An Astronaut is the ‘Alien’ in this Animated Tale

Although the notion of an earthling being the alien is a unique twist, this sci-fi script doesn’t deliver. The film centers on an astronaut that lands on the alien’s planet. Imagine if you will a planet that is inhabited by green aliens that live in houses and have families similar to America’s civilization and the time-frame is the 1950s.   They have bodies similar to humans in size (they walk on two legs, have two arms with 4 fingers).  It’s their faces that gives them the alien appearance; two horns are mounted on the tops of their head, fish lips, no noses and ears that are pointy and  similar to another famous movie character—Yoda. These 50s aliens go to movies, fear humans and are afraid of being turned into zombies.

Glipforg is the city name for the inhabitants of Planet 51, a setting that is similar to sunny California. The families, by all appearances, are similar to those on earth. They barbeque, bicker and joke amongst themselves. The problem with the script is the jokes are far and few in-between and unfortunately, most are lame. At times, moments of silliness are seen, but too few to be deemed a great film or even a good one for that matter. This is not laugh-out-loud creative joke time here; mostly you’ll be shaking your head wondering if what you are hearing is in check as in reality it becomes somewhat boring.

Joe Stillman, "Shrek" co-writer, penned the script. The character voices are Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Biel, Justin Long, Gary Oldman, Seann William Scott, and John Cleese.  The film has three directors: Jorge Blanco, Javier Abad and Marcos Martínez.

Lem (Justin Long), a green guy and the hero in the film, befriends the astronaut who lands on his planet and tries to help him the best he can. Lem is excited about his new job as a lecturer at the city’s astronomical observatory, where he gives the audience an explanation about why the universe is "hundreds of miles wide. He and Capt. Chuck have lots in common regarding space.

The astronaut, Capt. Charles "Chuck" Baker (voice by Dwayne Johnson),  who lands on Planet 51, reminds me a bit in appearance like Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story movies. He’s very cocky and behaves more like an over-the-top VIP than an astronaut. When he arrives at a ladies tea party he brazenly states, “who wants to meet an astronaut?” He’s greeted by screams and pure hysteria instead of the oohs and ahs he was seeking. Que more ‘terror of the astronaut’

scenes. Basically this theme is repeated over and over and gets really old.

The army of planet 51 go into combat mode at the sight of the astronaut. They surround the alien spaceship with a fence to keep it contained. It’s fire first and ask questions later on this planet.  The film continues its theme of the 50s and I’m not sure that kids will really get all of the nuances. I’m fairly certain they will be bored by some scenes as there’s not much to keep their attention. I was also wondering about the violent scene with the hippie protesters as we view green pig- faced police (using their billy clubs) to subdue the crowd.—Not cool.

Near the end of the film Capt. Chuck yells at the crowd during an explosion, “hey the 50’s are fire, just wait ‘til the 60s and they will be fun.” Again, kids can’t relate to this nor can their parents as the majority of the parents viewing this film were most likely born in the early the early 70’s.

Sarah Adamson © November 2009