For some reason, I found this film boring two minutes in and I guess the writer felt my pain later on with lines like: "Do you get bored just sitting in this box?" and "I'll do everything I can to see you're not bored." (Fail.) No babies were harmed during the making of this film. In fact, no babies were in this movie at all, despite the title of the film.In the movie's defense, I bet kids of 30 years ago might find this adventure fun and could relate to the post-apocalyptic skating "heroes." This was not the case for an adult seeing this for the first time three decades too late. Especially with some of the outdated special effects, the locked-in-time roller skating craze and the bad editing with obvious chunks of scenes cut out that would've explained more than the exposition ADR'ed in post.So much is going on here. In the far distant future without much water, kids are "imprisoned" and must learn the art of skating to enter a society we never really see. Meanwhile, a prophecy is fulfilled when a half animated crystal ball amazes kids and leads them to the promised water. Meanwhile, the kids are hunted for no real reason. Meanwhile, one of the boys finds his village of ulterior motives. Meanwhile, one of the girls finds paradise and her daddy. Meanwhile, Superman's nemesis, Ursa, is once again loyal to bad leaders. Meanwhile, Johnny Five's evil cousin switches loyalty to stay just as evil. Meanwhile, a dam breaks free to make an ocean. Meanwhile, there is a Tire Land. Not sure most of this would work today, for kids anyways. But, back then, I guess it might have fun for the Star Wars fan base, especially since it would more than a decade before the prequels would emerge. Never really cared for post-apocalyptic films. I get it; it'll be depressing. The lands will be barren, water scarce, evil over-the-top tyrants, anarchy and tons and tons of dirty folks and sets. Depressing these films are. I guess some people love these movies. I find them disheartening and miserable. I suppose Solarbabies at least made it "fun" since the kids seemed to be having a ball making it.But, still: Not recommended.***Final thoughts: Daddy "Greentree." Hahahaha. I had to laugh at this character introduced late into the film. I used to work for a company called Greentree. At least, I took that unintentionally humorous moment from this.

The year is 41. In a dystopian future, water is scarce and the Protectorate controls everything. Legend says that the Bohdai will come from space to liberate the people and the water. Orphanage 43 borders on the wasteland. A game that is both lacrosse and roller derby is played. Jason (Jason Patric) leads his rag tag group Solarbabies that includes Terra (Jami Gertz), Tug ( Peter DeLuise), Rabbit (Claude Brooks), Metron (James LeGros) and deaf boy Daniel (Lukas Haas). Strictor Grock (Richard Jordan) runs the lead group Scorpions and gives them all the privileges. The Warden (Charles Durning) is more practical and would rather not run the camp as a prison. Shandray (Sarah Douglas) is one of the teacher. Daniel finds a glowing orb in a cave which fixes his hearing. The orb communicates with Daniel calling itself Bohdai.It's a young adult dystopian movie before it became a trend. The problem is the overwhelming sense of cheesiness. It starts with the stupid name Solarbabies. I don't know where it comes from but it needed to stay there. The game is reminiscent of all the silly movie 'Roller' games that was so popular in 70s B-movie. This movie is full of bad smelly cheese. It's only salvation is the cast of good young actors and the bare bones of a better story underneath. It could probably be remade after a lot of rewrites.

What a surprising little film I'd never heard of. With a cast that includes Ug from the Critters series, the pretty boy of Lost Boys and his girl from Lost Boys, Mikie from Phantasm 2, a young Nathan Petreli from Heroes, Damador from Dungeons & Dragons, the king from Princess Bride, Pappy from O Brother, etc, etc... just a cast of faces I recognized from very specific roles usually and could place most of them. On top of that, the film has everything you could want from a film like this. 80s rollerskating action showing just how cool rollerskating is in the way only 80s rollerskating movies can, post apocalyptic world, killer robot who delights in torture, a glowing ball with unlimited power, etc, etc... I mean, wow. This is a fun package deserving to have cult status, and one I wish I'd seen a lot sooner!

How does someone actually sit down and write this? It was as going to be used as a torture device at Gitmo, but the CIA didn't want to violate the Geneva Convention on treatment of POW's. You would think Charles Durning would have enough sense to say "No thank you, I just ate". Why does every movie or TV show in the future have to involve a modern day sport getting screwed over? For goodness sake, find a freaking' football and toss it around. For a place with not a lot of water they sure make an effort to exert as much as possible. If I knew there was a lack of water, the most you would get out of me is scoring behind the building with a local girl.