SINGAPORE — They’re kids on bikes searching for an adventure.

They stumble upon an alien life form on Earth and team up to restore its spaceship and send it back home, yada yada yada. You could say it’s a typical storyline, with a typical plot setting; and this over-used theme should be put to rest. However, Earth To Echo surprises us with their fresh humour and childhood nostalgic significance.

The movie’s adorable young heroes, Munch, Tuck and Alex, are being forced to relocate from their homes thanks to the giant freeway being built right smack in the middle of their homes. Helpless, because they’re “just kids”, they set out on an adventure to investigate a series of encrypted phone messages, or what the young ones calls “phone barf”.

In all honesty, we were expecting melodrama, cheesy lines and misguided overacting. Instead, director Dave Green managed to swerve past the cliched dedications and connected with the audience on a more humble level with his nostalgic scenes, such as the one where they talk to the metallic owl-alien and tearing when it responded. In all honesty, it was a pretty smart move. Plus, the movie moved at a fast pace.

Munch (played by Reese Hartwig), the movie’s hilarious wimp, provided just the amount of comedic relief the movie needed, along with Tuck (Brain “Astro” Bradley); but Alex, played by Teo Halm (who bears an uncanny resemblance to the younger Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is the one who steals each scene. They make for a wonderful trio, and akin to Harry, Hermione and Ron, they’re not particularly aggressive or overly enthusiastic with their jokes - their innocently riotous banter is simply engaging.

The two best sequences in Earth To Echo occur near the middle of the movie. In the first, Munch holds up two helmets, and Alex and Tuck scramble for the one that isn’t purple and girly. The quick cut to the next scene of grumpy Tuck riding along the road wearing the glittery purple helmet was hysterical. The second is where Munch gets his temporary surge of courage and leaps into the back of a truck, only to regret his decision 30 seconds later. If only the film had contained more moments like these, it might have ripped through the conventional standards of being “just another kid movie” and become more compelling.

Earth To Echo is the kind of adventure that all of us dreamed of experiencing as kids: When our perspective of the “greater good” was saving one alien in the face of adverse disapproval from the masses. Interestingly enough, that concept still makes sense.

(PG, 91 mins)