GregTheStopSign95

Honestly, aside from the 'tripods' this has exactly nothing in common with H. G. Wells' "War of The Worlds" in ANY form that it has taken previously, so it really should have been called something else.

That aside, if they took out all the shameless product placement they'd probably have a passable student film on their hands. As long as they got someone to rewrite the dialogue so it didn't sound so bad all the time. Oh, and a director who knew what they were doing. And some visual effects from after 2004.

While it could have benefited from a few (dozen) fewer cameos, a couple of them were kinda funny I guess, and the mid-80s vibes were pretty on point which went a long way towards saving the movie from being forgettable, but only just.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the performances of the 3 leads - Bri, Belly, and Burny - as well as Siena Agudong as Melody Barnegat - and the story felt incredibly relatable (aside from the 'funny' shenanigans the kids got up to), but again the cameos are just too distracting.

I don't know, maybe Kevin wanted to go for the goofy angle rather than the feel-good angle, but if that's the case then maybe he should have leaned harder into that? As it is, it's hard to recommend this movie unless you're a die-hard Kevin Smith fan. Which is a shame because the 4 main kids are pretty great with what they've been given.

Visually stunning, well written, and well acted, this is an interesting spin on the Hansel and Gretel fable with Alice Krieg as Holda (the evil witch), Sophia Lillis as Gretel, and Samuel Leakey as Hansel. It turns the original fairytale into more of a coming of age story for Gretel than the grim and terrifying cautionary tale of the original.