Planet 51

Basic Premise:

Lem is an ordinary guy wishing for an ordinary life and an ordinary future with the girl of his dreams. His life is on the right track until the alien shows up. The human has landed and he wants to get home. It's up to Lem to get him back to his ship while not getting caught.

Review:

This movie was cliche, predictable and a rehash of a typical plot. That said, it was still an entertaining distraction. It was funny and cute and nice way to end the evening.

Definitely family friendly.

D. Renee Bagby<br />
Building New Realms of Passion<br />
http://dreneebagby.com

     I don't usually go to see CGI kids movies unless I think there is going to be something special about it.  I didn't know what to expect with "Planet 51."  It's the first offering from Madrid based Ilion Animation Studios.  I'm disappointed that it isn't anything too special, but I'm also pleased that it deviates from the typical  route taken by a lot of Hollywood's CGI 'extravaganzas.'  (Also pleased that it isn't unnecessarily 3-D!) 
 
     The story here is extremely stereotypical and well worn.  An alien lands in the 1950's.  Everyone is scared.  The military is mobilized.  Local kids help the alien, who is actually peaceful and just wants to get back home.  In the end, everyone learns a lesson about prejudice and the alien is allowed to leave.  The twist, which is no secret, is that the alien is a human astronaut landing on an alien planet.  That, and a pretty good time, is what kids can expect to get out of "Planet 51."  Adults, well, luckily, this film doesn't feature the usual, occasional off color joke to keep the parents paying attention.  It does, however, feature a lot of spoofs, parody, and in jokes, which I found to be a lot more entertaining than the usual schlock.  The entire movie is, basically, a parody of 1950's alien/horror movies, right down to the extremely 1950's look and feel of the town and aliens.  There's other humor as well, like a rover probe, sent in first by NASA, that is so obsessed with gathering rock samples that it completely misses an entire alien civilization and an alien dog, that looks like the aliens from the movie "Alien", named, Ripley.  Unfortunately, much of this is forced to take a back seat to the plot in the third act.  Happily, there is a story, plot, and character development.  Oh sure, I saw it all coming, but it managed to keep me interested. Voice talents include Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Biel, John Cleese, and Justin Long as the alien Lem.  (LEM, pronounced exactly the same way as they do in the movie, is also what NASA called the Lunar Excursion Module used during the moon landings.  I love nerd humor!)  Thankfully, Long acts, rather than attempting to inject his SNL persona into the film, like too many comedians tend to do in these types of movies.  Although, I wouldn't have minded if Cleese had injected a bit of Cleese into his part, but I can't blame the director for wanting to make a movie and not a vehicle for comedians. 
 
     "Planet 51" definitely isn't the next "Shrek," but I laughed a lot more than the kids in the audience did.

Brian
Ciné Critique Américain

It was an entertaining enough kind of movie, “Planet 51”, when granddaughter visited.  Granddaughter is 5 year old and by my use of the “wiggle” meter, I’d give this film a c+, at best a B-.  The “wiggle” meter is my guide as to how the movie being viewed captivates the younger audience, specifically my granddaughter, who is 5 years old and fairly typical.  For the movie “UP”, she did not wiggle once.  For this movie she began wiggling about halfway through.  Other similar types of movies and the mileage varies.
 
The animation was not especially terrific but it was sufficient.  The plot line wrote itself.  There were action scenes appropriately spaced with emotional scenes.  Somebody got a hold of a pro forma movie for children and their parents who must accompany them and filled in all the blanks.
 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0762125/">IMDB site for this film.
 

 
Frankly, if someone asked me, I’d advise not to bother viewing this movie via a trip to the theater but it would make a fine DVR to watch at home, perhaps leave with the babysitter.  Fix up a couple bags of popcorn, some hot chocolate, sit the younger ones down in front of the set and it will keep them fixated for about an hour.
 
An American astronaut pays a visit to some planet somewhere, so goes the story line.  It’s weird, in a way, because American astronauts are very respected in America, one is currently a Senator in America’s House of Lords.  Yet it’s hinted at that astronauts are just big show-off lower-intelligent buffoons who only push buttons and looks big and brave.
 
I caution because in the end the handsome buffoon astronaut does become a hero and saves the day on Planet 51.
 
Warning, when watching this movie it becomes very necessary to suspend one’s sense of disbelief, I’d argue even beyond the possible.  For the inhabitants of Planet 51 speak perfect English, look like humans save their odd antennas, behave much like humans with a silliness of humans when faced with the new and different.
 
It’s stereotypical all right but hey, there’s still children growing up who have yet to see every stereotypical film created so much that they can recite the plot line verbatim.
 
My advice?  Save the money and wait for the DVD.

Last updated: 2010-01-11 14:52:13 by PatFish

So, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that this what the world  would be like if things were still like they were in the 50s. Not to shabby.  Take a notice at how clean everything is. Not to mention not a single mention of  crime anywhere. Hmm…maybe there is something to this.
Planet 51 derives its title from the “secret” alien site, Area 51.  Its kind of funny that its called planet 51, coupled with Base 9 (their  equivalent of Area 51), it is really like some sort of reversed version of our  world.
There are plenty of gags in this film to keep the whole family interested,  though some may be a bit over younger viewer’s heads, such as the dogs which  resemble the alien from the Alien movies.
There aren’t many people who can pull off playing a cocky, egotistical,  astronaut, but Dwayne Johnson does just that. Remembering the kind of character  he played in the WWE ring as THe Rock, I’m not really surprised, and neither  should anyone else. He can pull this off with ease without blinking.
This planet has a lot of similarities with Earth, but the biggest one has to  be that the military is shoot first, ask questions later. I swear…these  militaries are going to do this one day and end up getting the planet blown  up!
The story here, though, is the one thing that I found a little on the weak  side. There wasn’t anything wrong with the tale of an aastronaut crashing ona  foreign planet and has to get back to his ship…blah, blah, blah. However,aside  for the fact that this was a very predictable story, it just didn’t click for  some reason. I’m not really sure why, either.
Critics have bashed this film. Whatever they say and didn’t like, I didn’t  see. I almost loved this film. It had some issues here and there, but it is far  from being a bad picture. Of course, I may be a little biased due to the 50s  setting and all. It is quite possible that this film is just underrated and  underappreciated. Critics are just looking for something to bash, and they made  Planet 51 their scapegoat. It’s quite sad, actually. Having said all  that, this is a good family film that is far from being a waste of time. AS with  any film, some are going to like and some are going to hate it, but that’s the  way of the world. We all have our opinions. For me however, I really liked this  flick and recommend it to and everyone.
4 out of 5 stars

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