Star Kid

Star Kid
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Manny Coto
Produced by	Jennie Lew Tugend
Written by	Manny Coto
Starring	Joseph Mazzello Richard Gilliland Corinne Bohrer
Music by	Nicholas Pike
Cinematography	Ronn Schmidt
Editing by	Bob Ducsay
Distributed by	Trimark Pictures Inc.
Release date(s)	January 16, 1998
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$12 million
Box office	$7,029,025

Star Kid is a 1997 sci-fi/family film directed and written by Manny Coto. The film stars Joseph Mazzello, Richard Gilliland, and Corinne Bohrer.

Plot

Shy seventh grader Spencer Griffith's (Joseph Mazzello) life changes when a meteor falls and crashes into a junkyard near him. Inside it he finds a "Cybersuit", an exoskeletal-suit with AI from another galaxy. He decides to try it on and becomes a completely different person (including the part where he needed out of the Cybersuit to pee). He then gets attacked by a Uruk-kai, whose insectoid race is in a raging war against the creators of the Cybersuits, intenting to capture the one on Earth in order to analyze it. After a battle with the Broodwarrior (Brian Simpson), Spencer escapes, gets ejected by Cy (the Cybersuit) and then abandons him because he's afraid of getting killed or captured. In the end after finding out that Cy has been captured by the Broodwarrior, he returns with the school bully Turbo (Joey Simmrin), who was cowed after he punched him. As they head back to the junkyard, where Cy is about to be transported off Earth by the Broodwarrior, they create a plan to distract the Broodwarrior long enough for Spencer to retrieve Cy. Spencer succeeds and soon engages in battle with the Broodwarrior in the junkyard. After a massive battle, Cy is defeated and severely damaged over the Broodwarrior's victory. After taking several heavy damages thanks to the Broodwarrior's brute strength and superior intellect, Cy collapses and ejects Spencer right before he loses power completely. Spencer then covers Cy with scrap metal to keep the Broodwarrior from locating him, takes a broken piece of armor and continues the fight with Turbo without him. Spencer soon confronts the Broodwarrior and is then cornered in a scraped RV by it. Just when the Broodwarrior is about to put an end to Spencer once and for all, Turbo activates a junk crusher where the RV sits. Spencer manages to escape the RV and the Broodwarrior gets a crushing defeat, turning it into a junk cube, killing it instantly. as they return to Cy, they were too late to save him and Spencer cries over his unfortunate death. Just when Spencer begins to lose hope, Cy's creators then show up and quickly repair him, thus bringing him back to life. After both Cy and Spencer have said their heart-warming goodbyes, One of the aliens gives Spencer a badge for his bravery and courage before departing with Cy on their mothership back to their homeworld. The next day at school Spencer now has confidence and (with a little encouragement from Turbo as they are now friends after the battle) approaches Michelle (Lauren Eckstrom), a girl that he likes from his school, and sits down to talk with her.

Cast

• Joseph Mazzello as Spencer Griffith
• Richard Gilliland as Roland Griffith
• Corinne Bohrer as Janet Holloway
• Alex Daniels (Arthur Burghardt, voice) as "Cy"
• Joey Simmrin as Manfred "Turbo" Bruntley
• Brian Simpson as the Broodwarrior
• Ashlee Levitch as Stacey Griffith
• Jack McGee as Hank Bruntley
• Danny Masterson as Kevin
• Lauren Eckstrom as Michelle Eberhardt

Release

The film grossed a domestic total of $7,029,025, making the film a box office bomb from its estimated $12 million budget.

Home media

In the USA, Star Kid was released on VHS in 1997 and DVD format in 1998. It was also released on VHS in the UK and is now available on DVD.

Comic

A prequel was released in comic book form, written by Manny Coto with art by John Stokes it was published by Dark Horse Comics.

External links

• Star Kid at the Internet Movie Database
• Star Kid at Box Office Mojo
• Star Kid at Rotten Tomatoes