‘Earth to Echo’ DVD Review
Stars: Teo Halm, Astro, Reese Hartwig, Ella Wahlestedt, Jason Gray-Stanford, Algee Smith, Cassius Willis, Sonya Leslie, Kerry O’Malley, Virginia Louise Smith, Peter Mackenzie, Valerie Wildman | Written by Henry Gayden | Directed by Dave Green
After many of the phones in their local neighbourhood seem to malfunction, a group of kids try to work out what is wrong and why it is happening. On discovering that the malfunction is actually a map to a location in the nearby desert, they decide to set off on an epic adventure to find out the truth of the mystery. What they discover surprises them all; it’s an alien who needs their help. But will their friendship survive long enough for them to be able to deliver it?
Earth to Echo reminds me of the games I used to play when I was young. We all used to dream of going on an exciting adventure with our friends and that is exactly what this film is about. Friendship, adventure and space ships, an awesome combination if there ever was one. Of course there are a big factor that you should take into consideration if you want to watch this film. That factor is of course, shaky cam. The majority of the film is shot through hand held cameras, phones and ‘spy glasses’ all being controlled by the children who are the main characters in this film. It’s not a new technique of course, but links to YouTube and use of something similar to ‘Google Maps’ to show where the characters are is pretty cool. This film style is definitely a love it or hate it kind of thing. I personally love it, and combined with the spectacular graphics of the alien and its technology, I felt it was really effective. But they are riding on bikes, running and hiding a lot, so the possibility of motion sickness is definitely there.
I think what really made Earth to Echo was the amazing acting done portraying the four main characters. Not once did I roll my eyes and think “Oh dear, who gave a bunch of kids a camera for them to play with?” No, I was on the adventure with them and rooting for them all the way. There were moments where the film got a little cliché, for example one of the children was a technology genius. Why do people always feel there needs to be a technology genius? But it flowed quite naturally with the film and all the characters are likeable, fun and very entertaining.
Earth to Echo is a sci-fi adventure which will have you wanting to go out on an adventure of your own. If you want a fun, exciting film about friendship and aliens, look no further!
Earth to Echo is released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 17th.
