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Day the Earth Stood Still, The
20th Century Fox


4.5

based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 128 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some sci-fi disaster images and violence

Starring Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, John Cleese, James Hong, Jaden Smith, Kathy Bates, and Kathy Bates

The Day the Earth Stood Still is 20th Century Fox’s contemporary reinvention of its 1951 classic. Klaatu, an alien who arrives on our planet, triggers a global upheaval. As governments and scientists race to unravel the mystery behind the visitor’s appearance, a woman and her young stepson get caught up in his mission – and come to understand the ramifications of Klaatu calling himself a “friend to the Earth.” (20th Century Fox)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Sci-fi
WRITTEN BY:	Edmund H. North (1951 screenplay) David Scarpa
DIRECTED BY:	Scott Derrickson
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 7, 2009 Theatrical: December 12, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

This contemporary remake of the science-fiction classic knew what it was doing when it cast Keanu Reeves, the movies' greatest stone face since Buster Keaton.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Surprise! The remake is not a heresy. It's a decent enough stab at being what the old movie was to its time, following the same basic plot, full of respectful references to its model, updated with a gallery of fairly imaginative special effects.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

The one unforgivable crime committed in this remake is the lack of the original's most famous line of dialogue: "Klaatu barada nikto." Would it have been so tough to squeeze that in somewhere?

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

I can't explain the film's main problem without giving plot points away; suffice to say that, after decades of watching Earth, Klaatu's team of observers has missed a crucial event you and I witness every day. I can tell you about the secondary problem, though: too much money.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

An entertaining rethink of the 1951 classic.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Passed my popcorn-movie test. Using the vast, expensive technology of a big studio production, it roused enough cheap energy to drive me to eat a bag of popcorn fit for a circus animal and wash it down with a quart of Diet Coke.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Just because the new The Day the Earth Stood Still is green, though, doesn't mean it's dull. If anything, there's a lot more mayhem and destruction this time around.

Empire Helen O'Hara

A remake that does not disgrace the original, this is sufficiently different to stand alone and just as relevant in its concerns – as well as succeeding (arguably better) as a thriller. And after this performance, are we sure that Keanu Reeves is really human?

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

For most of the way this ecofriendly fantasy is pleasantly clunky, and Reeves, whose expressive range here is slim to none, is perfectly cast as the alien.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

Like the big shiny sphere at its center, the film is fairly pretty, but there's no real sense that there's anything inside it.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Although the new version, which stars Keanu Reeves, is likely to make audiences pine for the meta-irony of "Mystery Science Theater 3000," it's not a complete failure.

Village Voice Luke Y. Thompson

The problem here is that there are no big ideas.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

All this is presented in an expensive, good-looking film that is well-made by Scott Derrickson, but to no avail.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Keanu Reeves plays Klaatu, confining his usual two-and-a-half-note vocal range to half that.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The story, an updated version of the 1951 classic about a portentous extraterrestrial visit, feels musty and derivative, and not only because it's a remake.

TV Guide Cammila Albertson

Pretty good as science fiction thrillers go, but sadly, there isn't much more to say about it.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

One of the big problems here is that, despite much exposition, the nature of Klaatu's mission on Earth isn't at all clear.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It lacks the simple elegance and intelligence of the earlier film, and employs special effects and pointless action scenes to replace passages of dialogue.

Film Threat Scott Mendelson

A 'so-so' movie. It's not particularly good, but it's competent and more or less successful in its goals.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The opening stretch, when the visitor arrives on earth and blithely dresses down mankind, is great fun. But screenwriter David Scarpi has drained away much of the sentiment.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Despite the best efforts of stars Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly, this new "Day" is tired and corny.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Something has been lost in the translation, and it's not just the script.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

As a message movie, it's preachy without being serious; for an action movie, there's a lot of racket but not much fun.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The original Day the Earth Stood Still had a paranoid poetry that lifted the audience up even as it warned the world to come together. This one is so dour it just comes off as a scolding.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Any movie that awards a former Monty Python cast member a Nobel Prize in anything cannot be all bad. And The Day the Earth Stood Still could be worse.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

The film's major action sequences are never exciting, and even the now-requisite destruction of New York feels lazy.

Variety Todd McCarthy

This botched remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" seriously dishonors the seriously fine 1951 sci-fi landmark on which it's based.

NPR Bob Mondello

Dunno about the Earth, but time certainly stands still for a goodly portion of Scott Derrickson's expensively produced but utterly boneheaded remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Klaatu is a dream role for the beautifully blank Reeves, since he doesn’t even have to pretend to emote.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

How can this movie not be fun?

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

A jumble of spare parts and leftover dialogue, as if it had been assembled out of unused bits of every movie where an unknown whatzit threatens our way of life and the government goes into full institutional pants-crapping panic mode.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Dull, unnecessary film.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

What's never explained is why anyone would do such a dumb remake of Robert Wise's 1951 sci-fi classic.

Time Richard Schickel

Suffice it to say that these morons have, quite simply, turned The Day the Earth Stood Still on its head and what's falling out of its pockets in that upended state is a stream of junk.

The average user rating for this movie is 4.5 (out of 10) based on 128 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Robert B gave it a1:
Thank you Keanu Reeves and thank you 20th century fox for ruining a classic.

Peter J gave it a5:
Ok to watch once, but not something I'd ever watch a second time. Never saw the original, but still knew exactly where the movie was going.

Aaron S gave it a4:
I went there expecting to see a action/sci-fi war of the worlds type film when it turned out to be boring,unfrilling and average Iv'e only seen it once and never agian.

Neal F gave it a2:
Predictable and pushing a green agenda.

paul g gave it a3:
The plot is flawed. and acting is so rigid that any emotion is lost. keanu reeves proves yet once again that unless he has a shades on he is terrible.

Brock M gave it a1:
This is possible the worst movie ever made. It was worse than The Day After Tomorrow and the Core put together. The script is terrible, the best actor is the large sentinel thing and worst of all, nothing happens! The worst bits of hollywood mega "event" movies distilled into one big mess. Rubbish

Stu J gave it a2:
Cannot believe how bad this is. The interrelationship between the robot and Klatu never explained? The day everything stood still?? The famous line we all ran around saying to each other as kids? eeves was well cast -- a part requiring no acting fits him ever so well. A massive demonstration of Hollywood bungling. Special effects do not a movie make. I need to rewatch the original to purge any memory of this from my mind.

Day the Earth Stood Still, The 20th Century Fox

Day the Earth Stood Still, The
20th Century Fox