"Super 8" made it into Time Magazine's list of  "The Top 10 Everything of 2011". 

No less than Martin Scorsese's Hugo, J.J. Abrams' Super 8 is a chapter of a filmmaker's early movie life turned into a genre classic. One night in 1979, some kids in a Rust-Belt town are shooting a movie when a train crashes and something —some thing — escapes from its boxcar prison. Abrams, a teen-tyro director before hatching the TV series Alias and Lost, has made a tender coming-of-age story disguised as a monster thriller. Super 8 borrows elements from the early films of Steven Spielberg, the J.J. Abrams of his day (and this picture's executive producer). And not just plot devices from Jaws, Close Encounters, The Goonies and especially E.T., but their aching, innocent emotions. Did you ever cry at a boy-meets-girl picture? All right, did you cry when a monster wins? Those are just two of the surprises awaiting you in the year's most terrific mainstream movie. The some-thing you'll feel is the beating heart of J.J. Abrams, Super 8's boy genius.

From Luton Today: 

The real surprise is that the blossoming relationship between shy pubescent Joe (Joel Courtney) and the classmate he fancies (Elle Fanning) should prove more dramatically compelling than the tale’s effects-driven sci-fi aspects.

It’s a real pleasure in an age of relentlessly spectacular, often emotionally vacant, blockbusters to see a big movie that has genuine feeling for characters touchingly poised on the cusp of adulthood.

Today's Woman reviews Super 8: 

Joel Courtney leads the cast as Joe, a 13 year old boy who has just lost his mother in a factory accident. He and his newly widowed father Jackson (Kyle Chandler), a sheriff’s deputy are figuring out how to get along with each other and deal with their grief... I was taken by the characters and the young actors playing them. Each of them brought depth to the characters they were playing. Elle Fanning and Joel Courtney both steal the movie. I hope to see both these young stars in more movies as they were naturals.

According to Neon Tommy, Super 8 is the #1 Holiday Gift Idea for Entertainment Fans! 

Elle Fanning steals the show in J.J. Abrams’ (“Alias”) “Super 8.” Produced by Steven Spielberg, “Super 8” combines many of our childhood favorites together (it has been said to have aspects of “E.T.” and “The Goonies”) in order to send the viewer on adventure that he or she will never forget. Child-actor Joel Courtney stars in his first ever film as the loveable Joe Lamb and since then has started on two feature films and one television series. This might not be the traditional holiday classic, but its definitely worth a watch and is sure to bring the family closer together over the holidays.

From the Cornell Daily Sun: 

Super 8 is the kind of once-in-a-blue-moon film that reminds us why we love going to the movies. Directed by Lost mastermind J.J. Abrams, the sci-fi adventure overflows with action, humor, nostalgia and love. It follows a group of youngsters in the ’70s who set out to make a zombie thriller, but instead come upon something much bigger and scarier that changes their innocent lives and those of everyone else in their tiny Ohio town. The soul of the film is Joe Lamb, whose wide-eyed curiosity and heroic courage is upheld by adorable and talented newcomer Joel Courtney. His performance, as well as those of his preteen costars, is so natural that we almost feel like we’re watching the kids’ hilarious banter as part of a homemade feature from Abrams’ own childhood. The best performance of the bunch, though, is from Elle Fanning, who deserves all the fame and recognition that she will undoubtedly receive in her future. Take note of the scene-within-a-scene she performs early on in the film; her monologue breaks the boys’ hearts, and it will break yours, too.

From ISPLC:

It’s not so much the arrival of a mysterious extraterrestrial that puts “Super 8″ on this list; it’s the kids hovering around the central mystery. Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths and Ryan Lee are fantastic in their big-screen breakout roles, and let’s not overlook the moving performance delivered by future Oscar winner Elle Fanning. Combined with a powerful nostalgia kick of pure Spielbergia, J.J. Abrams’ sci-fi throwback flick remains one of 2011′s best pop culture efforts.