From NetFlix:

With a nod toward producer Steven Spielberg’s landmark sci-fi films of the 1970s and ’80s, writer-director J.J. Abrams crafts a supernatural tale about six kids who witness something incredible while shooting a movie with their Super 8 camera.

After watching for awhile, I was sure this was a Steven Spielberg film because it had all the hallmarks: simplistic, bit maudlin, and a final shot of a space ship leaving earth. In fact it was produced by Steven Spielberg.

Intertwined with the alien thread are family problems in two tragically related families whose kids become friends as the film develops. Abrams gets the funny middle school dialogs and quips just right (like raving about the food at a wake).

Oddly enough the villain in the film is the actor Noah Emmerich who played Dr. Edwin Jenner in the “Walking Dead” TV series which was recently reviewed.

Warning: the film could frighten a small child. There is much mayhem, destruction, and the scary alien eats people.

This kids’ yarn might just hold your attention.