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Christopher Orr, The New Republic: One can only hope that in the future [Reeves] will devote himself to playing androids, less-self-aware species of undead, stylish pieces of contemporary furniture, and other roles that do not require the exhibition of any recognizably human traits. Read more
Ben Lyons, At the Movies: What a ridiculous movie. Read more
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: In one eye and out the other, the sullen remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still airlifts certain story details straight from its source material. Read more
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Solemn, sober and efficient, The Day the Earth Stood Still gets the job done and moves on. Read more
David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The remake of that fine old fifties alien-invasion picture The Day the Earth Stood Still comes to a standstill about an hour before the Earth does in the wilds of New Jersey. Read more
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The original movie's climax, an endearingly corny homily about the necessity of peace, has been replaced by a pointless tsunami of digital effects. Read more
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Where the original film was unpretentious, this version, with Keanu Reeves as Klaatu, is insufferably full of itself, an X-Files episode pumped up to pseudo-cosmic proportions. Read more
John Hartl, Seattle Times: The movie stumbles to an ending that's more whimper than bang. Read more
Tasha Robinson, AV Club: 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. Read more
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Better to just sit back and enjoy The Day the Earth Stood Still for what it is: a fair amount of fun. Read more
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The new Day the Earth Stood Still lacks the courage of its own eco-pessimism, and the final scenes play like a rushed, embarrassed concession to our need for happy endings, no matter how far-fetched. Read more
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Klaatu's temperament is not the only thing that has been changed in this enjoyable updating. Read more
Joe Leydon, Houston Chronicle: Arguably the worst reconstitution of a '50s sci-fi classic since the ghastly Godzilla remake, The Day the Earth Stood Still is a stunningly misconceived folly that is bearable only for as long as it remains a fair-to-middling chase movie. Read more
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: You'll be doing yourself a huge favor if you go into this movie with lowered expectations. Read more
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: "The Day the Earth Stood Still" doesn't lack heart. It's surprisingly sincere. No, the human quality it could use a bit more of is humor. Read more
Tom Long, Detroit News: Despite all the fog machines and giant glowing spheres and TV actors excited to be in a big-budget movie, this remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic that gave baby boomer kids chills simply fails to strike any sparks. Read more
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: 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. Read more
David Germain, Associated Press: While Robert Wise's science-fiction classic The Day the Earth Stood Still" was a simple story of deep ideas, the remake is an overblown, puny-minded tale featuring extraterrestrials too stupid or lazy to do a background check on the species they condemn. Read more
Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News: This movie is as clunky and unappealing as the space-saving acronym being used to avoid its endless title -- TDTESS. Read more
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Even if you know the original by heart, the new Earth has a couple of surprises in store, although the message remains the same: Watch it, Man. Read more
Rafer Guzman, Newsday: The film fizzles in the second half, when flashy effects replace coherent storytelling, and everyone goes all weepy over the innate decency of humanity. Read more
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: The Day the Earth Stood Still may bill itself as science fiction. But it understands neither. Read more
Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Dunno about the Earth, but time certainly stands still for a goodly portion of Scott Derrickson's expensively produced but utterly boneheaded remake. Read more
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: The stone-faced silliness in this new TDTESS at first seems like an homage to old-fashioned '50s watch-the-skies movies, until it becomes clear it's just newfangled bad filmmaking. Read more
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Unless you've seen Robert Wise's original semi-documentary The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), you'd never suspect the utterly generic remake was based on a seminal sci-fi classic. Read more
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: This Earth could have moved if they had embraced the heart of Starman. Too bad they settled for a half-hearted Independence Day. Read more
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: An entertaining rethink of the 1951 classic. Read more
James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Remaking a movie is easy. Engineering a good remake is difficult. One key quality that separates the two is inspiration, and that's a characteristic not to be found in 2008's The Day the Earth Stood Still. Read more
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: All this is presented in an expensive, good-looking film that is well-made by Scott Derrickson, but to no avail. Read more
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Read more
Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: This was supposed to be the winter season's big special effects picture. So why does it make Al Gore's PowerPoint presentation look like Spider-Man 2 by comparison? Read more
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Neither offensively bad nor particularly good, The Day the Earth Stood Still may be best remembered for the clumsiness of its intrusive product placement. Read more
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: As a message movie, it's preachy without being serious; for an action movie, there's a lot of racket but not much fun. Read more
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The only awe this movie inspires is realizing how well the original stands up, and how little we puny Earthlings have learned in the past 57 years. Read more
Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: ... must be the worst major release in what may be the most disastrous year in recent Hollywood history. Read more
David Jenkins, Time Out: Sending a flying v-sign right at the splendid Robert Wise original from 1951, this daft and pointless sci-fi remake has very little to recommend it. Read more
Claudia Puig, USA Today: A good portion of this sci-fi disaster movie is unintentionally comical. And the parts that aren't funny are just plain dull. Read more
Todd McCarthy, Variety: This botched remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still seriously dishonors the seriously fine 1951 sci-fi landmark on which it's based. Read more
Luke Y. Thompson, Village Voice: The problem here is that there are none of the big ideas that have kept the 1951 film in the public consciousness Read more