My plan to establish my review of Earth to Echo as different from other subjective rants is to make sure I don’t focus ENTIRELY on the fact that it is a carbon copy Spielberg’s kiddie classic, E.T. The parallels are too numerous (poster art, cute alien, kids running from the government, dealing with abandonment etc.) to count and perhaps I’ll just come up with a separate article that chronicles this in detail. I’ll do it if the film makes $200 million domestic. Let’s set the bar high so I don’t have to do it.
So to diversify the content I’d also like to point out that Earth to Echo (let us call it E.T.E for short) also borrows heavily from other 80’s children classics. There are large chunks of The Goonies (let’s save the neighborhood by going on an outlandish adventure) and Stand by Me (let’s pack our bags, lie to our parents where we are going and go see an alien). They even play Buddy Holly’s Everyday in a pawn shop scene, a lovely song found on the Stand by Me soundtrack.
The level of homage is so prevalent that it can be argued that there isn’t a single original thought in the entire thing. A pieced quilt of a film that abuses homage to the point of rip-off. I’m actually wondering if litigation will be brought up relating to copyright infringement.
The sad thing is that E.T.E borrows elements from all of these great films but fails to capture any of the magic they hold. To quote (and pay homage to) Mr. Roger Ebert: “This film knows the lyrics but not the music.” There is no wonder of adolescence or awe to the discovery of our little CG friend. The film goes through the motions and the payoff is void of any emotional weight.
The plot is incoherent at times and it is apparent that there was some effort to fix this in post. Motivations are vague and I’m pretty sure that the alien comes back here to Earth so he can get his ship and leave again. So….. why not just stay gone in the first place?
BUT—- The target audience isn’t going to care about any of this. I took a seven year old boy (AKA The Key Demo) and he loved it. He wasn’t worried that the entire plot was culled from other sources. He doesn’t even know those other sources exist. Ten years from now he may discover E.T. and figure out that E.T.E is a sham but for right now, he wants the tee shirt of the cute little robot owl looking thing.
One last note: The fact that E.T.E is a Fourth of July release is a key indicator that this summer is far from stellar. Paired with a horror movie (Deliver Us from Evil) and a Mellissa McCarthy vehicle, this is not the tent pole popcorn flicks we expect on this coveted weekend. It’s also sad to say that among the usual Summer parade of sequels, this supposed “original” movie is actually just another re-tread.