The Day the Earth Stood Still ( *** )

December 11, 2008 4:34 p.m. EST

103 minutes

In theaters December 12, 2008

Rating: PG-13, Science fiction thriller

To purists who won't sit still for the remake of a movie classic, I say: the new The Day the Earth Stood Still I can live with.

Your fondness for, or even just familiarity with, "Klaatu barada nikto," the popular line of interplanetary dialogue from the unfashionably progressive 1951 science fiction drama, The Day the Earth Stood Still, may have a lot to say about how fully you respond to the new big-screen version.

But a new generation of youngsters, to say nothing of a number of of-age viewers, will see this one on the big screen (and a few bigger IMAX screens as well), either again or for the first time, and they'll find it an immersive and memorable experience.

As for the inevitable question of "Is it as good as the original?," I have two answers, both applicable. No, and: who cares?

Keanu Reeves takes over the role of Klaatu, the visiting alien, a humanoid messenger played in the original by Michael Rennie, in this remake -- or, if you will, reimagining -- of the classic about a peace-loving and seemingly benevolent extraterrestrial who has traveled across the universe and landed in Central Park in New York City (echoes of 9/11) to inform us that we Earthlings will be obliterated if we don't do what he says.

However good his advice might be for the future of our planet, involving as it does a cessation of armed conflict and violent interaction, it is still an ironically threatening and nonnegotiable demand.

The initial version, directed by Robert Wise, had a message of peace, a plea for a stronger United Nations in tthe name of international cooperation, the Cold War and the Atomic Age as subtexts, and a subliminal but unmistakable allusion to the story of Christ in the events involving Klaatu (he adopts the name of John Carpenter and is twice put to death and resurrected).

This second The Day the Earth Stood Still posits that a group of superior civilizations have sent an ambassador to Earth accompanied by his large and indestructible robot companion/assistant/bodyguard/enforcer, called GORT by the techies, to get us to change our behavior in time to avert an impending global crisis.

We welcome Klaatu with a bullet, as is our wont. After he recovers, and in an effort to get to know and understand our species, he befriends a young boy (Jaden Smith, son of Will and Jada Pinkett) and his astrobiologist stepmother (Jennifer Connelly), whose scientific expertise has been called upon by the authorities in an effort to figure out how to proceed.

Director Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) emphasizes the human element this time out, giving the film more of a family focus, even though he actually makes the alien somewhat more menacing than his template. And, rather than slavishly recreating the events of the first film version, David Scarpa's screenplay returns to the source material -- the short story by Harry Bates called "Farewell to the Master" -- and follows it closely. Thus the endings to the two movie versions are not at all the same.

Among the many ways in which things have changed, consider that Gort was actually played by an actor in the original. Now he is, of course, a very large digital special effect.

Once again, the script looks at us from an alien's point-of-view. Only this time the script keeps differentiating between our species and our planet until we begin to see us as the aliens.

Jennifer Connelly's expressive face is well used, as are Keanu Reeves' appropriately and efgectively inexpressive face and vaguely otherworldly persona. And useful contributions are made by Kathy Bates, John Cleese, and Jon Hamm (of TV's Mad Men). But the most important supporting players are probably the special effects, which are meant to be -- and are -- much more awe-inspiring and eerie, if occasionally overblown, than those in the modest and understated original.

A sprightly redo of a scence fiction staple, The Day the Earth Stood Still may not be out of this world. But it's still a strongly suspenseful, remarkably poignant, and intelligently purposeful science fiction adventure.