It’s been a couple of months since the first trailer for young-at-heart sci-fi pic Earth To Echo arrived, so here is your second reminder in promo form.
We’re introduced to a group of kids who see themselves as outsiders because they’re the “good” ones – well-behaved, no trouble but never likely to run with the cool crowd or become particularly outstanding. Our heroes are Tuck, Munch and Alex, who are inseparable friends, but their time together is ending. Their neighbourhood is being destroyed by a highway construction project that is forcing their families to move away. But just two days before they must part ways, the boys find a cryptic signal has infected their phones.
Convinced that something bigger is going on and looking for one final adventure together, they stop playing Candy Crush Saga and set off to trace the messages to their source and discover something beyond their wildest imaginations: hiding in the darkness is a mysterious being, stranded on Earth, and wanted by the government...
Yes, there are serious shades of **E.T. **here, among other films, and indeed the whole thing is looking to tap into the sort of charm-filled adventure that was once the speciality of Steven Spielberg and his Amblin colleagues. Can it work in a more cynical world, and one filled with Transformers, Avengers and CG ‘toons? That question will be answered on July 25 when Earth To Echo arrives in the UK.