Speechless, a real wasted effort.

Rating: 5/10 (15 May 2008)

This film starts as a classic. Its got amazing visuals, New York empty and foreboding, and Will Smith is terrific, holding the audiences' attention on his own. His dog is also great (the best animal acting since the Nazi Monkey in Raiders). The atmosphere is tense and the social interaction between Smith and the selection of dolls and animals he has anthropomorphised is simply wonderful. The range of emotion is stunning. However when the sun sets the film turns around completely, becoming a simple action film complete with awful CG monsters. The CG is so bad you wonder why it was chosen - as special effects make up would have been effective (similar to the brilliant Descent) - and who did it, because it certainly wasn't ILM! From here on clichés are abound and the film deteriorates into mediocrity. This is made all the more disappointing by the start. A few moments bring the level back (the Shrek scene in particular) to its brilliant heights at the start but for not long enough. As the title says I was speechless after seeing this film, it really could have been one of the best films ever made, but squandered it pandering to the popular audience. I can only hope that the next time this premise is remade it FINALLY succeeds. Because of the brilliant 10* start but the appalling 1* end my score could only really be a middle 5. Watch this film, just for the potential shown at the start.