''Star Kid'' (originally titled ''The Warrior of Waverly Street'') is a 1997 American superhero film directed and written by

Manny Coto Manuel Hector "Manny" Coto (born June 10, 1961) is an American writer, director and producer of films and television programs. Coto was the executive producer and showrunner of '' Star Trek: Enterprise'' in its final season, and executive produ ...

and starring Joseph Mazzello, Richard Gilliland, and Corinne Bohrer.

Plot

The life of shy, seventh-grader Spencer Griffith, who has a crush on a schoolmate named Michelle, changes one night when he sees a mysterious

meteorite A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or moon. When the original object ...

, as it crashes down into a nearby junkyard. Sneaking out of his house to investigate, he discovers the meteorite to actually be a small rocket carrying a "Cybersuit", a prototype exoskeletal-suit with AI (short for

Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech ...

) from another galaxy. He decides to try it on and melds with it, but requires some time to adjust to the experience, including the new speed and strength, and then starts testing out its various primary functions and abilities, deciding to call it "Cy". He proceeds to go around town doing whatever he wants, starting with getting back at a

bully Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an i ...

named Turbo, then saving Michelle and her friends from a damaged

Rock-O-Plane The Rock-O-Plane is an amusement park ride designed by Lee Eyerly in 1948 and manufactured by the Eyerly Aircraft Company of Salem, Oregon. It is sometimes nicknamed "the cages" or "the eggs". Its shape is similar to that of a Ferris wheel, b ...

and ordering food from a fast-food restaurant drive-thru. He also endures the hilarious antics of trashing part of his house after getting his head stuck inside the refrigerator, discovering the unappealing way that it will allow him to eat his take-out food, and finding a way to pee when it won't let him out to do so. Meanwhile, Earth is visited by a Broodwarrior, a member of an

alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

race of world-conquering insectoids that are currently waging a war against the suit's creator, Tenris De'Thar, and his fellow Trelkins, who developed it as a weapon to turn the tide of the war, but was forced to launch it into space due to a Broodwarrior attack. The Broodwarrior's mission is to find and capture it so his race can analyze it. After first encountering the Broodwarrior, Spencer escapes, forces the suit to let him out, and abandons it, afraid he might not "live to see his next birthday" if he "engages" the Broodwarrior. Back home, after looking over one of his comic books titled ''MidKnight Warrior'' and thinking about what the title character, in his situation, would do, he goes back out to find the suit. He unexpectedly finds himself accompanied by Turbo, who gradually becomes his friend, only to find the Broodwarrior has taken the suit. They head to the junkyard, where it is about to be taken off-world by the Broodwarrior, and create a plan to distract it long enough to allow Spencer to rescue the suit. Spencer retrieves it and begins battling the Broodwarrior. During the battle, the Broodwarrior gets the upper hand, and the suit is bashed multiple times by the Broodwarrior's mace, severely damaging it, and forcing it to eject Spencer before it goes completely offline. Spencer covers it with scrap metal to hide it from the Broodwarrior, takes a piece of it, and continues to fight the Broodwarrior, who had started trying to chase down Turbo. Spencer confronts the Broodwarrior before getting chased himself and is suddenly cornered inside a junked ice cream truck. Just when the Broodwarrior is about to dispose of Spencer, Turbo finds a control panel and activates the car crusher the truck is sitting in, revealing the chase into it to be part of a trap. Spencer escapes while the truck is compressed into a solid metal cube, killing the Broodwarrior. With the Broodwarrior now destroyed, Spencer and Turbo return to the suit but it appears that they were too late to save it. Just as Spencer begins to lose hope, Tenris De'Thar and a small group of Trelkin soldiers appear from a giant UFO orbiting Earth and quickly repair it, reviving it. After Spencer say goodbye to it, the head alien soldier gives him a badge for his bravery and courage before their departure back to their home-world, and the long, eventful night finally comes to an end. The next day at school, a now confident Spencer, encouraged by Turbo, starts up a conversation with Michelle.

Cast

* Joseph Mazzello as Spencer Griffith * Richard Gilliland as Roland Griffith * Corinne Bohrer as Janet Holloway *Alex Daniels as "Cy" ** Arthur Burghardt as "Cy" (voice) *Joey Simmrin as Manfred "Turbo" Bruntley *Brian Simpson as the Broodwarrior *Ashlee Levitch as Stacey Griffith * Jack McGee as Hank Bruntley *

Danny Masterson Daniel Peter Masterson (born March 13, 1976) Most sources give birth date March 13, 1976. FilmReference.com gives March 3, 1976. is an American actor. He played the roles of Steven Hyde in ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006), Milo Foster in '' Men a ...

as Kevin *Lauren Eckstrom as Michelle Eberhardt *Bobby Porter - Nath the Trelkin *Larry Nicholas - Tenris De-Thar the Trelkin *Rusty Hanson - Trelkin *Terry Castillo - Trelkin * Christine Weatherup - Nadia *

Yumi Adachi is a Japanese actress and singer. Filmography Film * ''Rex: Kyōryū Monogatari'' (1993) * ''Hero Interview'' (1994) * ''Homeless Child'' (1994) * '' Lupin III: Farewell to Nostradamus'' (1995) * '' Kikansha Sensei'' (1997) * ''Star Kid'' (1 ...

- Mika

Production

The film was part of an effort by Trimark to enter into larger films. At the 1995

American Film Market The American Film Market (AFM) is a film industry event held each year in early November. Historically, more than 7,000 people attend the eight-day annual event to network and to sell, finance and acquire films. Participants come from more than ...

, it was positioned as Trimark's flagship product when it was previewed to foreign distributors under its original title, ''The Warrior of Waverly Street''

Release

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

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 43% with an average rating of 5.37/10 based on 14 reviews. In his review for the

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

(who gave it 3 out of 4 stars) said, "''Star Kid'', written and directed by Manny Coto, has a sweet heart and a lot of sly wit, and the symbiosis between boy and cyborg is handled cleverly. For kids of a certain age, it pushes the right buttons."

Home media

In the United States, the film was released on VHS and DVD format in 1998. It was also released on VHS in the UK and is now available on DVD.

Soundtrack

All tracks (with the exception of the first two tracks) were composed by

Nicholas Pike Nicholas Pike is an Emmy Award winning English film and television music composer. He was born in Water Orton, Warwickshire, England, and is known for featuring unique sounds and instrumentation. He started his music career at the age of 7 at ...

. The soundtrack was released on compact disc by Sonic Images (January 27, 1998) and further released for download through BSX Records (January 29, 2013) with modified cover art.

Comic

A prequel was released in

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

form, written by Manny Coto with art by John Stokes. It was published by

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops know ...

.Dark Horse Comics > Profile > Star Kid
/ref>

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Star Kid 1997 films 1990s adventure films 1990s coming-of-age films 1990s superhero films American independent films American children's adventure films American children's fantasy films American coming-of-age films American science fantasy films American superhero films Films about bullying Films about dysfunctional families Films directed by Manny Coto Films scored by Nicholas Pike Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Los Angeles Superhero comedy films Teen superhero films Trimark Pictures films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films