Good effects, but nothing else

Rating: 4/10 (24 July 2005)

Spielberg's film has nothing to offer to those who have heard the radio show or read the book. The special effects are fun and the acting very good, but the film focuses on the wrong things and alters the original plot too much. Adding the entire "father who learns to love children he never cared for" side-plot was a big mistake - it's tacky, tiring and does not belong in a sci-fi epic. The film rehashes scenes from dozens of other action movies and has nothing really original in it - it's just another in a long series of world-wide-disaster films, done in the same way and utilising the same elements. Besides, they completely missed some of the great original characters. On the whole quite a flop.