The best remake ever and the best movie of 2005

Rating: 10/10 (22 December 2005)

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
If there was a time in which a remake of a movie was as good, if not better than the original, this movie would be one. I remembered watching the original when I was young and when I heard that there was going to be a remake, I knew it would be great. When I saw this, I realized that I was right.
The first thing that I like was that about it was that it focuses more on story than effects, which some movies haven't been doing lately until now. Mr. Spielberg does the best if can and it works. The story is about a family trying to survive after alien tripods have awaken from the ground and start destroying everything in their path. After reading some things on the internet, I concluded that its Spielberg's version that seems to be closer related to the book. Like the book (from what I heard and read), the movie focuses on a person trying to get away from all of the chaos that is going on while not knowing the events that surround him. Also, the designs for the tripods in this movie are the same as they were in H.G. Wells' book.
The second thing that i enjoyed were the actors. Although Tom Cruise has been a little weird lately in his daily life, he still proves to be a great actor. Tim Robbins and Justin Chatwin also gave great performances. Out of the entire cast, Dakota Fanning was not only the best, but the one who very beyond my expectations. I seen other movies, in which she gave a great performance, but in this movie she blew me away. In this movie, whenever her character is scared, she shows it in a way that other child stars couldn't possibly do. After see her in this movie, Dakota is no doubt going to have a great acting career as she gets older.
The third thing that I enjoyed was that Spielberg gives us a true meaning of war and fear. After seeing this movie I was completed frighten by the thought of what would happen if this or something similar to what I just saw came true. Would I be able to survive if it did happen, this question will always be a mystery to me.
Although the ending was a little weak, I didn't care because it was similar to the ending of the original movie, which ends with the aliens dying from bacteria that we are immune to. Other than that this movie had many great scenes and moments. One was when we see Gene Barry and Ann Robinson, who we may remembered from the original movie. Another was the part when the characters were driving through town, they were attacked by a mob of people who would do anything to survive. Out of all of them, my favorite scene was when Rachael (played by Dakota Fanning) was singing "Hushabye Mountain" during the scene when Ray (played by Tom Cruise) was going to kill Ogivly (played by Tim Robbins) because he wanted to protect her. I loved it the most because it made me both scared of what going to happen, and sad because the way Dakota sang it almost made me wanted to cry.
Overall, this was the best movie that I have seen this year. This is also one of Spielberg's best movies yet. I highly recommend this it to fans of the book and the original movie because they mostly like are going to enjoy it.
Rating: **** out of ****