The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)   
       
   Anyone who goes to see this movie expecting it to be anything like the   
   original version made in 1951, directed by Robert Wise, and Starring Michael   
   Rennie, Patricia Neal and Hugh Marlow, will be sorely disappointed.  It is   
   true that there are a number of scenes borrowed and updated (to be kind) from   
   the original, but to try to compare them would be futile.   
       
   My opinion begins with the cast.  Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly are   
   excellent choices to play Klaatu and Helen Benson, respectfully.  The rest of   
   the casting I didn't think much of.  In the original, Helen's son Bobby Benson   
   is played beautifully by Billy Gray.  In the remake, there is no Bobby   
   Benson.  Instead the role went to Will Smith's son Jaden and is renamed Jacob   
   - Helen's stepson.   
       
   By now, the readers will have some idea of where I'm going with this review.   
       
   Neither of the two films bear a resemblance to the short story Farewell To the   
   Master, written by Harry M. Bates.  However, the screenplay for the 1951 film   
   written by Edmund H. North is a skyscraper compared to this one story   
   apartment of a remake.   
       
   Anyone who has not seen the original and are used to blow-`em-up type films   
   will probably appreciate this remake.  The film is long on effects and short   
   on meaningful dialog.  The acting by Keanu Reeves may seem wooden to the   
   viewer, but he is, after all, acting and doing what the director intended for   
   him to do and he did it well.  He is playing an alien, after all.   
       
   Jennifer Connelly, on the other hand, made the best of the role she played. I   
   really liked the way she looked in Career Opportunities, but she has   
   apparently lost a little weight since then.  She is, nevertheless, a good   
   actress.   
       
   To sum it up, this film had a few bits and pieces from the original to keep   
   the old-timers interested, but the expectation the makers of this film had in   
   the hope that we who were fortunate enough to see the original, must have had   
   the reverse affect.   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- DB 3.99 + W10 (1607)   
    * Origin: NCS BBS -Houma, LoUiSiAna (1:3828/7)