “Crater” does just that while retaining the light-hearted fun of a kid’s adventure.
Directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez, the film is set in a mining colony on the moon, where miners make contracts promising that they and their families will earn a ticket to Omega, a distant, habitable planet. However, legal loopholes prevent most from actually seeing that day.
But through a rule that allows descendants of deceased miners to automatically go to Omega, the film’s young protagonist, Caleb (Isaiah Russell-Bailey and Hero Hunter in flashbacks), is meant to leave the colony after his father ( Scott Mescudi, aka Kid Cudi) dies – only he doesn’t want to leave his friends behind. Hoping to make the most of their limited time together, Caleb and his friends, with the help of a new girl from Earth (McKenna Grace), steal a lunar rover and go on a road trip in search of a mysterious crater that contains Caleb’s father. has told. to find him as a kind of dying wish.
It’s refreshing to see Disney invest a decent budget in an original sci-fi world for a live-action movie (it’s also a movie that would have undoubtedly swung at the box office, but maybe and should find an audience on streaming ), and Alvarez makes good use of it. And while it may not have the indelible charm of other children’s classics, “Crater” does well not to make an effort to please audiences beyond the family audience. Above all, the film is surprisingly deft at incorporating an emotional core that makes the story more interesting than the adventure itself.
Crater
Rated PG. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes. Watch on Disney+.