Surprisingly bad.

Rating: 1/10 (8 November 2011)

1. Dude frees alien by derailing pickup truck 2. Alien is a misunderstood good guy who just wants to go home 3. Alien kills, maims and possibly eats humans 4. Alien is afraid and just wants to go home 5. Alien kills more humans 6. Kid tells alien to just go home 7. Alien goes home.
WTF?
The movie was confusing as well as boring... the side stories (romantic interest despite feuding parents, and the cliché'd fat/nerdy/annoying kids) were far too shallow and the main plot was close to nonexistent. I really would have expected quite a bit more from Abrams and Spielberg - hell, even something just barely on par with Transformers would have been worlds better.