Left to right: Kyle Chandler plays Jackson Lamb, Joel Courtney plays Joe Lamb, Elle Fanning plays Alice Dainard, and Ron Eldard plays Louis Dainard in SUPER 8, from Paramount Pictures. Photo credit: François Duhamel © 2011 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Super (Gr)8!

J.J. Abrams as writer and director; Steven Spielberg as producer. As far as the movie industry goes, it’s the stuff that dreams are made of. Between the two of them, the successes add up very quickly. For Abrams, “Cloverfield” (2008), “Star Trek” (2009) and “Morning Glory” (2010) on the big screen; ABC’s “Alias” and “Lost,” and Fox’s “Fringe” on the small screen. For Spielberg, the list is long, but perhaps most familiar, “Jaws,” “E.T. The Etra-Terrestrial,” “Jurassic Park,” and the “Indiana Jones” films. It is time to add “Super 8” to these lists.

Imagine a magic movie making pot in which you could throw in a mixture of old movies, TV shows and books, then pull out a blockbuster summer movie. If this were how “Super 8” was created, its contents might have included “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” Stephen King’s “IT,” ABC’s “Lost,” and perhaps a dash of “Scooby Doo” (as in meddling kids), to name but a few.

Serving as both writer and director, Abrams has melded a magical mix. “Super 8” includes certain similarities (some more subtle than others) to all the aforementioned works and then some (although I'm kidding a little bit about "Scooby Doo") and the outcome is one that works on many levels. It has thrills, mystery, humor and most importantly, heart. And, of course, special effects. Really good ones. As you may know from viewing the trailer, there is a huge train wreck early in the movie and this scene alone is enough to please anyone who appreciates extraordinary crashes, explosions or just all around general chaos. Not that the visuals are limited to this scene, not by a long shot, but this one will not be soon forgotten.

The movie takes place in a small steel town in Ohio during the summer of 1979. Joe Lamb (played by newcomer Joel Courtney) has recently lost his mother to a horrific accident. His father (Kyle Chandler, NBC’s “Friday Night Lights”), the town’s deputy, isn’t around much and when he is, he struggles with his new role as a single parent. Although he’s still mourning his mother’s loss, Joe has agreed to help his best friend, Charlie, make a Super 8 (a type of video camera) zombie movie. Charlie (also a newcomer to film, Riley Griffiths) takes his movie making quite seriously and thinks of little else. Along with Joe, he has recruited his friends Martin (Gabriel Basso, Showtime’s “The Big C”), Cary (Ryan Lee) and Preston (Zach Mills) to help with the movie. Charlie decides to write a wife into the script, to add “production value,” so he asks Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning, “Somewhere” 2010) to play the part. She agrees, much to the boys’ surprise and utter delight. Alice’s father, Louis (Ron Eldard, “Black Hawk Down” 2001), happens to be at odds with Joe’s father, which adds an element of friction.

The first night of filming requires the kids to sneak out late at night and head just outside of town, with the film location being near the train tracks. While filming, the train approaches, disaster strikes and the six of them become witnesses to much more than they bargained for as the Super 8 film continues to roll. From here, strange things begin to happen in and around the town, and the young filmmakers have some decisions to make, one of which is whether to continue with the movie. They press on, even though things just keep getting weirder, including the disappearance of dogs and people, and the arrival of Air Force troops en masse. Colonel Nelec (Noah Emmerich, “Little Children” 2006) is tough as nails and refuses to cooperate with Deputy Lamb, telling him that he will fill him in on a “need to know basis.”

Out of respect for the potential moviegoers, I will not say any more about the plot of the story. What I will tell you is this: The movie is much more than a “scary creatures that go bump in the night” film. It is a classic coming of age tale of friendship and so much more. While there are plenty of lighthearted moments among the friends, there are also some hefty issues. When Joe speaks of his mom to Alice he says, “She used to look at me, really look at me, in this way that made me know I really existed.” The 70s are given a nostalgic nod by way of things like Walkmans, CB radios, and a great soundtrack, but no matter the decade that you knew as a teen, this film will bring warm feelings of what it means to be suspended precariously somewhere between childhood and young adulthood. The young actors are exceptional overall, and Elle Fanning especially so.

If I must find a flaw, it would have to be that there are certain elements of the script that are just too reminiscent of “Lost” and “IT.” They are minimal, but really jumped out and became somewhat of a distraction for me. Near the end of the film, the script becomes increasingly fantastical, but as with “Lost,” we don’t care because the entertainment factor far outweighs the imperfections. As Charles might say, this film definitely has loads of production value!

Backstage Notes: As for the film within the film, stay put as the credits roll to view the final Super 8 production. It is very entertaining, indeed. Being the mother of two budding filmmakers, I feel privileged to have been “on the set” of the many “shorts” filmed in and around our house throughout the years by my sons and their friends.

As for the PG13 rating, there are definitely some tense and scary moments in the film, and there is some blood (both ‘real’ and ‘fake’). I would venture to say that most children ages 10 and up will be okay, but please use your best judgment based on your child’s previous reactions to “scary movies.”

Tyna S. Cline © June 6, 2011