Ooooooo Laaaaaa...

[Tordelbach]

Good question, simple answer:

The teaser trailer is utterly crap and displays an complete bankruptcy of ideas.
The '21st century' premise is a very unwelcome departure from the beloved source material.
The casting isn't promising.

The movie may well turn out to be a masterful triumph (I had similar misgivings about LoTR, all of which were subsequently hurled from the pinnacle of Orthanc), but with three strikes against it, the odds are poor.

[raspberry reich]

the movie looks set to be the next independence day.

[Richmond Clements]

the movie looks set to be the next independence day.
Maybe because Independence Day was ripped off from War of the Worlds?


The teaser trailer is utterly crap and displays an complete bankruptcy of ideas.
The '21st century' premise is a very unwelcome departure from the beloved source material.
The casting isn't promising.
Again, I can't see where you can deduce a 'bankrupcy of ideas' from that trailer, when it shows exactly nothing of the movie.
And while you may see the book as 'beloved' nearly everyone else in the world doesn't care if they change the book or not. And I count myself among them (and I like the book).

I am glad that you're honest enough to add the cavet about LoTR though. And thank you for your considered answer.

[raspberry reich]

what i mean by another independamce day is that
it will make it look like britain automaticly lost
the day will be saved by a hic
americas the best country in the world blah blah blah.
feel good propoganda they feed kids over there.

[Tordelbach]

Um, okay, and I truly don't mean to irritate Your Lordship any further, but here's my answer in a bit more detail:

The trailer:
The re-use of the Burton monologue from the Jeff Wayne musical (which I secretly love) intoned in its entirety none-too-sonorously in an American accent over a pretty bland sequence of images concluding in an 'Independance Day'-style atmospheric disturbance contains absolutely nothing to pique my interest - its same-old same-old, and actually less interesting than the versions it apes.  There are no new ideas on show for me to get excited about, as far as I can see.  

Creating interest and excitement, presumably, is what a Teaser is supposed to do.  It didn't for me, so I conclude that AFAIC the trailer itself is crap.

The setting:
For my money, the thing that distinguishes 'War of the Worlds' from everything (good and bad) that has been produced since in a similar vein is its turn-of-the-last-century English setting.  'War of the Worlds' set in early 21st century America is just another alien invasion movie - it's a waste of the 'franchise' (for want of a better term).  Chronological reinvention is okay, and frequently works (Clueless and Oh Brother Where Art Thou being two excellent examples, and my money is on King Kong to be another), but in this case my personal enjoyment of the story hinges quite a bit on the late Victorian context.

The casting:
Tom Cruise, while a competent actor appearing in a fair few good films, including well made SF (Minority Report), just does not inspire me as a lead.  Sorry.

So while I know that Senor Spielbergo and Mr. Cruise are both quite capable of producing a corker of a flick and making me eat my ill-judged words, on the evidence placed before me to date, I see no sign of this happy outcome.  I look forward to be proved wrong, as I was with Our Lord and Master Peter Jackson.

[Richmond Clements]

Tordelbach, you're not annoying me in any way. Quite the opposite. What annoys me is people making sweeping statements and not bothering to back them up.
This is not what you have done, you've read my question and given a full and well thought out answer.

I can see what you're saying about the Trailer, but don't agree with you. That monologue is one of the best book openings ever, and the 21st century bit doesn't annoy me.
(And as far as I know, Jackson is setting the King King movie in the 1930's) Oh Brother is one of my favorite movies, so I agree with you there too.

It may, as you say, turn out to be a duffer of an invasion movie, but I trust Speilberg to at the very least, give us something entertaining.
And you do note Minority Report as a good Sci-fi movie from Cruise... but don't forget who directed it.

[Bolt-01]

I saw Minority report for the first time the other week, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I've got no special feelings for this story, and haven't watched the trailer, but I generally trust Spielberg to make a decent film.

Bolt-01

[therev]

Sorry but moing it from Victorian London to 21st century USA has switched me off the thing completly.
"No one would believe in the very first couple of years of the 21st centry that aliens were watching...etc"
Bollox.

[Dunk!]

Strange trailer but promising - especially the unworldly sounds accompanying the light display.

And what signifies Old Blighty more than a brace of Black Cabs. Bring on the Red telephone boxs and buses containing cheeky cockney pearly kings and queens.

I doth my cap to ya Spielburg. Gawd bless ya Guv'nor!

[therev]

Ok now I've watched the traileZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Oh come on it's dull! Not a "teaser" at all.