Spielberg and Abrams give us the next children's classic

Rating: Null/10 (10 August 2011)

Super 8 is the latest offering from the juicy sci-fi-tastical mind of Lost creator J.J. Abrams, the brains behind other fabulous yet also sometimes kind of annoying things such as Cloverfield (2008) and Star Trek (2009). And I think this film may be another one of those oft annoying but undeniably amazing movies.
The plot hovers around the concept of it being 1979 and some kind of crazy stuff going down in town. We witness the film alongside the protagonists, a group of kids, amongst them the latest girl in what I can only presume will eventually become the Fanning Dynasty- Dakota's younger sister, Elle. Young Elle must be feeling the pressure of success following in her sister's rather large footsteps (having worked alongside Robert De Niro, Denzel Washington, Tom Cruise and dare I say it R-Patz to name a few) but here is the real kicker- this young ingenue bursts on to the screen and pees her scent mark all over that movie tree. With the once awesome Dakota joining the Twilight alumni, for me there is only one Fanning in town and Elle acts as a young Chloe Sevigny, blessed with maturity and a wise and believable ability to express small nuances in her performance. I was totally wowed by her, with the strength of her performance acting as one of the main crutches holding this film in the ranks of Spielberg's other classics, in particular E.T. and Jaws.
The entire group of kids are a smart selection of young and skilled actors that we can all relate to; there's stereotypes that we love in this kind of movie. Overweight guy. Geek guy. Big teeth guy. Pretty bad girl. Slightly nicer guy that we guess is probably the main protagonist, but he's not our favourite. These are staples of your Stand By Me, The Goonies, Home Alone, E.T., Hocus Pocus. Basically the kind of the movies that I consider 'classics' - I was born in 1988, so for my generation, they are. Hush your old school tastes.
The kids are budding film makers and upon shooting a scene at an old run down train station, an epic and ridiculous train crash unfolds in front of them, exploding trucks up in to the air and having a jolly ol' Hollywood time. This exasperating train crash is slightly over the top, but we allow it because it's 2011 and these effects, particularly when witnessed in IMAX, are simply too beautiful to resist. I'm a techno-boy; if you can have a sick CGI explosion that's going to look completely real, throw it in there. It's the movies. Anyways... after this train crash, of course more craziness goes down and we just basically follow the kids for a couple of hours and watch them crush on each other and run away from scary stuff and try and save the day.
However, it must be noted that whatever I say here cannot actually express how much I enjoyed it. It's a film that will stick with you, and then you'll buy it on Blu-Ray and you'll watch it every Christmas. It's a family movie that will give the children of 2011 the same warm, scary, funny, touching, memorable experience as E.T. did for the children of 1982. This Spielberg / Abrams mash-up needed a capable and skilled group of child actors if they wanted it to legitimately stand in the ranks of great movies before it and not fade in to trashy obscurity. They needed the actors, the effects, and the heart- and whilst Abrams is apt at providing the first two, it is Spielberg who delivers with that classic stamp of approval. It feels big, and it's enjoyable, and I want to watch it again when it's snowing outside and I can be warm inside on the sofa drinking whiskey. And eating. Always with the eating. But also the Blu-Ray.
This film gets a huge flaming big fatty 9 Ollywood stars out of the maximum possible star- age that is 10. Because this film is really good. For all.
9/10. Over and out.