Earth To Echo, film review: Dave Green's cutesy E.T.-like sci-fi drama has no pathos or depth

(PG) Dave Green, 91 mins Starring: Teo Halm, Astro, Reese Hartwig, Ella Wahlestedt

This cutesy E.T.-like sci-fi drama is utterly undermined by its own shooting style. The conceit is that one of the three kids from the Vegas suburbs who discover an alien robot is filming events with a video camera.

The entire film has the feel of a glorified hand-held movie, made in a very jerky and uneven way.

The alien itself looks like a clockwork owl. The film-makers don't only invoke memories of Spielberg's classic, but also attempt to tell a rites-of-passage story in the vein of Rob Reiner's Stand By Me, complete with nostalgic voice over.

There are some neat touches – cell phones that "barf" whenever the alien is near, scenes of objects shattering and then somehow coalescing – but doesn't reverberate with any pathos or depth.