Earth to Echo

A handful of suburban kids (Teo Halm, Brian “Astro” Bradley, Reese Hartwig, Ella Wahlestedt) try to help an alien from another galaxy who has been stranded on Earth, even as the little fellow becomes the subject of an intense search by shadowy government agents. Sound familiar? Director Dave Green and writers Henry Gayden and Andrew Panay ransack the early career of Steven Spielberg—mostly E.T., of course, but with generous helpings of Close Encounters and The Goonies thrown in—giving it a contrived found-video look. The rip-off is so blatant that it makes any discussion of acting (pretty good), special effects (decent) or editing (fair) beside the point: This is the most shameless act of near-plagiarism since Star Trek cribbed that “The Trouble With Tribbles” episode from Robert A. Heinlein's 1952 sci-fi novel The Rolling Stones.