OnjiMooteDaMarle

The film's cast, apart from Hugh and Dev, were horrible. Weaver was a waste as she had nothing to do. The 'mommy', 'daddy' were yuck. Their dialogue delivery felt so unnatural. The first half was so poorly written. So many scenes felt contrived. Everything felt easy. They work in a robot manufacturing factory, and there's no CCTV inside? CCTV is only on the outside to see who comes and who goes. What happens inside is none of the company's concern? A scene where a co-worker threatens another, is completely ignored by everyone. So is the manipulation and destruction of everything by one man inside the company. The villain doesn't get what he deserves because the writers were busy leading the boring story to an action-packed climax.

Apart from everything, the VFX was beautiful. Kudos to the VFX team. The ending too was unfulfilling.

Starts off so boringly cliched, I had to fast forward it. So very cliché, Indiana Jones. I love John Krasinski, but he is definitely neither for this role nor for Mr. Fantastic (even if it was a cameo in some Marvel franchise). His trying hard at satire doesn't work for me here. And what's with that detective? He looks like he time-travelled from the 18th century. No character has any depth. I am not invested in any due to its badly written script. I just didn't care who dies or who lives. This looks like a very bad student short film, and I can't digest that as this is a Guy Ritchie film. Bring The Mummy (the Brendan Fraser one), the Indiana Jones and some below-average acting and voila, it's The Fountain of Youth.

Everything is very nostalgic. The town setting takes the cake. Forget the alien monster, even if it was about a kidnapping, adventure, govt BS, romantic drama, etc, the setting matters. Though I never lived in a small town, I love the setting and want to get into it.

Next are the characters. They are kids. Well, at least they were during the first season. Stories of kids in a small town with a monster from another dimension? Very cliche but hell yeah. Add in small romances or sensual bonding to fill in the gaps without overdoing it, and it's a good drama.

The actors! Everyone is good except this Finn Wolfhard. I just can't tolerate him, can't see him, his hairstyle, his dialogues, his body language, everything is irritating. I love the entry of Sadie Sink. She is charming, but why does she walk like that in the 2nd season? Why is her body language so unnatural? BTW, it changes in the 3rd season. She no longer walks like that, and her hair colour changes too. Kids don't do that, especially her character. Kids whose parents aren't rich have walkie-talkies. In the 80's those must have cost a bomb. Couldn't stand Erica either with her overacting, which should have been cute, but it isn't. Luckil,y she has less footage until the final 3 episodes of season 3 where she becomes irritating. Even her character changes, and no, it's not because she has 'grown up'. Loved Gaten (Dustin) more than anyone else. Loved his acting and his character.

Finally, it's a lot of clichés with good VFX and good acting by most of the actors and a fun ride. But every season they open the upside down, fight the monster, think they killed it, close the upside down AND repeat in the next season. IT'S THE 5TH SEASON NOW!