Earth to Echo'€™s filmmakers have created a story that children and tweens growing up in the current day and age culture can relate to.

Echo is a combination of a classic story and modern technology that results in a heartwarming family film with something for everyone.

Grown-ups and sci-fi buffs might find that the movie draws from Steven Spielberg'€™s classic E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind '€” or JJ Abrams'€™ Spielbergesque Super 8.

For younger viewers, beware, the film bears more emotional weight than expected.

The premise focuses on a group of pre-teens who are helping a stranded extraterrestrial object return home.

Best friends Tuck (Brian '€œAstro'€ Bradley, the musician from the X Factor), Munch (Reese Hartwig) and Alex (Teo Halm) are among the invisibles at school and are about to be separated after their middle-class suburban in Nevada is affected by a sketchy highway construction.

At about the same time as the construction starts, the residents receive a series of images on their mobile phones.

The threesome suspects that the '€œbarf'€ '€” as they called it '€” might have something to do with the forced relocation.

Tuck, a wannabe filmmaker who is eager to make found-footage to be uploaded on YouTube, gets his friends to agree to embark on an adventure to find out what the messages are all about '€” and to make their last night together be remembered.

From here, the story is told through Tuck'€™s cameras, which are always ready to capture each moment.

Child stars: Ella Linnea Wahlstedt holds the tiny robot Echo with Teo Halm. (Relativity Media/Patrick Wymore)
Tech savvy Munch finds that the image is the map of a desert, where they discover the owlet-like alien robot at the end of their nocturnal bicycle trek.

Alex names the cute, complaisant robot Echo, as it loves reverberating ring tone of his phone.

As a foster child who is often been left behind, Alex bears the brunt of the quest to get Echo home, although he and his friends have to deal with the disruptive consequences.

In their adventure, they bump into popular girl Emma, who Munch refers to as '€œThe Mannequin'€, who eager to join in.

In a race with the authorities who try to snatch Echo away, they drive a car for the first time (with a little help from Google).

Viewers can expect stellar visual tricks when the four try to dodge a truck in a highway chase.

First-time director Dave Green and writer Henry Gayden made the low-budget fantasy tween adventure more appealing thanks to their keen eyes for casting. The young actors and actress were sincere and showed solid acting.

The movie is entertaining but at the same time gives out subliminal messages on what is happening in this post-Millennial culture. The real aliens in this movie are the four kids.

Tuck, for example, does not get along with his elder brother, while his parents are always preoccupied. He even says that no day went by without him seeing his two friends. The other three '€” yes, even the popular girl '€” also have parent-related problems at home.

But overnight, they find family and home, in their friendships.

Earth to Echo

Director: Dave Green
Screenwriter: Henry Gayden
Cast: Brian Bradley, Reese Hartwig, Teo Halm, Ella Linnea Wahlestedt, Jason Gray-Stanford
Producer: Relativity Media, Walt Disney Studios
Runtime: 89 minutes
Rating: PG