Earth to Echo ** (PG) Think of E.T. without the charm. Or Super 8 without any of its suspense. Or Blair Witch without anything particularly scary menacing the cast. Somewhere in bland convergence of that Venn Diagram is this tepid adventure in which three tweener pals find a disabled alien and try to help him/it heal and find his/its ship to get home from this rock. They chronicle the long night of activity in the desert around their Nevada tract homes with hand-held cameras and cell phones. Their quest includes eluding a slew of government agents posing as workers building a highway through their subdivision, forcing the chums’ families to relocate.
The eponymous creature, Echo, is cute enough for merchandising potential, looking like a small, metallic owl with the limited vocabulary of Artoo Detoo. He beeps to communicate with his new buddies, netting an emotional range well short of Wall-E’s. Some of the f/x are commendable, especially in one sequence near the end. But there’s little to relate to or like about the three young principals. Adults in the house might find themselves planning to warn youngsters in their lives never to even consider doing most of the things depicted if they stumble across anything strange in their environs. The hand-held camera gimmick has lost its novelty value, and does little to enhance this deployment. This may have been planned as the sort of adventure youngsters should relate to, extolling the virtues of friendships and social stability. Yet its execution leaves much to be desired on any level of entertainment or imparting any of those Valuable Lessons. (7/2/14)