E.T. came back to a future Goon Docks: Super 8

Director: JJ Abrams

Producers: Steven Spielberg and JJ Abrams

Cast: Joel Courtney (Joe Lamb), Kyle Chandler (Jack), Amanda Michalka (Jen), Elle Fanning (Alice),

There was a time when blockbusters were much more than just popcorn movies. It was a time when a film was a matter of soul and feelings and not merely a matter of special effects or technology. That was the “age” when Steven Spielberg could give every single child a reason for dreaming of adventures, friendly aliens or buried treasures. Those who where pre-teens in the early 90's know what videotapes like “The Goonies”, “E.T.”, or “Back To the Future” or Steven Allen's “The Karate Kid”, “Explorers” or “Flight of the Navigator” “tasted” like. They had the flavor of an iced Coke drank with a straw. The right dose of caffeine to keep children’s eyes completely open for an hour and a half. An hour and a half which were ultimately creations made of their own lifeblood. “Super 8” is just a comeback to this kind of works, and from its early beginning secures its purpose.

From the vey start, the atmosphere brings the viewer back to 1979. Spielberg's partner for this last work, director J.J. Abrams -“Lost”-, had to remember his early teens in order to write the story of Charles (Riley Griffiths) and his best friend Joe (Joel Courtney). They both behave as the young leaders of a group of kids who strive to make a zombie movie with their Super 8 camera. A popular tool among cinema lovers in the United States, but not as easily available for a normal teenager in many parts of Europe. An item both directors really prayed to during every single interview given before the premiere. An icon they paid a tribute to 30 years after.

The action begins with a wink to the Goon docks - several landscapes resembled those in the classic - and relate the story with the calm and clearness the “cup and beard” creator used to give to his first works. At least during 40 minutes.

Sneaking from their beds to film a night scene at their town's local train station, this group of friends, the crew, witness a train accident surrounded by strange circumstances. After the crush, the vehicle’s load arouses the children’s curiosity, even more when some bizarre phenomena begin to happen. Generators and car engines were spoiled, power cables burned out. Things start getting more and more weird when the dogs in the town hightail in the nearby yards like running away abductees.

There are signs that only the group of children seem to be aware of, and these signs are the reason why they start suspecting that some kind of unworldly power is acting in their small Ohio town. From there to the end, the script becomes a bit more convoluted, but it still tries to keep the spirit of good old riddles. A spirit that can be held in place by the classic tricks that only the man who is still considered “the master” of adventure movies can display.

Pure > Some other parallel storylines mimic the - nowadays old fashioned – pre-teen love stories. This, an ancient topic, is represented in the relationship between Elle Fanning - the only girl in the zombie “production”-, and Joey. Watching the beautiful blonde child, taller, and looking older than him, it's impossible not to remember Mike Walsh - Sean Astin's role in “The Goonies”- and Andy Charmichel's - Kerri Green's - kiss inside the cave. A brief “affair”, that nowadays became a bit deeper, but still as pure as it was portrayed then. Certificate U.

Of course, the spectator should take notice of the small details during the whole film. A teen gas shop attendant listening to a Blondie’s theme on his Walkman that captures the attention of an old cop is just one of the gestures of a past era. Focusing on that kind of aspects, the film obviously shows that the “fathers” of the film really lived those years.

The only downside to the characters is that sometimes they seem to be picked from other different films, and not an original selection. Maybe the production is more focused to an audience that already watched the classics, but perhaps should be criticized by nowadays' youngsters. Those are the ones who should feel that atmosphere and judge its level of delusion, difficult to reach for the older. They aught to dream of what perhaps viewers that are over 30 have somehow lost. Hope, liveliness and fantasy, are terms that sometimes loose their meaning over time. Unfortunately.