Familiar but very entertaining

Rating: 8/10 (9 September 2011)

As a producer, Stephen Spielberg tends to leave his mark on films in a way other producers don't. Movies like Poltergeist and Back to the Future were so Spielbergian that one could assume he directed them.
Super 8 is very much a Spielberg production. Even more, it is a 1980s Spielberg production, with the radiant light, sweeping orchestral score and plucky but fairly realistic children that distinguished many of his 80s films.
Pure popcorn entertainment, Super 8 efficiently delivers excitement, adventure and a smidgen of romance amidst aliens and untrustworthy military men. Emotions are touched lightly, but never deeply enough to halt the smooth flow of the movie.
The result is pleasantly familiar. It is a movie that I would have liked if I were still a teenager, but that I still totally connect with today (unlike a lot of movies about kids that are too flashy and modern to connect with an old fogey like me).
Is it a great movie? No. I wouldn't even say it was particularly memorable, and it certainly has all sorts of plot holes and inconsistencies. And yet, while I was watching it I was completely enjoying myself.