An enjoyable, mediocre movie

Rating: 5/10 (2 November 2012)

This is a difficult movie to grade because I really enjoyed watching it. But the last 5 or 10 minutes of the story just didn't really seem like it was that well thought out. It was like they got to that point and then said "OK, let's hurry this thing up and get done with it."
First off, the whole bit about the teacher being involved with the alien's capture and hearing him talk about how that the alien was just wanting to go home develops pathos for the alien, how could it do anything else? So when it gets to the point where the kid starts talking to it, of course you know that he isn't going to get hurt. So it fails at delivering a fearful suspense, which is what appears to be expected. But seriously, you can't expect someone to feel for a character and also be terrified of it at the same time. To draw a comparison, it's like the bunny in Monty Python's Holy Grail. You either think "Oh, look at the cute little bunny!" or you think "OMG! It's going to kill us all!" But you can't think both of those things at the same time. It just isn't possible.
Secondly, it fails to explain very much about what's actually going on. Why was the alien roaming around stealing random stuff? Why did the water tower suddenly turn into some kind of giant magnet? If that's all the alien needed in order to get home, why didn't it happen sooner? How did the kids get out of the tunnel when they were lost and at a dead end just two seconds ago? etc etc
I read a review comparing it to ET. I think that it's true that there are some similarities, but ET is definitely better. ET was imaginative and heart warming. This was a pretty mediocre sci-fi adventure. One other huge difference is that ET couldn't have done anything without Elliott and there's a real bond that is formed that you care about. Here, however, Joe and the alien have no connection at all. There are basically two stories going on simultaneously: Joe is trying to win Alice and help his friends make a zombie movie. The alien is trying to escape the military and return home. The alien doesn't really affect Joe's story and Joe doesn't really help the alien's. You could literally take one or the other out and you would still be left with a half decent story. But you definitely could not take ET or Elliott out and have any kind of story left. They are too interconnected, while Joe and the alien are completely disconnected.
So that's why I rate this a 5, not that I dislike the movie, but I just don't like the movie. It's just dead center mediocre.