Movie Review: The Day The Earth Stood Still

A remake of the 1951 classic sci-fi film about an alien visitor (Keanu Reeves) and his giant robot counterpart who visit Earth.

Keanu Reeves plays an alien that doesn't show any emotion... so actually he's really good in this. Also it's got Kathy Bates, Jennifer Connelly, John Cleese and Will Smith's son Jaden in it. All are really good and I was especially impressed with Jaden Smith. The camera seems to love this kid and I wouldn't be surprised to see him turn out to be nearly as big of a star as his dad some day.

The special effects are really good as well, but I think it relies a bit too much on them and doesn't concentrate on the story enough. They do a good job of building things up but then it really just turns out to have environmentalist agenda moreso than charm or good storytelling, despite the fact that it becomes quite bogged down with dialog before ending with some big special effects.

All in all it's sort of fun, especially during the first half, but ultimately it's just a mediocre flick that I really didn't think served to be nearly as effective as it wanted to be. It's passable as entertainment for an hour and a half but then it will be quickly forgotten I'm guessing.

6/10