nice, enjoyable summer flick (spoilers?)

Rating: 9/10 (25 July 2006)

I first saw this in the theaters and was blown away. I like that the special effects were used to enhance the story and impress but is never beat down our throats or forced to carry the movie. I'm a big fan of Spielberg; he has a terrific sense of storytelling and most of his movies always hook me and catch my absolute attention when I happen to catch them playing somewhere, and this is no exception. I thought the actors were excellent, and Tom Cruise is great as the dysfunctional father who will go to any lengths to protect his children. Dakota Fanning was great as the new-age spoiled little girl caught in a very horrible situation. This is just a nice blockbuster movie to go see with your family. The story itself has a nice premise, and I liked that the characters themselves remained consistent (and dysfunctional) even within the chaos. People might say that they don't act realistically, but until there are actually invading aliens that come and start pulverizing everyone there's really no way to tell, is there? Finally, all the little logical questions and why's of the story didn't really bother me because I usually accept that the different worlds in movies have their own rules.