A kids film, perfectly done in the style of the mid 80's. Expect that and you'll enjoy it.

Rating: 7/10 (27 June 2011)

I think the marketing strategy in part is working against Super 8 - preventing it from getting better reviews. For months we were fed mysterious viral footage online and teased with images of something huge and terrifying beating it's way out of military train wreck.
Obviously when you set a film up like that you're going to get a lot of disappointed reviews from audience members who expected something a little more adult, more serious... more... Cloverfield.
But let me tell you what this film is, straight up: it's a kids film.
It's 100% nostalgia - a pleasant trip back to the mid 80's. If you fondly remember The Goonies, The Explorers, Flight of the Navigator, ET, Gremlins and their ilk then you're going to dig this. There's no attempt at an evolution or updating of those styles - the film is pure homage and JJ Abrams nailed it.
There's a certain sadness here for the thirty-somethings that grew up in the 80's - a realization that those old films you loved weren't *that* great and were in fact, kind of shallow and cheesy - as is this one. But there's also a big deep breath of fresh air - a momentary relief from the current trends of rapid editing, shaky cam, perversely convoluted plots and arcless characters. This is good, old fashioned three-act, well-arced storytelling. The camera, for the most part, is firmly fixed on a tripod. There's a simple love story. Some simple parent-child relationship stuff, and a clear theme of moving on from loss. I for one found myself grinning from ear to ear through most of it.