Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Rating: 5/10 (23 June 2011)

ET, Close Encounters and Jaws were some of my favorite movies growing up, and as a child in the suburbs my friends and I made Super 8 movies to relieve our boredom too! So I loved the nostalgia in the movie and had great expectations. But like everything else about this film, the nostalgic bits were just formula, tossed in as just another recipe element, stirred and baked with no thought to what was actually being cooked.
Having just visited Universal Studios and done the back lot tour for the umpteenth time, I was reminded of the tricks to make War of the Worlds, Jaws, Jurrasic Park and others which are simply repeated here. Others have reviewed the detailed examples, so no need to repeat here. I felt like I was on the back lot rather than seeing an original film.
I felt as though the idea of the film was "more was better". I LOVED JJ Abrams' Star Trek where the light flares were original but in this film they were gratuitous and didn't make sense. I LOVED ET where the clever kids help ET to go home, but here when the kid finally confronts the alien it just seemed like I was watching a repeat, there was no climactic element to the scene. Then in the next scene, after ending up in a dead end with no escape, rather than showing an exciting way to escape from the alien's tunnel, the kids are back up in the town with no explanation. The alien was that stupid? "Sure, kids, take off since you are so cute!" After 30 years in captivity? Right.
If you're 12 years old and haven't seen Spielberg's films this will be very likable. For everyone else, it's lather, rinse, repeat. Too bad.