Spielberg by numbers

Rating: 5/10 (29 November 2012)

As many have noted already, this film is very much a Goonies reboot with elements of ET, Close Encounters, etc thrown in. Pretty much anything Spielberg is associated with these days is shameless saccharine crap and this film is no exception. I can only conclude that he has reached a point in his career where no one has the ca-hones to tell him that his doo doo stinks and that's why he excretes this kinda crap over and over. Also the JJ Abrahms 'grade school' writing style is prevalent throughout (if you've seen that crappy TV show Revolution that he wrote then you'll have a good idea just how much he cares about silly things like continuity, costuming, facts, physics, reality). You have to be willing to suspend disbelief...and logic, common sense and tact to enjoy most of it.
Its not all bad though, its not a terrible movie, its entertaining in its own way, the overall story is pretty good. And it makes for wholesome family fun for movie night if that's what you're after... its just that you get sick of watching the same bag of tricks and tropes recycled over and over again and sadly this one delves into the bag far too deeply and frequently.