This was a movie that had ideas that went nowhere.

I didn't know Explorers was getting a remake. I can sort of see what they were trying to do with the plot of this (aliens who are not much different to us humans) but the first half of the film hints at the characters finding something much cooler than what we get (an annoying alien who loves old sitcom catchphrases) - I know that's kind of the point and Ethan Hawks character supposed to be a little disappointed but the films audience is disappointed too, I think it could have worked if the aliens were more likeable and less cartoony.

...at Paramount who in their infinite wisdom, instead of allowing Dante to finish the project, demanded that he submit what he'd filmed so far and then put it up against the Live Aid concert.

In Joe Dante's own words:

People are always asking me about Explorers, but Explorers was never finished so I doubt that I'll be able to go back and do any kind of a reconstruction. It was the rough cut. We never finished the movie. They moved up the release date and said, "Okay, you're finished." We had never even had a preview, so it was very much a work in progress. I would do many things differently if I had the opportunity, but I have a feeling that considering its megaflop status that it's not going to be a picture they're going to want to revisit any time soon.

This movie started without a completed script also. There was really no third act so a lot of it was sort of improvised. We shot a lot of footage. We had probably a three hour, 15 minute rough cut and the choice of what goes in and what comes out makes one kind of a movie versus another kind of a movie. There was a lot of spiritual kind of stuff in the movie that didn't make it in at all. The ending is the ending that it is because there were no completed effects shots so we just sort of had to stop. We had to re-loop things to cover up things that didn't match anymore because it was cut short, and it's just a mess. It's just a movie that looks like it didn't have a director. There's a big scene under a tree where they talk about something completely different than what they said on the day because we looped it with all different dialogue to give the picture any kind of sense of closure at all.