Meh. Waaaaay too heavy-handed on the environmental theme, and sentimentality.

There are some cool sfx, and the creepiness of the initial what’s-going-on sets the film up well. I think Keanu Reeves was the perfect choice – he gets slated for being wooden, but you have to admit he’s made a lot of very successful films and he’s very good at the slightly blank alien learning to be human.

Alas, it descends into cliche: alien learns what it means to be human – and it’s done rather clunkily, at that. The ending just sort of… happens.

I wouldn’t rush out to see this. While it was entertaining to a certain degree, I can’t say it was time well spent.

SPOILERALERT – this review contains some plot details that you might not want to know if you plan to see the movie.

The Day the Earth Stood Still was only mildly entertaining for me. It might be more enjoyable for children and teens, or anyone who hasn’t seen the original 1951 movie.

It has been a long time since I’ve seen the original, and I recall liking it. The remake requires way too much suspension of disbelief for me. The aliens come off almost as dumb as the humans, which I don’t recall in the original.

I refreshed my memory of the original by skimming the synopsis at wiki. In the older movie, the aliens’ motives were more convincing – a fear that humanity would become a danger to alien races. In the current movie, the vague rationalization is that humans are destroying the earth, but the aliens don’t give a strong reason for caring about that. It’s something like “we’re going to kill all humans in order to save the other living species on the planet, and besides, humanity’s going to extinguish itself anyway.” This goes way beyond deep ecology. And they’ve based their conclusions on a perfunctory study of the human race… Another giant plot hole.

Worst of all, in the remake we never hear the magic phrase “Klaatu barada nikto.” Major, major flaw!!

Is it worth seeing this in the theater as I did? Well, if you’re going to see it at all, see it on the big screen, to get all the spectacle (try to ignore all the blatant product placements). Go for a discount matinee, like I did. But if you’re waffling, I’d say don’t bother. Rent the original instead.