Those who are over 25 years old will remember those sad cartoons we grew up with. Orphans without mothers turning the world into her quest, girls with fragile health who ended up delirious on the death bed or simply Lady Oscar from the first to the last episode. Crater, coming of age science fiction and adventure, directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez from a screenplay by John Griffin and story by Griffin and Rpin Suwannath, fits in the same genre. As long as you’re talking, not general impression. The production is by Walt Disney Pictures and 21 Laps Entertainment, and the film came to Italy streaming on Disney+ from 12 May 2023 and tonight is on Rai 4 Monday 29 December 2025. At your risk and danger and especially if you want to explain to your children, cousins and grandchildren very difficult themes.
Crater, una storia dalle implicazioni complesse
In the future, spatial colonies are a reality. On the moon there is one, in particular, in which the poorest part of the spatial population is forced to extract helium from the mines of generation, in a cycle of unspeakable injustices and with contractual conditions cheating. Among the boys of the lunar extraction site is Caleb, who has just remained orphaned. According to the terms of the contract, it must be sent to one of the rich planets, Omega, because the father died at work. Caleb formed a group of friends for the skin, and although on Omega his life will be better, he is very sad at the thought of leaving. Also because he was organizing with the aforementioned friends a great adventure: They had to steal a vehicle together and go to the moon crater, as the father asked him before he died.
Friends do not give themselves to losers and decide to anticipate the plan. During a lockdown due to a meteorite rain, and asking for help to the newcomer Addison, they launch into a dangerous and exciting adventure, which will make him discover that besides the extractive site there is more, and that the universe is much more complex and cruel (but also beautiful) than they had realized.
Crater, due piani di lettura
This film has two reading plans, or two levels. At the first level, the most superficial, there is a story of adventure and friendship. Caleb and Dylan became friends at a time of need and no longer broke up. In this group, no one is abandoned, even if the quarrels are frequent. Besides the two leaders, in fact, there are Marcus, who has a congenital defect to the heart because of the generations that before him have worked in the mine, and who is always recommended to take his pills, and Borney, anxious to the extreme, who is always reassured (or teased affectionately).
Addison adds to them. His life is different, but not for this less complicated, and the girl must already manage losses while being very young and much richer than his fellow adventurers. Together, these guys will find that there is something beyond hereditary work, and that a team is much stronger than a single. Without subtracting at stupider times, inventing risky games or filling with ice cream. After all, they’re children. The relationship between the boys is built with delicacy, and is the most positive part of history.
At a second level, deeper (and without spoiler), there are the implications that this imaginary future brings with it. The galaxy, from what transpares from the dialogues of the boys, appears socially divided in an immovable way. Those who work are forced to work practically until death, their children are condemned to the same fate. Only rich people can stay on Omega or Earth, or embark on 75-year-old cryogenic journeys to move from one planet to another. If you stop thinking about it for a moment, it is a dark future, in which you assume that man has implemented in space the same cruel and prevarious rules that he has implemented on earth, and in which the social class difference is practically unbeatable.
In such a future there is no meritocracy, and our protagonists are equipped with a level of cynicism, awareness and passive acceptance of reality that I would not wish to my worst enemy. Even the final, which is not a happy full and satisfying end, seems to go in this direction. Crater is a seemingly simple film that chooses the path of sadness. I don’t know why he does it, but I would have liked a bit more cheerful. All together.
Il cast di Crater
Isaiah Russell-Bailey is Caleb Channing, orphan who is about to leave for Omega. Not before launching into the adventure of a life. Mckenna Grace is Addison, spoiled girl from the earth. Billy Barratt is Dylan, a blonde and cynic driver, with a tragic family history and the spirit of adventure. Orson Hong is the anxious Borney, who gets dragged into bigger things than him by his friends. Thomas Boyce is Marcus, gentle boy with a congenital heart defect. Scott Mescudi, the art name Kid Cudi, is the father of Caleb.
Dove in streaming
The film is no longer on Disney+, it is streaming live on RaiPlay, and is on hire and or buying on Rakuten TV, Apple TV, Amazon Video.
L’articolo Crater, on Disney+ a sad film masked by film for boys – The film review tonight on TV comes from Dituttounpop.it.
