Review: ‘Earth to Echo’ lacks tension but still provides family fun

Posted on July 11, 2014

One of the quintessential films of my childhood was “The Goonies.” Directed by Richard Donner and based on a story from Steven Spielberg, the film followed a group of young friends who go on a wild adventure filled with pirates and nefarious thieves, all in an attempt to save their neighborhood.

If you replace pirates with aliens and nefarious thieves with secretive government agents, you would have “Earth to Echo,” a movie which brings the found-footage style to the family film genre. (For the uninitiated, found footage movies are filmed as if the characters themselves are the ones recording the action.)

But in the end, the found footage style is just that, a style. You still need a solid story and characters to care about, and “Earth to Echo” mostly pulls this off. Noticeably drawing elements from both “E.T.” and “The Goonies,” this film nonetheless feels firmly planted in the present. Although it at times feels relatively light, “Earth to Echo” is an entertaining family friendly (i.e. PG-rated) film and better than many of the other live options out there right now (I’m looking at you, “Transformers: Age of Extinction”).

“Earth to Echo” is not a great film, but it is a fun one that should entertain the kids without boring the parents. And if not anything else, it’s still better than “Transformers: Age of Extinction.”

The movie is rated PG for some action and peril, and mild language.

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