Good, but not great due to underdeveloped alien subplot.

Rating: Null/10 (28 June 2011)

First of all, when all is said and done, this is a "good" movie. It's not GREAT, but it's definitely good. Secondly, and most importantly, it's totally worth seeing. Elle Fanning (Dakota Fanning's little sister) is simply ah-MAZING in this 'coming of age' story between a group of friends of a small Ohio town as they struggle to complete their own Super 8mm movie and deal with their own personal dramas on the side oh, and an alien is running a muck around their town.
"Wait a minute What?????" If that last bit seemed a little out of place to you, it's because it feels that way in the movie. Granted, the mystery and intrigue of the alien subplot does add some suspense and excitement, filling in the gaps of what would otherwise be a "Stand By Me" drama, but if I can be completely honest here – I think I'd rather have seen that instead.
It's not easy for me to say this, especially because I have an affinity for aliens, sci-fi and action movies in general, but I honestly believe this movie could have won Oscars hadn't it been for a poorly animated CGI alien reminiscent of "Cloverfield" (JJ Abrams other alien flick) running around like a warped spider and kidnapping the townspeople one by one.
The very first time we really get any hint of an alien presence is during a train wreck. No seriously, it's a TRAIN WRECK. The kids are filming a scene for their movie outside an old train station when suddenly a man in a pick-up truck decides to play chicken with a giant train carrying air force cargo. The eminent crash that follows is the most over-the-top, ridiculous thing I have seen in a long time. It goes on for what felt like a good four minutes and is riddled with explosions, close calls, and never-ending firebombs coming from nowhere. I watched it with a friend of mine and when the scene was FINALLY over we both looked at each other and laughed out loud in the theater. It's during this never-ending fireworks display that we first get a glimpse of the "secret cargo" in question. Only portions of this alien are seen in the shadows for mere fractions of a second, and this same visual strategy is played out until the climax of the film.
To boil down about 20 minutes worth of exposition to its essence, this alien is just trying to go home. (E.T. anyone?) But, of course, before he can do this he must rebuild his spaceship and eat a few people along the way. Oh, and did I mention that these super cool things that the alien does all happen in fragmented portions on-screen? Yup, you never actually get to see him building his spaceship, nor do you actually see him eating anyone. But then again that's probably a good thing because at the end of the movie when you FINALLY get to see this thing in all it's glory it turns out that it's just a cartoonish CGI character with weird legs that looks pretty stupid.
With all the amazing technology we have today, I was shocked to see this Spielberg/Abrams summer blockbuster churn out a SyFy Channel, miniature Cloverfield-looking, big legged, half-rendered insect of an alien running around like an idiot. It was just plain lazy on the part of the animators. Seriously, the T-Rex in Jurassic Park back in '93 kicked this alien's ass! The only redeeming alien scene in the entire film was at the very end when the alien bonds with the main character 'Joe Lamb' and looks upon him with his own, human-esque eyes. But, unfortunately, the emotional impact of this scene is tainted with an awful, awful, awful "I understand you" monologue Joe has with the alien just before this happens. After the monologue is over and the alien lets Joe and his friends go, his friend 'Cary' delivers the line, "Wait a minute what???" That's exactly what I was thinking, Cary.
OK, so enough about the dumb alien stuff – let me tell you about what's AWESOME about this movie (never thought I'd use that phrase)
1. Elle Fanning is awesome in it.
2. The entire kid entourage was cast perfectly and also had great chemistry with one another.
3. The story of these friends making a movie and the drama surrounding their own personal lives was extremely entertaining, heart-felt, and by far the best part of the entire film.
4. Great production values and the story is constantly moving forward and never gets dullcheesy at parts, yes, but never dull.
I think if I were a kid, I'd probably love this movie. But as an adult who has seen his fair share of films, I have to say that I felt this one stopped short of being great because of the underdeveloped alien subplot. In the film the kids were filming their own movie about zombies; perhaps zombies would have worked better than using an alien? Or maybe still, take out all that supernatural crap and make it a true-to-life adventure story about these kids making the film and wind up in some sort of Goonie adventure. I don't claim to have the definitive answer as to how to make this film better, but I do know that I hated that damn alien.
Oh, and one final note (and I'm specifically addressing this note to Mr. JJ Abrams here): STOP USING THOSE STUPID CGI LENS FLARES SO MUCH!!!! If you use them every now and then, it creates atmosphere - if you use them all the friggin' time, it's just plain distracting.