So much potential......

Rating: 1/10 (5 August 2011)

When JJ Abrams makes films, I either like them or don't like them. There doesn't seem to be a happy medium. A bit like with his recent attempt at a Star Trek movie, which I didn't like.
Now when you add Spielberg as well, I seem to have a similar reaction to his movies as well. Either he makes a masterpiece (I.E. Indiana Jones, ET, The Goonies, Hook) or he makes a movie that leaves you feeling that the hours spent watching that film could have been spent doing something more productive.
Unfortunately, this movie hits the latter of the two. Now if we didn't have previous movies to go by, this would probably be a decent movie. But like what has been mentioned in previous comments, we've seen these kind of movie plots and characters many times before and in some cases done a lot better as well.
This is all down to personal opinion at the end of the day so if you haven't seen this movie, then please go and watch it and make up your own mind.
As I stated in my title, this movie had a lot of potential to be the new Goonies & ET movie of this century. Unfortunately it took all the elements of those movies, gave you the impression (in trailers) that it was going to be like Cloverfield, only to slap you in the face and give you something that doesn't even do either Director's names any justice at all.
Both Abrams and Spielberg can make outstanding movies. The ones they have made will be a part of many peoples lives for many years to come. Even with the new generation of kids, who I'm which will be sure to see the classics like ET, Goonies, Indiana Jones.
Like one reviewer said, if you want to see any movie that brings back that magic, then go watch them again. Nothing will ever beat the originals in my opinion.
At the moment in the movie industry, all we seem to get is Reboots, Prequals, Sequels to a movie that hasn't been done in over 10 years (IE Rocky, Die Hard etc), Origin movies and comic books to movies. Countless times we see this kind of thing being done and only about 1-2 out of 10 seem to bring anything new and original.
I will admit I have seen a lot worse out there and I did manage to get through the entire movie without turning away. However the 1/10 is the rating against Spielberg/Abrams best work in comparison....