The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008 film) writing that the generally poor reception for the film was "a sad fate for a surprisingly sincere tribute to Robert Wise's 1951 classic." Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" 'congratulated' Keanu Reeves's performance and wrote in his review that "This contemporary remake of the science-fiction classic knew what it was doing when it cast Keanu Reeves, the movies' greatest stone face since Buster Keaton." A. O. Scott of "The New York Times" was not impressed with Reeves' performance, commenting that "even Klaatu looks bored and distracted, much as he did back when we knew him as Neo." William Arnold
Keanu Reeves 2010's "Henry's Crime" and John in 2012's "Generation Um...". During that time, Reeves also played Kai in the critically panned "47 Ronin". Critics widely attribute the film's poor performance to its direction, pacing, focus on special effects, and editing. In 2011, he returned to other artistic mediums of expression. Having played music earlier in his career, he forayed into literature by writing the text for a "grown-up picture book" entitled "Ode to Happiness". The text was complemented by Alexandra Grant's illustrations. In 2011, he produced the documentary "Side by Side" about the supplanting of photo-chemical film by digital camera technology;