Earth to Echo: Movie Review
If you grew up loving films like “E.T.” , “The Goonies” or even the feature length-McDonald’s advertisement “Mac and Me”, or just about any kids adventure from the 80’s, then you will most likely loathe “Earth to Echo” as much as much as I did. This is just a truly bad movie that tries and fails to recapture the magic of “E.T.” for this generation.
The story follows three friends who are about to be split up because their suburban neighborhood (much like the one in “E.T.”) is being demolished to make way for a freeway. There is the nerdy Munch (Reese Hartwig), who happens to remind me a lot of River Phoenix’s character from the 80’s film “Explorers”. We also have Alex (Teo Halm), and Tuck (Brian “Astro” Bradley) who is not only the most annoying of the three, but also the one who speaks the most in the movie.
When the boy’s smart phones start acting funny, showing them a digital map that leads into the desert, they decide to follow it for a final night of adventure before they all have to move away. The map leads to some type of metallic thing that is lodged into the ground. Of course they take it with them. They also notice that a group of men are also out there and most likely are looking for what they found. Another map pops up on their phones which leads to another piece that connects to the piece they have. The boys soon discover that something is alive within the object that they found. It is a little metallic alien with big blue eyes and it seems to be injured. After a quick round of yes and no questions, the three friends decided to help the alien get back home. The boys call their new friend Echo due to its ability to mimic sounds they make.
I had so many issues with “Earth to Echo” and here are just a few of them. Granted “Echo” is cute, I won’t deny that, but we get very little time to try and connect with him. The kids ask him some questions and then go on and help him try to find his spaceship. There is no bonding with the alien. If you are going to rip-off a film like “E.T.” don’t leave out one of the most important elements, the bonding. Another issue is the whole shaky camera thing. Most of the film comes from the point of view of the kid’s video camera. This may work for some horror/monster movies, but it doesn’t work here. Another issue, make your leads interesting, not annoying. Hartwig and Halm are OK at best, but Bradley got on my last nerve. Ella Wahlestedt who plays Emma, a young girl who joins up with the boys later in the movie feels shoehorned in.
Make sure to skip “Earth to Echo” this weekend. There are far better films out to chose from. Better yet, stay home and re-watch “E.T.”.
By: Marc Ferman