Should have been called "Family feud with aliens".

Rating: 3/10 (26 April 2006)

I went and saw this movie with a friend of mine expecting a great sci-fi action movie. Now, keep in mind that I saw the 1953 version 50 times over the years and loved it. The original movie had it all, action, romance, horror, drama and sci-fi themes all neatly wrapped up in an engrossing story about survival. The new version put the alien invasion on the back burner so that they could showcase Tom Cruise and his highly dysfunctional family. Indeed, that became the center theme of this so called sci-fi flick. And what father would want anything to do with these 2 brats? The boy was a rebel without a clue, and the girl shrieked like a banshee every 30 seconds. Additionally, there are way to many questions left unanswered in this movie. For instance, why was New Jersey destroyed but Boston was pretty much spared? Where did the aliens come from? Why are they here? How come no one doing any digging ever found one of these ships? Why was the guys basement 2,500 square feet? What was the purpose of the red weeds? Why did I think this was a terrible movie? Do me a favor--if you had the displeasure of sitting thru this movie....go rent the Original 1953 version instead--its a far superior movie.