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Movie Overview
Cast
• Keanu Reeves
• Jennifer Connelly
• Jaden Smith
Director
• Scott Derrickson
MPAA Rating
PG-13 - for some sci-fi disaster images and violence
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

REVIEWS
NEWS
INTERVIEWS
OTHER
OFCS Rating: 18% Rotten
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"The film's visual sheen is top-notch, but the plot doesn't even come close to grabbing your attention."  ReelTalk Movie Reviews  A. J. Hakari

2/5
"Those next to me in the cinema staring blankly at the screen gave a remarkably similar performance to that of Reeves without even being aware of it."  Cut Print Review  Anders Wotzke

3.5/5
"if you're willing to go in with an open mind and some filmmaking forgiveness, you'll find this a Day well spent"  Filmcritic.com  Bill Gibron

D+
"Refusing to take Wise's nuanced lead, the new Stood is a grotesque creation that prefers noise to thought, clumsily slapping together an eco-minded warning siren in the guise of a bloated Roland Emmerich creation."  BrianOrndorf.com  Brian Orndorf

C
"In an awkward semi-retro remake of the 1951 sci-fi B-movie classic, director Scott Derrickson confirms the law of diminishing returns for remakes."  ColeSmithey.com  Cole Smithey

3/4
"...an ideal example of what a contemporary remake should look like..."  Reel Film Reviews  David Nusair

1.5/4
"This is one production that could have used a few more rewrites, if not a total reworking of a plot handled with more gusto over five decades ago."  DustinPutman.com  Dustin Putman

C-
"The one thing Hollywood can usually be counted on to do when remaking old films, especially when dumbing them down, is to boost their action quotient, and these guys have failed to do even that."  EricDSnider.com  Eric D. Snider

1.5/4
"An overall lame piece of science-fiction and an even lamer parable that fails to distinguish its own ironies of what's worth saving when filmmakers like Derrickson pee all over something so many of us cherish."  eFilmCritic.com  Erik Childress

F
"'Klaatu barada crappo'...turns an intelligent and thoughtful film into what might be called a boys' adventure yarn if that weren't an insult to both boys and yarn."  One Guy's Opinion  Frank Swietek

3/5
"A lively reinvention of the 1951 science fiction classic with a fitting ecological message about saving the planet."  Spirituality and Practice  Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

2/4
"Remaking a movie is easy. Engineering a good remake is difficult. One key quality that separates the two is inspiration, and that's a characteristic not to be found in 2008's The Day the Earth Stood Still."  ReelViews  James Berardinelli

"Purists may fume, but more open-minded sci-fi fans tired of the countless fantasy movies being churned out by Hollywood right now should give it a try . . ."  Sci-Fi Movie Page  James O'Ehley

2/5
"The Day The Earth Stood Still's original version aspired to blow our collective minds and inspire our hearts; this new remake settles for making our eyes pop out, with a slight hope our jaws will go slack from the spectacle."  Redbox  James Rocchi

3/10
"Click here to read review"  vj.net.ua  Jaroslav Vishtaljuk

4/10
"Un film vide, inconcluant et profondément inutile dont les bases cèdent rapidement sous le poids de leur propre insignifiance."  Panorama  Jean-François Vandeuren

4/10
"Has a simplistic environmental concern, presented with sensationalist sensibilities and, perhaps worse, given an even more simplistic resolution."  Window to the Movies  Jeffrey Chen

"Parental Content Review"  Screen It!  Jim Judy

1/5
"me psifiaka efe poy moiazoyn retalia tainion poy emoiazan na eihan gyristei me retalia eks arhis, den hreiazetai tin patina toy hronoy gia na ginei shedon toso geloio oso to prototypo stin apeikonisi toy foytoyrismoy toy"  Movies for the Masses  Joseph Proimakis

3.5/5
"We left the theatre feeling that we had spent a satisfying evening at the movies, but in retrospect I wish the screenwriters had tweaked the story's sophistication as much as they did the technical effects."  Cinerina  Karina Montgomery

0.5/4.0
"If you want to see all the cool special effects in this remake, watch the trailer. If you want the extreme environmentalist agenda that goes with them, buy a ticket."  MovieCrypt.com  Kevin A. Ranson

2.5/5
"Keanu Reeves plays an alien who doesn't talk much and shows no emotion. I really think he has found his perfect role."  7M Pictures  Kevin Carr

C
"Keanu Reeves gives a good physical performance as Klaatu, the alien newly inhabiting a human body, but his utterly humorless alien has, well, an alienating effect."  Reeling Reviews  Laura Clifford

3/4
"Actually has half a brain in its head."  Mark Reviews Movies  Mark Dujsik

"The Day the Earth Barely Even Notices We're on the Brink of Doom, and Why Don't Those Damn Hippies Just Shut Up About Global Warming Already?"  Flick Filosopher  MaryAnn Johanson

1.5/4
"Doesn't really justify its existence outside the most crass commercial reasoning."  TheMovieReport.com  Michael Dequina

2.5/4
"I'll give it credit for being at least moderately entertaining, with a handful of effective moments of adventure and suspense. At the same time, it's really quite a shame that the film wimped out on driving the message home."  Aisle Seat  Mike McGranaghan

B
"The most important themes are deeply spiritual as well, stewardship, respect for the interdependence of all things, and hope."  Beliefnet  Nell Minow

1.5/4
"Since Keanu Reeves has all the expressiveness of a toaster, why is he starring in the new The Day the Earth Stood Still as human-looking alien Klaatu rather than giant robot Gort?"  Slant Magazine  Nick Schager

1/5
"The whole thing finally crashes and burns in an orgy of noisy and uninspired special effects that stands as a lunkheaded rebuke to the restraint displayed by the original film"  eFilmCritic.com  Peter Sobczynski

2/5
"This remake of the 1951 favourite is oddly botched, trying to combine some timely themes with the structure of a more conventional action thriller."  Shadows on the Wall  Rich Cline

2/10
"Scott Derrickson's remake ...provides the best evidence I've seen lately that money can't buy class. It also can't guarantee an effective movie, let alone a meaningful one."  Playback:stl  Sarah Boslaugh

2.5/5
"As a passable time-waster for hardcore sci-fi fans, the remake is certainly watchable enough. But then again ... most hardcore sci-fi fans will probably have the same problems I had with the movie."  FEARnet  Scott Weinberg

"Although there is an admirable attempt to stay true to the higher aspirations of the high-class source material, the new effort is undermined by the need to fashion itself as a crowd-pleasing blockbuster, loaded with exciting special effects."  Cinefantastique  Steve Biodrowski

C+
"A credible effort to honor the original while contributing something new. Derrickson effectively builds and sustains a sense of thoughtful tension - until the screenplay lets him down."  Decent Films Guide  Steven D. Greydanus

3/10
"Just as much a remake of Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space. Which is an even more appropriate comparison when we observe that this film and Plan 9, unlike the original, are both awful."  Antagony & Ecstasy  Tim Brayton

0.5/4
"It's just like us to be arrogant enough to believe, like Marvell's coy mistress, that our cherry is the ripest for busting of the lot."  Film Freak Central  Walter Chaw

1.5/4
"The perfect example of not only how NOT to remake a classic, but the perfect example of why classics shouldn't be remade in the first place. Clunky, cumbersome and completely crappy."  Oscar Guy  Wesley Lovell

2.5/5
Read review  Laramie Movie Scope  Robert Roten

Read review  Cinema Crazed  Felix Vasquez Jr.
OFCS Rating: 18% Rotten
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