One doesn't have to know that J.
J. Abrams, writer, director and producer, is, and always has been an
admirer of Steven Spielberg, or that Spielberg is his mentor, as you
feel Spielberg's presence all through the "Super 8" film. From
the opening shots and references to "E.T."  to the picture taking place
in a small town of yesteryear, the use of bicycles, the missing parent,
nostalgia, along with "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", not
forgetting to having the kids be aware of what's going on before the
adults also points that Spielberg is co-producer.

Mr.
Abrams does have one of the best train crashes ever put on film, he can
pull at the heart strings and he ends with a super 8 film made by the
kids alongside the ending credits. His Drew Barrymore is an older Elle
Fanning while Joel Courtney is his Elliot. He handles the kids, and
adults, with a firm hand, especially young Riley Griffiths who is the
'director' of the super 8 horror film. He
has a firm control over the relationship between father, (Kyle Chandler)
and son, (Courtney) but puts some menacing red herrings on the
daughter, (Fanning) and father, (Ron Eldard) which was one of the missteps in this film.

While
J. J. Abrams gives the audiences what they wan, and expect, he seems
not have the awe and wonder of/in children that Steven Spielberg had in
his earlier films.

"Super 8" is fast paced, family, child and adult oriented film, a modern science fiction picture using today's techniques
to look at yesterday's effects but, even though it tries, it doesn't
have heart and that is where he lets his mentor and audience down.