Parents' Guide to Disclosure Day

Director Steven Spielberg returns to familiar territory with this dazzling sci-fi tale, which is packed with adventure, wonder, and food for thought, as well as fine filmmaking and performances. A sort of cousin to Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Disclosure Day lands at the same level as those classics, but it's also different—more grown-up, perhaps, or more world-weary. Written by David Koepp (Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds), this movie makes a case for treating aliens (i.e., immigrants) with curiosity and compassion (one character makes a case for empathy being a crucial factor in human evolution) rather than vilifying or attacking them. But it also wonders: If humans were to find out definitively that we aren't alone in the universe, what would the effect be? Would we see world peace, or world panic? Faith is also discussed in a thoughtful way.

When the movie isn't making us think or wowing us with moments of unexplained mystery, it's gripping us with chases, escapes, and a particularly cool stunt involving a car and a train. Firth doesn't add much dimension to his villainous CEO, and some curious choices are made here about how the news media operates, but viewers are likely to be so swept up that it will be easy to forgive these things. And while O'Connor continues to prove himself an immensely likable leading man, it's Blunt who steals the show. It's difficult to explain her performance without giving things away, but she does some heavy lifting and makes it look easy. With Disclosure Day, Spielberg once again proves that he's a master of storytelling, of emotion, and of getting viewers to see things in a slightly different way.