Alien visitor evokes ‘E.T.’ but special effects, likable kids make movie work

From left, Tuck (Brian "Astro" Bradley), Emma (Ella Wahlestedt), Munch (Reese Hartwig) and Alex (Teo Halm) in a scene from "Earth to Echo." (The Associated Press)

“Earth to Echo” is an engagingly unassuming “E.T.” knockoff, a kids’ movie that serves up a similar alien-with-kids story in “Blair Witch”/“Paranormal” shaky-cam package.

It’s been more than 30 years since “E.T. the Extraterrestrial,” so why not?

Disney produced it, but then sold it to Relativity. Cast with cute, likable kids, given a few decent effects and having that found-footage “reality” of “The Blair Witch Project,” it doesn’t have the financial or emotional heft of the mythic “phone home” tale. But it works well enough.

Kids with a mission

Three tweenage pals are about to be split apart forever. Their Nevada subdivision is being demolished for some sort of bypass. It’s not fair, but what do you do?

Nervous tech nerd Munch (Reese Hartwig), boisterous camera buff Tuck (Brian “Astro” Bradley) and shy, sad-faced Alex (Teo Halm) make the most of their last days together. And when their electronics start going kerflooey and their cell phones start showing this blotch shape, they have purpose.

The blotch shape is a map, and that sets the lads off on their bikes for a nighttime scavenger hunt with Tuck capturing it all on his GoPro Hero cam, narrating our story as he does. He likes to upload conspiracy videos to the web. They’re onto one.

’Earth to Echo’

DIRECTED BY: Dave Green

STARRING: Reese Hartwig, Teo Halm, Brian “Astro” Bradley and Ella Wahlestedt

RATED: PG GRADE: C+

RUNNING TIME: 89 minutes

First, they find a canister, and then they figure out who’s in it. And then they find five other places on the map that tend to deepen the mystery.

First-time director Dave Green finds plenty of novelty and fun in what is, let’s face it, a pretty derivative script by Henry Gayden and Andrew Panay. The creature is like the shiny, digital owl from “Clash of the Titans.” Adorable.

But it’s the kids and their reaction to this extraordinary encounter that sell this. Communicating with the . . . thing . . . is paramount. And what’s their first question?

“Do you eat humans?”

I like the childlike problem solving that goes on and the PG “breaking curfew” edge to the story, which takes the boys all over their corner of the world, into all sorts of places where they could get into trouble — a bar, an arcade, a pawn shop. Oh, and they have to venture into the house of their prettiest classmate, the one none of them have the guts to approach.

When she (Ella Wahlestedt) turns out to have a name and to be friendly, gutsy and just as curious as the rest of them, there’s another little lift that the movie needs to at least get into the same league as “E.T.”

The plot elements swiped from “E.T.” are many, but are given tiny twists that rule out plagiarism charges.

“Earth to Echo” has lots of blown opportunities, but developing any single stop on the kids’ night-long adventure would have added minutes to its lean, 91-minute run-time.

And the spooky, nighttime bike ride (handlebar camera) and assorted whiplash-quick action beats serve it well.

Adults? You’ll be underwhelmed. But remember, we’ve seen worse fake-“E.T.’s,” especially in the years right after Spielberg’s Reese’s Pieces masterpiece came out. And your kids? They will be tickled.