Fun, if familiar

Rating: 7/10 (4 December 2011)

Entertaining if derivative Steven Spielberg homage (ironically produced by Spielberg himself), this is smarter than most modern summer action movies by a long shot, with some amazing special effects, some fun shocks, and good performances from a brace of young actors.
What it doesn't have is a lot of originality, being sort of a mash up of E.T. and Close Encounters with a few bits of The Goonies and old monster movies thrown in.
It does remind us of how good those stories were, and that there's no reason you can't make a teenage friendly action adventure with smarts. It was fun and fast paced, but after the smashing (literally) opening I was hoping for more than a warm hearted, well made re-tread of films gone by.