Monday, August 1, 2011

Movie Review Monday #11: Super 8

What I already knew was that I like J.J. Abrams productions, I enjoy science fiction, and I like to make occasional sacrifices out of devotion to my husband who wanted to see Super 8. So when my parents afforded Manny and I our first chance to go out to a movie since Sofia was born, I was happy to pick Super 8. 


What I realized as the movie got started was that I LOVE movies about little boys being friends. Sandlot, Christmas Story, Newsies, love them all. I think it reminds me of the stories my dad tells about being a little boy running around his neighborhood with a pack of hooligans, marking their territory and inventing crazy creations. Super 8 is just such a movie. 


I found myself wishing for a baby boy as the movie got started. But the more deep dark holes or flaming explosions the boys ran straight into, the more I started to take back my wish. There seems to be something about being a little boy that necessitates such opportunities, but as a mom, I can't see myself sitting well with letting things like that happen to my baby.


You barely see the alien, which going in seemed like it would be the center of the whole movie. I'd heard several people say this was supposed to be the new E.T., a favorite of mine as a kid. I honestly don't really see that connection, other than aliens wanting to go home. Instead, like a good J.J. Abrams production, it was much more about good character development. Boys being boys, children losing mothers, victims becoming heroes, men trying to figure out how to be fathers, and boys and girls falling in love. It seems like they managed to engineer touch points for everyone to connect to someone in the film. 


The action was so important to actually see in a theater. I definitely gasped multiple times and almost leapt up to figure out how to turn the volume down so as not to wake my baby - instinct clearly over-riding reality there for a minute. There's a little pyromaniac in the gang of boys, and every time an explosion goes off he brings great comic relief to the moment. 


Seeing as how our chances to get out and see a movie are so rare these days, it really says something that I give Super 8 two claws up Lobsters! Have you seen it? What did you think?

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