DVD review (region 1 & 2)
Directed by Scott Derrickson
Starring Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith, John Cleese
Release date Out now (region 1); 20 April 2009 (region 2)

Eighty years after a glowing sphere is found by a climber in the Indian Himalayas, a huge object is detected on course for the heart of Manhattan...

This isn't so much a remake of the original The Day the Earth Stood Still as a mish-mash of elements from it, jumbled up into a touchy-feely eco-friendly mess. It starts promisingly, with the central scientist, played by Jennifer Connelly, taken from her home to an Army base where she learns of the impending disaster in Manhattan – but even that sequence sums up the film's screwy logic. The authorities don't want to panic anyone but they send half a dozen SUVs and police cars to collect one woman!

Keanu Reeves doesn't have any problem playing an alien who's coming to terms with being human, and there are times when it feels like he's simply channelling Neo from The Matrix trilogy. Exactly what it is that Klaatu dislikes about the human race is hard to fathom. At times it seems that it's the rape of the planet that's the cause of the problem, but if that's the case, why is the factor that persuades him to change his mind so totally disconnected from that?

Gort retains his form from Robert Wise's original for much of the time, and provides one of the film's few neat twists. The effects are okay, but nothing special, while Jaden Smith outacts everyone except John Cleese, who's refreshingly minimal in his cameo.

Extras include a commentary from screenwriter David Scarpa, a mini-documentary in which scientists discuss the possibilities of first contact, deleted scenes and a couple of standard 'making of' featurettes. Paul Simpson

VERDICT: 5/10
This tries too hard and is considerably less than the sum of its parts.