DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (THREE-DISC WIDESCREEN + FULL SCREEN EDITION) (2008)

Day the Earth Stood Still (Three-Disc Widescreen + Full Screen Edition) (2008)

Actors: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith, John Cleese
Directors: Scott Derrickson
Writers: David Scarpa, Edmund H. North
Producers: Erwin Stoff, Gregory Goodman, Marvin Towns Jr., Paul Harris Boardman
Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Region: 1 (U.S. and Canada only)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number of discs: 3
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Release Date: April 7, 2009
Run Time: 104 minutes

Bonus features include:

Deleted Scenes
Re-Imagining “The Day” Featurette
Unleashing Gort Featurette
Watching The Skies: In Search Of Extraterrestrial Life Featurette
The Day The Earth Was “Green” Featurette
Commentary By Writer David Scarpa
Still Galleries (Concept Art, Storyboards, Production Photos)
The Day The Earth Stood Still Digital Copy for portable media players

Movie: * * ½
Disc: * * * *

If the second half of this movie were as good as the first half, then this remake of the ‘Fifties The Day the Earth Stood Still would have been a bona fide science fiction classic. As it is the movie is flawed at best. It has a message worth recounting about how life on our planet is unique and humanity should take care of it. Keanu Reeves plays an alien from a distant planet who has come to whisk away all the animals of Earth in an intergalactic ark and destroy humankind because we haven’t been taking care of things. Heck, even I feel like doing that each time I get stuck in peak traffic!

But the movie suffers from some plot illogicalities (what is it with that old man in the diner? hasn’t Klaatu already decided to blow us all to bits already?) and schmaltz. Jaden Smith as an annoying brat also undermines the film. Reeves may lack Michael Rennie’s (who played Klaatu in the original flick) erudition and Messianic calm, but actually looks like an alien who is uncomfortable with the human body he is inhabiting. (Then again, he does so in all the movies he stars in . . .) Jennifer Connelly, who is always beautiful to look at, is however sadly underutilized.

Purists and fans of the original film may fume that The Day the Earth Stood Still didn’t need a remake, but they are missing the point that namely (a) it has a story worth retelling and (b) most modern audiences can’t be arsed checking out an old Black & White movie made more than half a century ago.

Sure, the remake’s message may get lost in-between all the Roland Emmerich-lite special effects, but at least the new Day the Earth Stood Still tries to be more intelligent than your average brain-dead Hollywood blockbuster.

THE DISC: What makes this three-disc edition particularly appealing is the inclusion of the original 1951 Day the Earth Stood Still. Sure, the movie may be staid by modern standards, but is still essential sci-fi viewing. If you haven’t seen any of the two movies in question, then it’d be an interesting study to see how much film-making has changed over the past sixty years or so to watch the two films back-to-back, kicking off with the original.

You get a load of special features as well (see listing above) as well as a digital copy if you’re the type who likes watching movies on tiny iPod screens. Incidentally if you were to buy the two-disc edition and the 1951 Day the Earth Stood Still separately then it’d cost you a few bucks more than this three-disc edition. The three-disc Blu-Ray edition retails however at a mere two dollars more (Amazon list prices at the time of writing)! With these low prices the Blu-Ray format is becoming more and more appealing.

WORTH IT? Yes, if you do not already have a copy of the original B&W film. If you do, then a rental is probably in order. The Blu-Ray disc is also worthy of consideration. Otherwise this is the sort of movie that will go down better as a rental as opposed to a purchase.