Super 8 lived up to its name (by being super)

I saw Super 8 today.  If you don't know what it is... it's a movie.  About some kids in a small town in 1979.  And there's a monster.  But I won't really go into more detail than that.  Because a large part of the idea behind the movie is that you don't know what it's about.

It was amazing.

It was ridiculously fun, which is something that so many movies today are not.  It was also funny, but that's not what made it so fun.  The movie was made by JJ Abrams, but it was produced by Steven Spielberg.  Much of it was a love letter to Spielberg's movies and others of the same era.  It was like ET on steroids.

My Favorite Things about Super 8:

• The kids were the main characters.  Which made the viewer feel far more involved in the movie.  There were adult characters doing adult things, but the movie never strayed from the kids being the most important characters doing the most important things.  And they were great kids.  Hilarious, emotional, freaking out, pyromaniac, stupidly brave kids.  Which makes you feel like a kid again.  So fun.

• A lot of it was predictable.  In a good way.  This wasn't LOST JJ Abrams.  This wasn't even Cloverfield (though it seems that making Cloverfield was good practice for this).  There were some light mysteries, a bit of conspiracy, and everything is resolved by the end with no lingering questions.

• The two main characters.  Joe, the main character, was played by a brand-new actor who did a wonderful job.  More surprisingly, Elle Fanning was not obnoxious.  I was afraid she would be a bit too... Fanning.  But she perfectly played her character and didn't dominate the movie too much at all.  Yay for child actors not being annoying.

• It was a great summer action movie.  A lot of things exploded.  Some very extensively.  But, unlike some movies (coughTransformerscough), it wasn't about the explosions.  The explosions were a fun part of a fun movie.  They were given their time, then the movie moved on.

My dear sister, Erin, would probably not like Super 8.  Nor would my mother.  And possibly not my father.  But if you aren't like any of those people, go see it.  It was amazing.