In the movie Midnight in Paris, Owen Wilson plays a writer lost in a fog of nostalgia. Well, welcome to Midnight in Hollywood: a world where the rear-view is the main view and where one of the few summer blockbuster actually featuring an original story still stands on the shoulders of cinematic classics.

In the '80s, when movies were getting bigger and bigger, filmmakers looked back to the '70s as a brief golden age when auteurs ran wild and American cinema found its independent streak. Today, we have a generation of filmmakers nursed on bubblegum blockbusters like Ghostbusters and Goonies. These filmmakers are now spending millions trying to invoke that first spark of cinematic wonder in a new generation.

The new sci-fi adventure from director J.J. Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg opens in 1979. Shirt collars are wide and the soundtrack throbs with E.L.O. and The Knack. In the leafy suburbs of working-class Ohio, young Joe escapes into the world of film while recovering from the recent death of his mother. He and his scrappy gang are making a zombie movie on Super 8mm film when, in the midst of a late-night shoot, they capture footage of a train wreck that envelopes their tiny town in a massive conspiracy.

Other than providing the kids a Zapruder film with the answer to the ensuing calamity, it was Super 8 film that first brought Spielberg and Abrams together. The younger director met his idol when he was hired to repair Spielberg's own childhood movies.

And now, Abrams has created the ultimate homage to his mentor: a movie that couldn't be any more Spielbergian unless he left a string of Reese's Pieces leading to his film's main disturbance. Super 8 feels like the result when someone threw E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Jaws into a cinematic blender. From its soaring soundtrack to the hard-working Norman Rockwell-types that populate it, many of its moments are signature Spielberg.

From left: Kyle Chandler, Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning and Ron Eldard in a scene from Super 8. (Paramount Pictures/Associated Press)

What saves Super 8 from being just another mash note to the '80s? It isn't the special effects or Abrams' signature lens flare. It's his cast.

One thing Abrams has learned from his mentor is to just let kids be kids. The soul of Super 8 is its cursing, stumbling, rambling gang of film geeks. There's Charlie, a junior Jon Favreau who comes with his own catch phrase ("Mint"). Or Cary, the exuberant, brace-faced pyro and Joe, the quiet makeup and model expert. In a particularly strong performance, Elle Fanning portrays Alice, the aspiring actress.

In a classic moment of acting technique overcoming clichd writing, there's a stunning scene where Alice tears up watching the home movies of Joe's deceased mother. The home-movie montage is a well-worn trick, but Fanning's struggle to smile through the waterworks shows impressive technique for such a young (12 years old!) actor.

Kids aside, the rest of Super 8 is basically a souped-up creature feature. Something escapes from the crash scene. Dogs and people disappear. At one point, even Joe's father, the local deputy, goes missing, but Joe's too preoccupied to notice.

In some of Spielberg's classics, like E.T. or Jaws , the director overcame the technological limitations of the day by ratcheting up the suspense. Less is often more: give the audience a clue and let them imagine the rest. But in this age of computer-generated whoosits, Abrams has few, if any, restraints. Once the cause of the crash is out in the open, the movie takes a turn for the conventional.

Given all the build-up, it's inevitable to feel a sense of disappointment when the mystery in the box is revealed. But instead of despairing, make sure you sit through the credits to catch one more treat: the complete zombie film from Super 8's little Ed Wood wannabes.

There's something endearing, maybe even a little more honest about this post-credits, low-budget, monster movie, complete with squirting fake blood. Abrams' blockbuster may have a bigger bang, but his love letter to another time has its heart in the wrong place.

RATING: An overly familiar, but undeniably fun ride, Super 8 rates three-and-a-half film reels out of five.

From left, Gabriel Basso, Ryan Lee, Joel Courtney and Riley Griffiths in a scene from Super 8. (Francois Duhamel/Paramount Pictures/Associated Press)