Maybe I'd feel better about "*batteries not included" if Spielberg weren't involved.
Even if he weren't behind the scenes, this would feel like he had his fingers all over the plot: sentiment a mile thick, otherworldly beings that are "endearingly" human...only there are no cute kids this time out. This time, they're replaced by cute senior citizens.
And the fact that they're played by national treasures like Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy make the viewer suddenly think: "Ooh, look who's slumming!" And it sure seems that way; Cronyn and Tandy supply the only class and worthiness to this whole debacle.
Everything else is just top-heavy on slapstick, cuteness, feel-good messages and "rediscovering the child in all of us". Excuse me, but didn't Spielberg already cover that with "ET"?
Yeah, and so did a million other rip-offs after the fact. Like "*batteries not included", for example.
Two stars for Cronyn and Tandy and a half star for a good idea left covered in a ton of glitter and tinsel.
Even if he weren't behind the scenes, this would feel like he had his fingers all over the plot: sentiment a mile thick, otherworldly beings that are "endearingly" human...only there are no cute kids this time out. This time, they're replaced by cute senior citizens.
And the fact that they're played by national treasures like Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy make the viewer suddenly think: "Ooh, look who's slumming!" And it sure seems that way; Cronyn and Tandy supply the only class and worthiness to this whole debacle.
Everything else is just top-heavy on slapstick, cuteness, feel-good messages and "rediscovering the child in all of us". Excuse me, but didn't Spielberg already cover that with "ET"?
Yeah, and so did a million other rip-offs after the fact. Like "*batteries not included", for example.
Two stars for Cronyn and Tandy and a half star for a good idea left covered in a ton of glitter and tinsel.