Thank goodness those concepts didn't make it to the screen. From reading "The Story of Your Life," I expected Abbott & Costello's bodies to be smaller and more barrel like, but the screen representation was close enough to be immediately recognizable. The ability to open the ends of their appendages was a nice touch,…

Having read the novella on which Arrival is based, I would say it's dumbed down for cinematic effect. That doesn't make Arrival a bad movie, on the contrary, it's pretty good.