Good story, Not enough for a whole film

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

....After all, Star Wars borrowed heavily from both Flash Gordon and Akira Kurosawa(in particular, the hidden fortress). But we are talking about TLS here, so here we go.The Last Starfighter is a space adventure PERFECT for kids around 10-11. The special effects, the tongue-in-cheek script, the whole movie is one of the most exciting and entertaining films to come out of the early 1980s. The use of CGI space ships-then state of the art-may look dated today, but keep in mind this was 1984, so I feel that it doesn't hurt the film that much.*Spoilers ahead* The story is about Alex Rogen, a high school kid living in a trailer park with a talent for an arcade game called 'Star Fighter'. One faithful night, he beats the top score, and the next day, a man named Centauri comes to recruit him to fight evil, the game acting as the proverbial sword in the stone which leads Alex to his destiny, leaving behind a robot double to fill in as his replacement. The film does a good job of making a star wars like fantasy that is just different enough to keep it fresh. Lots of fun, with an enthralling soundtrack and good acting all around, especially from the late Robert Preston(Centauri), who plays the role of Centauri. It is also interesting to note that the film was originally going to spawn a tie-in video game of the same name, Atari's first 3D polygonal arcade game to use a Motorola 68000 as the CPU, but it was never released. If you like Sci-fi and adventure, this film is right up your alley.

My kids watched this movie over and over on VHS and I will admit I watched it with them pretty often - and even occasionally on my own.There's nothing special about the plot, characters or special effects, but there was a dream-come-true quality that worked better than usual. I even felt it myself as an adult male. Imagine flying off into space with a beautiful girl after having unexpectedly discovered you had hidden talents that suddenly made you an indispensable hero to the universe. What guy ever loses that dream? Robert Preston and Dan O'Herlihy were superb of course, and that undoubtedly added to the impact.Modern CGI might make the film look out-of-date to most kids today, but it might be worth giving it a shot. And watch it with them, you might have more fun that you think.

As a big fun of the 80's decades, science fiction, and old arcade video games, i give myself a task to watch this movie, and after some time i finally give it a try and i must say it surprise me, it is very solid movie. The movie reminds me on some mix of E.T. Extraterretial, Back To the Future, Starman and even Star Wars, but it is very unique and have own atmosphere. If you love 80's, lighter sci-fi, fantasy and old arcade video games this movie is definitely for you, of course there are some flaws in a movie, but after watching it i felt happy and nostalgic.my grade: 7/10.

Everyone dreams of being a pilot or an astronaut and this dream comes true for one kid from the trailer park. This wonderful tale brings out the kid in you and make you want to cheer on the good guys as they take on the universes evil. This was the first time a special effect team used nothing but computer animation in some scenes. So when you watch it just think all of this was done with 640K of memory on a 486 computer! This is a great popcorn flick filled with chases and shooting, good guys and bad guys, love and romance and growing up. It is fun, smart, great story line, and not at all predictable!If you have not seen this movie then grab your child or nephew and some popcorn and enjoy this.....Robert Preston is an absolute delight!