Earth to Echo

If your kids are too young for the typical summer blow-em-ups, Earth to Echo was created specifically for them in a lab that replicates some of the DNA from Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams movies. But it could have used a lot more time in the test tube. Earth to Echo is full-on derivative, a sci-fi flick about three kids who track a cell phone signal to the Nevada desert, discovering instead that it’s actually an alien robot named Echo. As you might expect, government baddies want this bit o’ interstellar technology, too, thrusting the kids into action to protect Echo. To offset generic storytelling, the movie tries to go the found footage route, with GoPro cameras (a promotional partner of the film) catching speeding bikes and so forth, and the effects are underwhelming. Everything about Earth to Echo is underwhelming, though, so that shouldn’t be a surprise.