Within the first four minutes of the Disney+ original movie “Crater,” we already have a cavalcade of cinematic tropes to contend with: dead parents, spaceships, and a 72-hour ticking clock for a newly orphaned tween to say goodbye to her group of friends. At least we know that Disney hasn’t shied away from its classic storylines.
Part “Guardians of the Galaxy” and part “Goonies” with a dash of “Outer Banks,” “Crater” centers on Caleb Channing (a well-cast Isaiah Russell-Bailey), raised on a lunar mining colony by his single dad (Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi). After his father’s death, Caleb becomes a ward of the state, ready to collect “death benefits” from his father’s employment contract with the colony. As part of those benefits, Caleb would have to be put into cryogenic sleep and transported to the distant planet Omega, which takes 75 years to reach.
But when a meteor shower warning puts the planet into an unexpected lockdown, it has just 72 hours before transport is scheduled. Naturally, Caleb takes this limited time for one last hurray with his best friends, Dylan (Billy Barratt), Borney (Orson Hong), and Marcus (Thomas Boyce), and follows his late father’s treasure map into uncharted territory. (trope alert: treasure map!).
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The sweet group of friends in the ensemble are joined by Addison (Mckenna Grace), who the boys try to befriend explicitly for her father’s access to a space rover so they can explore a crater. Sure, there’s green-screen CGI, reflecting kid faces on “Twilight” icon Renesmee in space suit helmets, but their adventure away from the adults (cough, cough, worst part of the movie) makes it a worthy escape.
Caleb imagines his father in flashbacks, encouraging him to take more road trips that allow him to “leave it all behind,” such as the grief they both endured over the loss of Caleb’s mother. Yet Mescudi had a far better turn on Ti West’s “X”; the actor teeters on a more serious role for “Crater,” specifically that of a steady father grappling with a series of emotions before his inevitable demise. Caleb and crew were wise to teleport away from him in the script.
The freedom of a group of teenage friends who exist in their own universe, with no (dead) parents or other adults (who threaten to force Caleb away from his friends forever), is well captured in the coming-of-age film. It’s believably funny, but more suited to the age group that the actors embody. Any older audience member is sure to roll their eyes at the spoon-fed cuteness. Yet to a 12-year-old, “Crater” might feel like shooting the moon.
‘Crater’ is directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez, whose ’13 Reasons Why’ directorial experience seems to be on full display with the young actors. Yet the tension displayed in Alvarez’s independent features “Homecoming” and “The Stanford Prison Experiment” is nowhere to be seen, aside from the chilly first few minutes where the weight of Caleb’s emotional journey is felt. The film is written by John Griffin (“From “The Twilight Zone”), staying true to the three-act structure with no surprises.
When Caleb finally lands on Omega, there seems to be an “Avengers: Endgame”-style moment with him reuniting with his friends, much like Captain America in the Marvel epic. Yet the film decides to stay more conservative and even darker. The message is that there’s no throwback and no real reunion with the people you’ve lost, so you might as well enjoy out-of-this-world adventure while you can.
Grade: C-
“Crater” is now streaming on Disney+.
