Earth to Echo

In Earth to Echo, we get a group of kids who aren't very interesting trying to help out a lost little alien who comes from millions of lightyears away, yet somehow manages to be even less interesting than the kids.  The movie has been cobbled together from bits and pieces of 1980s movies that director Dave Green, and screenwriters Henry Gayden and Andrew Panay, used to watch as kids.  It steals shamelessly from movies like E.T., The Goonies, Short Circuit, *Batteries Not Included, and other movies about friendly little visitors or kids going on adventures.  Unfortunately, it has no idea what made these films special to kids of the era.

The one new element that the movie adds to the formula is something it didn't need - It's a "found footage" film, with everything shot by tiny cameras and "spy glasses" that the kids feel the need to carry around with them at all times.  I have no idea why the filmmakers went this route.  It adds nothing to the story, which would have worked better as a conventional narrative to begin with.  Doing some research, I learned that this movie has had a long journey to the screen.  It started out at Disney, where the movie was made on their dollar.  When the film was complete, Disney decided they didn't want to release it, and sold the rights to another studio.  The film has sat on the shelf since then, being shuffled about to various release dates, until it has finally landed on the Fourth of July weekend, where I have a hunch the kids will prefer to watch the giant fighting Transformers over this.

As the film opens, we're introduced to three boys who are best friends, and are about to be separated, since their community is about to be torn down so a highway can go through it.  The friends include a street-wise black kid named Tuck (Brian "Astro" Bradley), cool kid Alex (Teo Halm), and a nerdy kid who goes by the nickname of "Munch" (Reese Hartwig).  At no point in the film do Tuck, Alex or Munch talk and act like any kid I've met, nor do they come across as best friends.  That's the first thing this movie gets wrong in emulating the movies it's trying to imitate.  On their last night together before they're all going to move away, the boys notice their cell phones are acting strange and displaying weird symbols, as well as something that looks like a map.  Hopping on their bikes, they decide to go on one last adventure together, and follow the strange signals out to a desert.  Tuck brings his camera along, and also acts as the film's narrator as they track down the source.

The trail leads them to a tiny little alien that they name Echo.  When it comes to little visitors who have struck up relationships with kids in the movies, these boys got the short end of the stick with little Echo.  To be fair, it is sort of cute - It resembles an owl that's been crossed with the EVE robot from Wall-e.  Outside of that, there's not much to the little guy.  Echo has been hurt, stranded on Earth, and is trying to find parts he can use to make a ship.  Once they learn of his mission, the kids stuff him in a backpack, carry him around, and spend the rest of the movie running around, looking for parts.  There's no scene where we get the sense that the kids are bonding with the little robotic creature, nor do we sense that Echo is befriending them.  Even when the boys are joined in their mission by a pretty local girl (Ella Wahlestedt), there's never a sense of true companionship between the kids, or the alien they're helping out.

I said there wasn't much to little Echo.  His powers seem to be limited to making junk that he can use to make a ship levitate up in the air, and form together.  At one point, he also disassembles and reassembles an entire semi truck, which I guess is pretty impressive, but seems rather minor compared to past movie aliens.  Remember E.T., and how he could heal your hurt finger and make your bike fly?  Or how about The Iron Giant, and how he could be your best friend and save an entire town from destruction?  Echo also has no personality to speak of, which is something all friendly aliens need.  He clicks, chirps and beeps, but he never actually talks to the kids, except to answer simple "yes" and "no" questions.  What kind of an alien can't share with kids the wonders of the world it comes from?  When you think of all the amazing creatures that have visited Earth in the movies, Echo almost seems like an afterthought.

Earth to Echo is also quite dull, as it never creates a serious threat to stand in the way of the kids.  Oh, there are villains.  Those snoopy construction workers who are working on the highway project, and keep on popping up to ask the kids questions about what they were doing in the desert, are actually government agents who are after Echo, and also responsible for shooting down his ship.  The leader of the agents (Jason Gray-Stanford) sneers at and threatens the kids, but he never actually gets to do anything in the story.  Also, if these kids were caught sneaking around a government base, do you think they would let them keep their cameras?  Only in this movie, where the kids have to carry cameras with them at all times in order for there to actually be a movie. 

There is simply no sense of wonder, friendship, imagination, danger or wit in Earth to Echo.  These are all qualities the films it draws inspiration from had in abundance.  Why the filmmakers chose to leave these qualities out is a mystery.  This movie plays like a knock off that has a few of the right elements, but is missing all the vital ingredients.

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