Even with the mistakes - it's just okay - spoiler alert too!

Rating: 6/10 (2 July 2005)

Tom Cruise - totally unrealistic as a father trying to bond with his children, any father would have tried harder to get his kids attention.
The son of Cruise - I'd want to run away from Cruise as well if he was such a horrible dad, he was of the age when he could have said to the mom and step-dad, I don't want to go.
Dakota Fanning - how wonderful is she - that face, eyes, and scream. She's just so amazing for such a little lady. And it's too obvious that Spielberg wants to have her as the next Drew Barrymore, she can easily do it...she's just that much of a talented actress to go places that Drew could never have gone at such a young age.
The Plot - interesting concept, carried off rather well, but the movie needed more explanation as to the action.
Morgan Freeman as the narrator should have played a bigger part, his voice could have carried along some of the "dramatic scenes" to a more logical conclusion.
Tim Robbins - hysterical as the mad man in the farm house basement. Though the death scene was played nicely.
Now for the big F'd up ending: don't read anymore this is a spoiler! How the heck did the son live through the inferno that came over the hill? The father and daughter leave him behind, two seconds later, where he just was is a blazing inferno and he's not seen until the end of the movie...what a rip! I know it's just a movie, but the dramatic impact could have been done to bring the mother and father closer together with the loss of a child...but Spielberg just had to have the happy ending...how sad is that? Let a lead character died for once...he could have even gotten away with killing off Cruise at the end of the movie, the last alien strikes him down as his daughter is reunited with her mother in Boston.
Overall, special effects were nice, but the general consensus as everyone left the theater - what a stupid ending to a good movie.