I had the chance to finally check out this flick last night. I gotta say I was impressed. Many have said this is a very Spielbergian film, drawing from some of his old-school sensibilities from the 70s and 80s, and I can concur. In fact there are several hints and homages to Spielberg, back when his films were mega-blockbusters and just pure fun.
Some have walked out of this disappointed, but I'm guessing they missed the intention of director J.J. Abrams. It's not a monster movie. It's kind of a buddy film with a monster in it. Without spoiling anything I'll say it's the charm and heart that hits this movie out of the park. The characters are all great. I kept thinking E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Jurassic Park while watching it. Some may find a little bit of Goonies in there, too. My reaction... it's a really neat genre homage film.
The Blu-ray is nothing short of spectacular. I'd dare to say it's the best darn looking Blu-ray film transfer I've seen so far! It's amazing how great film can look in high definition when the studios don't mess with it with zealous use of noise reduction and edge enhancement. If they let the film be itself and let it look faithfully like film on Blu-ray the results can be as spectacular as this Blu-ray title. Highly recommended, if just for one viewing!
4/5 stars
For a more in-depth review check out Blu-ray.com.
