A World Away

Watched this last night with my 12 and 14 year old daughters. From the start of the movie the plot was not clear and the characters had zero background. Special effects were laughable and the "bad guys" seemed like they were from a low budget power rangers show. Super cheesy. I really wanted to find some good in this movie but it was difficult. We watched the entire film and at the end we were left scratching our heads and wondering why it ended the way it did. To be honest I'm still not really sure what message the movie is supposed to be sending.

Pros: no swearing

Cons: bizarre storyline, no character development, terrible special effects, gross out effect in one scene. In addition, 2 of the main characters and 1 supporting character in the film are the director's children - they all STRONGLY resemble each other - but are not supposed to be related in the film so it's a little weird. While the acting for the most part isn't the worst I've seen, it was pretty hokey.

Even my 12 and 14 year old daughters thought this movie was pretty bad and they usually love flimsy and/or confusing plot lines and mediocre acting. I wouldn't recommend this movie to others. Glad I didn't pay money to watch it.

Don't waste your time with this awful movie. Bad special effects, bad acting, stupid story. I would rather stab myself with a fork than watch this movie again.

How does these movies actually get made? Wow. Worse than any day time TV movie We have ever seen.

As usual, the critics here are bellyaching about the lack of effects. Does no one have any depth to just sit back and listen/watch a story? Have you become that shallow and lacking in imagination that effects are all that matters?

That is the foundation of the story from the first scene; story telling the old fashioned way. I only wanted one child to die, but I'm sure everyone wanted the same thing. Overall the movie like like a youth's book. A story to relax and read.

It is not perfect, and geared for kids which is probably for the best as there are still some children in the world with an imagination.

I won't critique the film because the flaws are not important. The brainwaves of the critics IS the problem.

No, not the movie. It is not that bad, but neither is it that good. What is "very bad, surprisingly bad" are the several glowing "10" reviews by people who only established their accounts recently to try to prop up this movie. Its IMDb rating is unrealistically high, for what it is.

This is a Mark Blanchard movie, written and directed by, and using his young children, two daughters and a son, as actors. In truth his kids are credible actors but the script is so juvenile most of the time that it comes across as a movie for very young kids. The "sci fi" aspect of it reminded me of 1950s "B" movies but with better color. The special effects are hokey.

It starts off with and ends with very silly scenes of aliens arguing with each other, and poking each other, looking like something out of Power Rangers. The middle is a flight to the Grand Canyon which goes off the radar as the small jet travels through a type of interdimensional effect where they end up in a different world that, incidentally, has two suns. Most of the kids are overly bratty and annoying, and if they are told to do something they do the exact opposite. There is an overarching message of "love being the only constant in life" but the message gets muddled by the overly silly script and silly action that pervades most of the movie.

In truth, I was somewhat entertained, some of the situations were interesting. But calling this "an award winning film" is very misleading, it is very juvenile in its approach and execution.

I watched it on Amazon streaming.