Disneyland Hero in the Family (1954–1991) Online

I think I'm indebted for this movie since I was a kid. It got me so wonderful time to the extent that I don't ever forget its loveliness even after 20 years of the first watching (strange that not many channels air it).

First of all it's an early, so smart, example for a Body Swap movie. I'm quite fond of this kind of imaginary comedies that filled the 1980s. Actually (Freaky Friday - 1976) sort of began it. Then this movie came out – as I knew lately – on precisely 28 September 1986. Even before "Magic Saturday", an episode of "Amazing Stories" with a Body Swap story, that was aired on 6 October of the same year. As after that, and right in the next year, the explosion started with (Like Father Like Son - 1987), (Big - 1988), (Vice Versa - 1988), (18 Again! - 1988), and (Dream a Little Dream - 1989). Simply (Hero in the Family) is way better than a lot of these movies.

This time, and this time only, we have a man (an astronaut) who unintentionally swaps his body with a chimpanzee's brain, and the chimpanzee.. well you must figure it out! There are movies where the human lead finds himself in a body of a dog (Oh! Heavenly Dog - 1980), old man (Heaven Can Wait - 1978), a dumb guy (Innerspace - 1987), or a woman (Switch - 1991)! But never with a chimpanzee before.

Moreover, I believe this condition of double interchange between man and animal was unprecedented in movies till this time. As all what we've got before was works like (The Shaggy Dog - 1959) where a boy changes into a sheepdog and back again; which's nothing but funny take on (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) basically.

So it's original, and when it comes to making comic action it's fantastic. The pace was thrilling; you'll never forget the last 10 minutes I can promise you that. I love this script; it enjoyed us with several situations and mastered an unforgettable climatic sequence. I only hated when the boy didn't tell his friend about the chimp's fact unless very late.

All the cast was so good and jovial; (Cliff De Young), (Annabeth Gish), or even (Emmet Walsh) as General "Presser", and of course the talented chimp (This one can drive motorcycles pretty well !). (Mel Damski)'s direction was flawless; he was nominated for an Emmy more than once, nominated for an Academy Award for a best documentary in 1998, let alone that he directed countless TV shows suffice to say that 2 of them are ones of my favorites : (Dolphin Cove) and (Early Edition).

Overall, this movie is so cinematic TV one, it has a spree childish spirit all over it. There is a certain, nearly anonymous, magic about the 1980s' movies; where the fantasy meets the comedy meets the action so innocently and cleverly (maybe it's E.T's effect).

Anyway, I thank god that our national second channel used to air (HITF) at the afternoon of the Fridays - our weekly vacation - to be one of the most perfect movies ever aired in this timing or maybe was made for it !. It's a shame that it has been nominated for Primetime Emmy and didn't win, and it's even more shame to find, after 23 years of its production, just couple of reviews about it here on the IMDb, obviously it's a precursor and a Hero among the Body Swap flicks, however sorrowfully few who perceive that !

Hero in the Family is one of those movies that in wanting to be family entertainment ends up in a grey zone that is more likely to mean nothing to any one of any age.

Like a long list of movies, especially in the 80s, the story revolves around a mind/body exchange. This time it is an human astronaut and a chimp astronaut who suffer an accident while on a space mission.

They touch a crystal at the same time and the rest is predictable. As usual only the protagonist (the astronaut's teenage kid) and his girlfriend realize (and want to believe) what has happened and they make it their mission to revert the situation, which involves a few 'action' and 'comedy' scenes whereby they hijack the ape and the dad, steal the crystal and build a home-made machine in a kind of 'A-team' montage meets Star-Trek 'scientific' blabber.

The the outcome is the obvious happy ending.