I only considered this because I am a big fan of Billy-Bob. I expected the film to be full of bad science, but I wasn't prepared for the torrent of non-science and anti-science I got. Certainly, filmmakers have licence to take liberties to some extent, but I haven't seen anything this ludicrous since Spielberg had ET making a radio transceiver out of a Speak-and-Spell.
This film is really a venture into nauseatingly Spielbergesque schmaltziness which is guaranteed to make a profit by unfailingly attracting the same gullible folks who gush over the disaster film where the world got destroyed, but fortunately, the boy and his dog were saved.
Launching a rocket from a wooden barn isn't just stupid. The stupidest person on the planet would know that the barn would be incinerated, along with all other buildings on the property. In real rocket launches, the pad is deluged with millions of gallons of water during lift-off to contain the damage to the massive reinforced concrete structure.
Any liquid-fueled rocket must be supported by a gigantic cryogenic plant, which was nowhere in evidence.
Any launch failure resulting in the rocket tipping over would most certainly not culminate in it being launched horizontally, to go skimming along the ground for a few miles. What you would get is a massive fireball at about 10,000 degrees F.
The haphazard re-entry firing results in a landing just a few miles from the launch point. How convenient. NASA could only predict splashdown within a 2000 or so square mile area.
There are so many more, but I would get ill if I went on. This film was made by people who know nothing about science for people who know nothing about science. There are certainly enough of those, going by the proportion of gushing reviews seen here.
I haven't even gone into how those same people don't seem bothered in the least by the fact that Charlie's "dream" is just so selfish and inconsiderate. There's nothing noble about pursuing your dream no matter how much it may damage those around you (literally and figuratively).
There is no way artistic licence can justify portraying science this bad. I believe even Spielberg wouldn't have touched this one, and that's saying something. I give it a 2, only because Billy-Bob managed to get through it without throwing up once.
This film is really a venture into nauseatingly Spielbergesque schmaltziness which is guaranteed to make a profit by unfailingly attracting the same gullible folks who gush over the disaster film where the world got destroyed, but fortunately, the boy and his dog were saved.
Launching a rocket from a wooden barn isn't just stupid. The stupidest person on the planet would know that the barn would be incinerated, along with all other buildings on the property. In real rocket launches, the pad is deluged with millions of gallons of water during lift-off to contain the damage to the massive reinforced concrete structure.
Any liquid-fueled rocket must be supported by a gigantic cryogenic plant, which was nowhere in evidence.
Any launch failure resulting in the rocket tipping over would most certainly not culminate in it being launched horizontally, to go skimming along the ground for a few miles. What you would get is a massive fireball at about 10,000 degrees F.
The haphazard re-entry firing results in a landing just a few miles from the launch point. How convenient. NASA could only predict splashdown within a 2000 or so square mile area.
There are so many more, but I would get ill if I went on. This film was made by people who know nothing about science for people who know nothing about science. There are certainly enough of those, going by the proportion of gushing reviews seen here.
I haven't even gone into how those same people don't seem bothered in the least by the fact that Charlie's "dream" is just so selfish and inconsiderate. There's nothing noble about pursuing your dream no matter how much it may damage those around you (literally and figuratively).
There is no way artistic licence can justify portraying science this bad. I believe even Spielberg wouldn't have touched this one, and that's saying something. I give it a 2, only because Billy-Bob managed to get through it without throwing up once.