War of the Worlds (12A) ****

Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins and Miranda Otto

HOLLYWOOD dream team pairing Steven Speilberg and Tom Cruise are back and aiming to build on the success of Minority Report in one of the year's most anticipated films.

And it must be said the dynamic duo deliver in spades.

War of the Worlds is an excellent adaptation of HG Wells' classic science fiction thriller which Speilberg transports on this occasion from Surrey to the States.

Cruise is on fine form as Ray Ferrier, a divorced father and working-class hero who struggles to make ends meet as a crane operator in Brooklyn docks, and who is plummeted into having to save his family from hordes of invading alien creatures hell-bent on destroying the Earth and its inhabitants.

There is also a great performance by one of Hollywood's busiest young actors, Dakota Fanning, who plays his daughter Rachel.

The special effects are spectacular and the offensive on the Earth pulls no punches when it comes to the devastation unleashed.

But what Speilberg has done is made a film that is aimed at adults as well as children, employing Panic Room and Spider-Man script writer David Koepp to give it some real class.

A must-see film and easily one of the finest of the year, War of the Worlds is Independence Day with brains.