I am still smiling, hours after I saw it. So many positives, any critiques i would normally have were balanced by what Spielberg/Abrams chose to go with. The actors, though mostly children, did an amazing job. There was enough depth to each one that I definitely could identify with those children. The home movies, the ideas of adventure, the simplicity of disregarding danger even though you're afraid for the sake of doing what's right. There was just so much good in a movie that was founded on so many types of bad, you want to pull for the characters. Part of the delight of this is the children explaining what makes a good story, to the average viewer this was probably just part of the story, but to you observant types who apply what they had heard you notice that the movie was almost self referential. That dragged me so much more into a childhood nostalgia, of creating movies, of just playing with my friends.

The weird part for me was how much the movie resembled South Park. Not just because the chubby one who hasn't had his lean-ifying kick in was like cartman, but also because you have a group of children acting independently of all the adults who don't really seem to be doing anything, questioning anything, fighting anything. The adults seemed very passive and apathetic. They also sort of lob this softball by showing how the main parents act towards their kids at the beginning. Thus, the children were given the roles of adults, most obviously by the characters they play in their movie. Also we see it in Alli driving, or with the pyro making his own explosives and bragging about it to the military.

In an alien monster movie i prefer to have that alien kick ass, destroy everything, even the main characters, and survive. Cloverfield scratched that itch. Godzilla was more good than evil, and the monster in this movie was a good mix of both. They actually developed the monster's character. boggles the mind. they did so much, they gave it to us on a platter, and they said enjoy this, we worked hard on it. it paid off.

well i'm on Percocet at the moment, so my thoughts aren't as coherent as they should be, but i'm not getting paid to write, so pthhhhhhhh to you.

p.s. shut the jeabot