Film

Solarbabies

Name: Solarbabies
Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Adventure, Romance
Released: 1986
Cast: Richard Jordan, Jami Gertz, Jason Patric, Lukas Haas, James Le Gros

A 1986 sci-fi adventure where orphans on roller skates find a magical orb and escape their dystopian compound across a water-starved wasteland. It's gorgeously silly, genuinely earnest, and wildly ambitious in all the ways '80s blockbusters were allowed to be. For anyone who loves Star Wars's optimism mixed with a pinch of *Mad Max* and completely unironic sentimentality.

TMDb rating

2.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love scrappy, earnest 1980s adventures where a roller-hockey team's loyalty counts as much as the plot, and sincerity doesn't embarrass you.

Skip it if you want tight plotting or slick modern effects, since the wide-eyed sincerity and dated visuals can feel like long stretches of wheel-spinning.

What it asks of you: It is a brisk ninety-four minutes that shifts between skating set-pieces, quiet moments of camaraderie and a chase across barren ground, so it rewards attention without demanding much homework.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The NeverEnding Story1984

Shares that rare '80s quality of treating children as heroes of real stakes without condescension. Visually audacious, emotionally true, and willing to let wonder be the point.

But The pacing stalls occasionally and some sequences rely heavily on practical effects that don't quite land for modern eyes.

Krull1983

Another ornate '80s adventure that swings for the fences with concept and craft. Cares passionately about its world even when logic bends. Pure imagination on screen.

But The plot is genuinely convoluted and the tone shifts abruptly from scenes of genuine dread to cheese.

Willow1988

Shares Solarbabies' commitment to found-family heroics and practical world-building. Charming, goofy when it wants to be, and genuinely inventive with its action and magic.

But The child characters can feel underwritten and the climax relies on logic that requires patience to accept.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Solarbabies

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Xanadu1980

Both films treat the rollerskate not as a novelty but as the genuine fulcrum of their entire world and physicality—a shared commitment to a gloriously weird aesthetic choice.

A rollerskating musical fantasy that predates Solarbabies and shares its willingness to stake everything on an outlandish visual idea. Ten-Moraes mixing with Gene Kelly, glorious and unashamed.

But It is aggressively kitsch in ways that require genuine affection for '80s aesthetics to tolerate for two hours.

Mad Max 21981

The template for all wasteland adventures that follow. Lean, visual storytelling where landscapes and vehicles do as much as dialogue. Thrilling and endlessly imitated.

But Sparse plotting means character development takes a back seat; the style matters far more than the story.

Red Sonja1985

Another gloriously misguided '80s adventure with charisma to burn. Cares nothing for plausibility and everything for spectacle. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a supporting role helps.

But The script is often painful and the film knows no irony about its own absurdity—not always endearing.

Escape from New York1981

Kurt Russell's cool and John Carpenter's restraint create a stylish dystopia that feels lived-in. Influences everything about '80s action. Economy of storytelling.

But No heart underneath the concept; it's all atmosphere and it knows it, which some find cold.

The Ice Pirates1984

Equally earnest and ridiculous space-adventure comedy. Zero budget but infinite enthusiasm. Understands that silly and sincere aren't opposites.

But The humor lands unevenly and the plot genuinely gets lost in its own comedy several times.

Spaceman2024

Low-budget Carolco action film with similar DNA: colorful heroes in a wasteland, practical stunts, cheerful disregard for sense. Cult favorite for good reason.

But The production values show strain and dialogue often resorts to exposition in blocks that kill momentum.

Cherry 20001987

Captures that exact moment when '80s action cinema dared to be both tender and preposterous. Desert trek, found family, genuine stakes mixed with color-coordinated ridiculousness.

But The romance is cornball and much of the action is stiff; the film moves slower than its own plot would suggest it should.

A Boy and His Dog1975

Both imagine life after water has become the world's rarest resource, but this one asks darker questions about what children raised in scarcity might actually become.

A post-apocalypse film made before the genre calcified. Raw, weird, disturbing—it shows what happens when you take survival dystopias seriously instead of as adventure playgrounds.

But The film is genuinely bleak and includes content involving sexual coercion that hasn't aged well and lands as exploitative.

DEFCON-41985

Both are orphaned or separated youth navigating hostile wastelands with found-family units, both treat the teens' resourcefulness as their actual superpower rather than relying on magic objects.

A cheaply-made nuclear-wasteland adventure that somehow captures the exact spirit of imaginative low-budget '80s sci-fi. Teenagers survive in ruins using ingenuity. Deeply weird and genuinely affecting.

But The technical limitations mean dialogue is often muffled, sound design is poor, and action sequences lack polish; it requires patience.