In the slate of summer sequels and replays, Super 8 looked like the one surefire beacon in an otherwise mostly bleak box office.

Super 8 is good for sure, but with the combination of J.J. Abrams (Fringe, Star Trek) and Steven Spielberg (the Walt Disney of his generation) I just expected better. Greatness should not be considered a  stretch here.

This Stand by Me meets E.T. for the second decade of the 21st century, has some inspiring moments, but I don't think I will be using Super 8 dialogue in inappropriate moments like I have done with Jaws for the past 30 years.

Like Abrams film predecessor Cloverfield (he was the producer), Super 8 has a great marketing campaign. People, myself included, have been talking about Super 8 since the the project was first announced. Abrams and company leaked so little about the film, as he did with Cloverfield, and that made it all the more intriguing.

There won't be any spoilers here, but if you have watched the trailer, you already should know that Super 8 takes place in 1979, a good year for a film with a nostalgic feel, and probably something Abrams can readily identify with. His group of middle school students making a film using a Super 8 camera, the camera of choice for home movie enthusiasts in the 1970s, must have had a resonance with the director/screenwriter. He was born in 1966, making him the same age as his filmmaking heroes are in Super 8.

His protagonist is a kid named Joe (Joel Courtney), a young guy whose mom died in an accident four months earlier. Charles (Riley Griffiths) is his best friend, and the one with the Super 8 camera. Together, with a group of other friends, including their shared love interest Alice (nicely played by Elle Fanning, younger sister of Dakota) are making a film about zombies. The ultimate goal: for it to win top prize in a film competition of student filmmakers.

The film has all the usual zombie ingredients, and the kids playing in both movies — Super 8 and the zombie film, are memorable, much in the same way that Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O'Connell were in Stand by Me.

One of the key shots in their film is at the old train station in their small town in Ohio. And as luck would have it, a train is about to come roaring through just as they are about to shoot the scene.

Things are going better than expected when Joe notices that in the distance a truck is crossing the track and then the driver stops and points the vehicle inline with the oncoming freight train.

The inevitable collision occurs (in grand Greatest Show on Earth fashion), the kids scatter, dropping the camera and running for their lives, leaving the running camera behind, at least for the moment.

Later when they retrieve the camera, they realize this is not an ordinary crash and something very unusual was on that train.

For the next 90 minutes or so, the town is ravaged, the kids are at odds with the military, who had a vested interest in the train, and while it is predictable, it is fun.

But while it is fun, it is not amazing. I was hoping for at least one “gee-whiz that was awesome” moment and a surprise ending that would rival Planet of the Apes.

But that doesn't happen here.

That shouldn't stop you from seeing Super 8 though. It is a satisfying trip to the movies. And that certainly doesn't happen every week of the summer.

Just don't set your expectations too high like I did.

Note: Despite a cast with mostly teen-somethings, Super 8 is not particularly well-suited to small children.