Fast & fun, but lacking heart.

Rating: 7/10 (22 September 2018)

There's a lot of hype surrounding this film and when we saw it come up on a streaming service we decided to give it a go. It was only at the end that I realised the reason for my lack of satisfaction - it's a kids' film. Packed with fast-paced action, massive, noisy set-pieces, giant robots and gibbering jargon it assaults the senses almost without a pause, but sadly the story is wafer-thin and there's little of the superb 'family feeling' that we normally see in Spielberg movies.
There are a few good references to older films and classic computer games but let's face it, anyone can do that. So, impressive as the spectacle is (the CGI is quite something), ultimately for me it is a 'one time only' movie, never to be watched again. I have been a Spielberg fan since the days of Duel and Jaws, but he's slipped up with this one.