I don't get it

Rating: Null/10 (20 July 2011)

I don't understand why so many voters rated this movie as high as they did. I admit I entered the theater blindly half expecting the movie to be an adult drama. What I encountered is a movie seemingly tailored for the 11 year old audience. The main characters were an annoying group of children. The adult characters were not particularly well developed (character wise). The special effects were cheesy and over the top and the story line was painfully long to unfold. I frankly expected more from a Spielberg film but maybe I shouldn't have. In addition to being annoying, the children were often foul mouthed (a Spielberg pattern I remember from ET). Like ET, I didn't see how these foul mouthed comments in anyway improved the movie (unless you're ten years old and think it was "cool").