Excellent Story, although...

Rating: 9/10 (21 June 2011)

I've been a fan of JJ Abrams for a while now, since his Mission Impossible 3 revitalized the franchise from the slow-mo,dove-flying movie made by John Woo in MI:2, and his 2009 rendition of Star Trek.
This was his own story, not a sequel nor a reboot... and I have to say that this was a most excellent story with fantastic acting by the top two actors, Joel Courtney (Joe) and Elle Fanning (Alice), both of whom are children; they're well supported by Joe's best friend, Charles (Riley Griffiths) and Cary, Martin and Preston. Adult acting, though supporting, was well done by Kyle Chandler (who playes Joe's Dad) and Ron Eldard (who plays Alice's Dad). Though the critics have said that JJ Abrams takes several pages out of Executive Producer Steven Spielberg's past movies on sci-fi and centering on children, I don't really care. This is a great movie for these times, and he balances things out pretty well. The story has a good solid base, the acting superb, the emotions (be it sorrow, glee, excitement, fear) were truly felt, there were appropriate sprinkles of humor, and the action/special effects scenes were top notch.
My only qualm or reservation about this movie is that it left me wondering how the ending could have been better; I mean there are quick cuts of a creature of some kind (er, ET?), but I wish there was more closure there; there were questions unanswered (why was it collecting, what was its objective, etc.-- sorry I don't want to spoil it so I cannot elaborate more). Perhaps there was too much set up that I was anticipating more when the creature was revealed. Maybe another few more minutes to give a proper ending...
Anyway, the ending doesn't take away much from the movie (except my rating it a 9 instead of a 10).