Super 8

Directed by J.J. Abrams

(PG-13)

***

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“It would be easy to dismiss” Super 8 as ersatz Steven Spiel­berg, said David Edelstein in New York. A period story about a group of kid filmmakers trying to solve a mysterious happening in their Ohio town, it was written by director J.J. Abrams and produced by Spielberg himself. But here’s the good news: A little of “the old excitement” and magic of E.T. and other Spielberg sci-fi classics actually filter through. The heart of the movie resides in the scenes that show the teens trying to shoot a zombie film, said Ty Burr in The Boston Globe. You can understand why the boys all crush on their heroine, played by Elle Fanning, while newcomer Joel Courtney is “especially good” as the protagonist, “an ordinary boy forced to discover his extraordinariness.” To compare Super 8 to E.T. “may be to set the bar too high,” said Dana Stevens in Slate.com. The central mystery here is mostly a distraction, as are the “increasingly senseless action sequences” that accompany it. Even so, for young teens and nostalgic parents, this is a movie that can “make for a rollicking afternoon at the multiplex.”