Voyagers is about as YA as a movie can YA. Which isn’t a crime… just an observation. This baby’s first generation ship science fiction story… which also isn’t a crime, especially if you haven’t read (or seen) much sci-fi. Or haven’t read Lord of the Flies. Or maybe haven’t seen too many movies or read too many books in general. Also not a crime. This movie needs a get out of jail free card.

Voyagers is about a generation ship (a ship sent into space where there will be multiple generations born before they reach their destination). The crew grew up isolated so they wouldn’t know to miss Earth… and then shot off towards their new home with only one adult caregiver (played by Colin Ferrell). When the kids grow up and discover they are being drugged (for their own good), they soon have a full-fledged young adult rebellion.

A rebellion which seems to come down to douchebag brotastic broness… before turning into murder, lies, and a lot of PG-13 sex (complete with “subtle” clips of plants growing, rain falling, and water ejecting from a sprinkler… hint hint, wink wink).

Not at all a bad premise for a movie, even if every single person in the crew is prettier than the last and about as dumb as a box of rocks. Which is largely the tone of this too slick, too cool for its own good movie. It has very little edge, very little grit… and very few smarts. It’s telling an age-old story of lies, manipulation, tribalism, and cults of personality which isn’t bad, but it has very little weight or heft.

I’ve read better books with a generation ship that breaks down into tribalism, paranoia, and murder. Probably seen some anthology tv with the same premise too. Those were generally better… but Voyagers isn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. It gets the job done and I suspect its target demographic (horny teens) will jibe with its pretty boys and pretty girls. Not a bad flick… just a little wanting.

Score: 76