Good but not what I expected...!

Rating: 8/10 (7 August 2011)

Since seeing the trailer for this months ago, I have been waiting with pure excitement to go and see it! I'm a huge fan of all of Speilbergs films and when I heard he had a say in this film, I couldn't wait! Unfortunately this did fall a little short!
I have to admit, after seeing trailers, I went in to this film thinking it would be 'E.T / Close Encounters' type film; Set in a the late 70's early 80's, child cast, suburban location, alien etc etc. It was close but not what I expected it to be.
The child cast do well to carry the film. The rest of the cast are almost left out and have no depth. I know the aim of the film is to be about the children but I would like to have heard more from Officer Lamb, the only adult that really has any screen time!
Overall the film is good. The alien was completely unexpected. As I mentioned before, I thought the alien would be typical 'little green man'...how wrong could I have been. At first I thought it was a giant spider, until we saw it in all it's glory. The special effects were brilliant especially the train crash and I have to admit, I did jump quite a lot during the film as things had a habit if loudly crashing, banging etc etc!!
I didn't feel this film was magical and didn't have the innocence of other alien films we have come to love and, although I enjoyed it, I won't be rushing to buy it on DVD.
Final words I would say, check it out but go in with an open mind. Don't make my mistake and think it will be an 'E.T' for a new generation.