3/4  The Day the Earth Stood Still (the good one)
I don't remember ever seeing the original "The Day the Earth Stood Still", but of course I had to watch it before seeing the new version. (To learn how that worked out for me, read my review of it.)

One way I can summarize it is that ... (read full)

4/4  gort like humans (not)
klatuu barada nictoe (sp?) the magic words in army of darkness, was a reference to this movie. If its good enough for Mr. Raimi, its good enough for the rest of us.
made during the hight of the cold war, it shows an alien who's none to ha... (read full)

3.5/4  The Day the Earth Stood Still Quick Review
This is a compelling film that proves that character and story are more important than special effects. The film did contain 17 smoking incidents, earning it a SmokeScreeners rating of 4 Butts! www.smokescreeners.org

4/4  The Day the Earth Stood Still Quick Review
Forget the remake, this is classic sci-fi at its best. You don't need flash when you have a gripping story and memorable characters.

3.5/4  The Day the Earth Stood Still Quick Review
Socially relevant Sci-Fi classic remains of the genre's absolute best.

4/4  The Day the Earth Stood Still Quick Review
One of the best sci-fi movies all time, this 1951 classic is a movie that holds up well and should not be overlooked. If you are into 50's sci-fi or enjoy a good sci-fi drama, this is it!

1/5 Hollyweird should stop calling these "remakes" of classic movies, because
  by Corinne Pinkham
they really aren't.They are huge stinkers. Just call it another name, they don't have to pretend it will be as good as the original. The title for this could have been Gort, Keanu barrada nikto. So, if anyone has seen and appreciated the original will know what that means. Will hollyweird ever realize ya can't repeat the same success with a classic movie by "Updating" it. Because, when you "update" the whole story line is changed and therefore it is no longer the "same" story line. Ok, Keanu isn't much of an "actor" anyway, and is that the woman Ben Aflack is married to? He's prettier than her, and that annoying kid, was that one of Will Smith's offspring? High tech, CGI and lots of noise, does not make up for a bad script and bad acting.

1/5 Worst remake ever
  by Uncle El (Naugatuck Valley, CT)
Don't waste your money, buy the original w/ true actors; Michael Rennie & Patricia Neal.
They might as well called the alien Keanu, rather than Klaatu. He sleepwalks through the role. Gort the robot has more personality.

The plot lacks believable emotion, sequencing & substance. The special effects are awful. Gort the robot looks like a carton animation. The original movie's message was a warning that our nuclear weapons pose a threat to the peaceful planets of the universe. This turkey of a remake uses the enviro wacko theme that all human life must be eradicated to save the earth from itself.

Why bother to have actors. Have 90 minutes of Gort's Death Ray torching the earth. Better yet, make Keanu play the part of Gort. Dude!

5/5 loved every moment of it
  by B. E Jackson (Pennsylvania)
This version of the Day the Earth Stood Still has received a TON of mixed reviews, many of them completely negative, but I guess most of them exist to stress the point that the original version of this movie is supposed to be the best one by far (which I haven't seen).

So, watching this updated version of a supposed classic without seeing the original, I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end. The story is absolutely TERRIFIC!

Aliens coming to Earth and taking over the planet because according to the aliens, the people living here aren't properly taking care of the planet and letting it fall apart. The aliens have come back to Earth to preserve its natural beauty and save it from a horrible and unfortunate death by the humans.

Interesting the alien that played the lead character (who wasn't dressed in a costume, haha, he was really just a normal person pretending to be an alien for storyline purposes) could speak really good English. He even had amazing special powers that he'd use to control the human race.

I know, it sounds like a tacky storyline going by my description, but believe me, for a science fiction story, it was delivered in a way that was satisfying to me personally because I could *understand* what was going on the entire time, in addition to making it somewhat believable. Not that I think something like THIS could ever happen, what with aliens coming back to Earth and reclaiming their planet, but well.... you never know!

There were some really neat special effects, especially with the swarms of bugs that appeared near the end of the film. One scene even showed them swarming over a football stadium and making it disappear very quickly as they chewed it away. GREAT scene.

Even scarier was a scene showing the environment turn dark and intimidating as the bugs from way up above in the atmosphere got closer and closer to land.

Kathy Bates absolutely RULES in her role (because I love her as an actress so I tend to pay exceptionally close attention to any role she appears in!)

My FAVORITE part of the movie was that gigantic creature that came out of the spaceship. His first appearance was absolutely fantastic in words I can't even describe. All the cops and special agents around the area were already nervous because a spaceship just landed and these mysterious alien creatures were visiting, and then THIS huge mechanical thing with an orange-colored light shining from his mouth section suddenly appears through the mist, and scans over the entire area with the ability to shut off lights, vehicles, and electronics.

I was like "Oh man, what's this huge machine going to do NEXT?? and when he first appeared I was in total shock!" I loved every appearance with this gigantic robotic creature. We find out later what the purpose of this thing was, something that caught me by surprise.

Supposedly one of the creatures in the film is called Klaatu, but that's like the greatest, most underrated band from the late 70's and I don't recall seeing them perform! (Kidding)

Overall, the negative reviews can be angry and hateful all they want- I know what I just enjoyed.

1/5 The Day the Audience got ROBBED!!!!
  by Zillalover (Ma, USA)
This was an insult to the original 1951 classic. This is simply 2 hours of mindless preachy go green crap. Aliens travel 90 billion light years threaten to blow us up if we don't recycle beer cans. You kidding me????
The CGI was cartoonish. Gort simply is floating dust, HUH????
Jennifer Connolly reprises her role as a crybaby. Keanu Reeves reprises his role as the bland boring guy.
In the original movie, the aliens warn us not to take our weapons of mass destruction beyond our planet.
The see us as aggressive and give us a warning. They don't care about our personal skirmishes, so long as it stays on the planet. It was a statement but at least it made sense.
Why would aliens millions of light years care if we put our trash in buckets or the street??


If we don't comply they will blow us up??? What's the point if the planet will be destroyed anyway???
Its funny since Hollywood polluted our eyes with this mindless CGI crapfest.
The aliens should have warned us to stop wasting materials and making BAD movies like this one!!!

5/5 Nice set with old and new versions
  by J. Braeking (Richland Hills, TX USA)
Received in good order on time. I never have any problems with Amazon.

Nice updated version of the original. I always liked this movie as I am a sci-fi person at heart. (Have all Star Trek movies.) Good tie-back queues so you know it is a remake and doesn't try to out-do the original. Of course, efx are modern.

Overall, a keeper.