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Earth To Echo

EARTH TO ECHO (Dave Green). 91 minutes. Opens Wednesday (July 2). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNNN


If you’re going to update E.T. for a new generation of kids, you might as well go all in. Dave Green’s Earth To Echo goes all in.

It compresses the narrative of Steven Spielberg’s 1982 classic into one overnight adventure, when Nevada buddies Alex (Teo Halm), Tuck (Brian “Astro” Bradley) and Munch (Reese C. Hartwig) investigate some weird cell-phone interference to distract themselves from an impending separation. It’s not a spoiler to say they encounter an alien – but things get a little more complicated after that.

Green and screenwriter Henry Gayden have made one other major modification to the E.T. template. Earth To Echo is a found-footage movie edited together after the fact and narrated by the media-savvy Tuck, who handily anticipates certain questions and uses the format to dodge others.

It’s a really smart move, letting the film work as a homage to E.T. rather than a rip-off, much as Cloverfield and Chronicle revitalized their chosen genres. And it fosters an intimacy between the characters that grows richer the more time we spend with them. We see the subtle ways they’re unsettled when they’re joined by a schoolmate (Ella Linnea Wahlestedt) who’s easily the smartest person in the picture.

Family movies aren’t usually this clever. Don’t miss out.

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