why did i watch this movie, you may ask? well, i was doing some work on my laptop and i decided i could use some background noise. i saw this on netflix and decided to put it on for shits and giggles. to my surprise, it wasn't awful and was occasionally the teeniest bit watchable. weird, right? the first 30 minutes were the kind of cheesy 80's family movie guilty-pleasure fun that i actually enjoyed. the rest of the movie is generally bad, though. i laughed approximately once, it meandered too much, and nothing really happened. and the main kid is really fucking irritating, his voice is like nails on a chalkboard. also something i noticed, this film shares the plot of "rise of the planet of the apes" almost beat for beat. there are approximately two good things in this movie: 1. the bigfoot suit: holy shit, this thing saves the movie completely. it's actually phenomenal, it's so expressive (maybe a little too expressive given the design they have for bigfoot's face) and it looks pretty convincing. bring back big goofy guys in big goofy suits, hollywood! learn from harry. 2. john lithgow: he isn't amazing in this or anything but man he's 110% busting his ass trying to make this movie watchable. he does great with what little he's given. don't watch this, or if you do check out after the first 30-35 minutes. it just devolves into this weird manhunt that kind of reminded me of escape from new york a bit. it got real strange. also, those end credits are fucking amazing. it's a sappy, dumb rendition of "bigfoot love theme" by joe cocker over scenes in the movie redrawn in the style of a-ha's iconic "take on me" video. it's truly something to behold.