Super 8
Director: J.J. Abrams
Year Released: 2011
Rating: 1.5
A group of young kids with a movie camera and dreams of romance with the lead actress (Elle Fanning) have their idyllic little world crushed when they - and the rest of their town - discover that there's an alien running amok and trying to get back to its home planet (against the military's wishes). The coming-of-age aspect of the story, which keeps this semi-pleasing for the first act, quickly gets trumped by the bland sci-fi 'adventure' part: the kids seem to have been dropped down from Planet Cute and the grown-ups are one-dimensional as well. It's flagrantly recycled fare, and closer in spirit to Roland Emmerich than Steven Spielberg.
