Cool News
Capone says the animated comedy PLANET 51 is lost in space!!!
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
With so many strides having been made in the last couple years in the field of animation (most, but not all, courtesy of the folks at Pixar), it feel a little bizarre to come face to face with a film that barely seems to be trying to break new ground. But such is the case with PLANET 51, a work so decidedly lacking anything resembling inspiration that it makes CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS seem downright revolutionary. Sure, the notion to reverse the classic alien-invasion template of green monsters from outer space come to Earth to terrorize the American Way has some potential, but what writer Joe Stillman and director Jorge Blanco (along with co-directors Javier Aba and Marcos Martinez) have come up with is the worst kind of pandering. Broad humor (that resulted in zero laughs from me), uninspired voice work from some big names, and a soundtrack made up of '50s classics(!?) combine to give us, well, not much by way of originality or entertainment. It's actually kind of remarkable how disinterested I was in this movie from the opening shot until the final during-credits gag.
The ads for PLANET 51 would have you believe that this is the story of American astronaut Chuck Baker (voiced by Dwayne Johnson, a.k.a. The Rock), who lands on a mysterious planet only to find it inhabited by little green men and women (along with an assortment of bizarre-looking other animals kept as pets, including a dog that looks a lot like a miniature version of the creature from ALIEN--it even pees acid!). The inhabitants of the planet seem to be living in a version of 1950s America, complete with the aforementioned tunes (how they ended up with the same music as humans is never explained) and a healthy dose of paranoia that aliens were going to land on their planet and eat their brains and/or make them zombie slaves. But this film isn't really about Capt. Baker. He's certainly a key character here, but the real focus is on an angst-ridden alien named Lem (Justin Long), an astronomer who I'm pretty sure still lives with his parents and has a massive crush on his neighbor Neera (Jessica Biel). And you know how much kids enjoy sitting through a love story.
Lem endures one missed opportunity after another to ask Neera out, and eventually the apparently easily distracted Neera is swept away by a hippie (a nod to the rising tide of protest of the early 1960s, I guess) named Skiff (Seann William Scott). After it's firmly established that Lem is a lover of outer space that doesn't believe in aliens and that society's greatest fear is an attack from outer space, down drops the astronaut who has almost no reaction to landing on a planet full of life other than his own. And his module happens to land in Lem's front yard.
The "invasion" is naturally met with hostile military forces, commanded by Gen. Grawl (Gary Oldman), and an overly paranoid scientific community, represented by Prof. Kipple (John Cleese). Naturally, Baker ends up having to depend on Lem to hide him and get him back to his ship so he can return home while the Kipple and Grawl attempt to capture him for research... on his brain! So most of Planet 51 is an idiotic chase film, punctuated by a lame love story and little insight into what made '50s-style sci-fi freakout films so much fun. If you want to see a movie that understands this genre, go rent MONSTERS VS. ALIENS. At least I laughed during that film. And PLANET 51 features something that I absolutely despise in all types of movies: seemingly smart people doing very stupid things. This one is nothing but that, and it drove me up the wall. There are scientists, astronauts, military generals, and otherwise educated citizens of the world all running around acting like morons. With rare exceptions, that just isn't funny. There are ways to make smart people hilarious, but his film doesn't get that at all. Now, idiots acting like idiots--that's funny.
To make matters worse, PLANET 51 is a completely uninspired work in its look as well as its story. There's nothing particularly interesting or captivating about the animation style here. The aliens are these chubby little green humanoids that look more like something you'd get out of one of those arcade vending machines with the claws than anything really thought out by artists. The design work seem like it was done by committee to make the aliens as less likely to scare or otherwise creep out the little kids who will inevitably flock to see this film. In a animation landscape that has brought us UP, PONYO, and, yes, even MONSTERS VS. ALIENS and MEATBALLS (and I'm not even getting into the latest wave of brilliant stop-motion animation work, such as CORALINE, MARY AND MAX and the soon-to-be-released FANTASTIC MR. FOX), it seems a shame that we even have to view such subpar efforts, whose fate should have been decided on a DVD shelf and not on the big screen. Loathing is such a strong word for a film that is simply trying to appear to families, but I really didn't enjoy a minute of PLANET 51.
-- Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
Follow Me On Twitter
-
+ Expand All
-
Thought it would be a dud too based on the trailer... There you go - judging a book by its cover! :)
-
Well I'll be pick-fucked. Sounds great!
-
Sorry, dude!
-
Gotta be quick to get on page 1 of this here talkback...
-
SURPRISE.
-
Nov 20, 2009 7:29:30 AM CST
Strage a negative review that makes me want to see a movie more?
by roborob
From the trailers Planet 51 looked like a one trick movie but after that review I want to see it more????
I Liked 2012, and I was able to follow it unlike some at AICN. and so As normal I'll seee for myself and ignore the reviewers. -
Nov 20, 2009 7:30:03 AM CST
It's for children. I've been coming to this site for years, thou
by paulseta
It's a cheap knockoff film for kids. That's fine, let the protectors of "The Future" (tm) worry about that.
Why the hell is this sort of movie continually getting play here?
What has happened to this site? It's still a "must visit" destination at the moment, but slips further and further into the septic tank of irrelevance every month.
I ask again - what happened? -
I should have said StraNge
-
- in Hollywood who's sole purpose in life seems to turn all cinema into a marketing exercise pandering to the mouth breathing cockheads who think LOL cats are the zenith of humour. DIE MOTHERFUCKERS DIE!!!!!
Sorry, I'm very drunk and angry about a bunch of stuff not even related to the subject at hand.
Shit man. When in Rome... -
... if a reviewer can find something more original and creative than "lost in space" when referring to a bad space-based project.
Sigh. -
I was at a screening of "Micheal Jackson's This Is it" recently and I saw a trailer for this SHITPILE along with the trailers for Alvin and teh FUKIN Shitmunks and that fuckin' cloudy with a Chance of Diahorraha and I said to myself, "Self.... cinema as we know it has ended. It's game over, man. Everyone with a shred of intelligence has abandoned the multiplex and headed home to watch cable based drama where they won;t actually have to endure being treated like a a lobotomy ward out-patient". I've fuckin had it with Hollywood treating everyone who walks into a movie house like a gibbering retard. I'm done. FUCk you studio execs until one of learns to read a fucking thing other than VARIETY. Disclaimer: I am so fucin drunk right now. I may be back to apologize tomorrow. or not.
-
there's definitely a reason this film seems designed by committee.
-
I'm not apologizing. I hate all new movies. 'cept for that UP. That wuz tight.
-
That fucking explain a lot. That fucker ruined Monty Python and no one seems to notice that, everything he has done after 1983 is garbage.
-
but doesn't ignore this, in fact has more than one review of it. sad. (at least Fringe still has one, although it looks like the next episode looks like a stand-a-lone. what is wrong with their writers?)
-
if he hates a show based on its first episode alone you are screwed. Notice no Sons of Anarchy talkbacks.
-
Nov 20, 2009 11:55:38 AM CST
Hey CAPONE, Cloudy with a chance of meatballs
by player_two_has_entered_the_game
Was fucking ace, man! The visuals were some of the most trippy shit i've ever seen in a cgi animated movie. You are saying the visuals are what? bland? old? what? It's also one of the funniest movies of the year for the record.
-
If you are saying this is worse than MVA (which was chronic) then either it is piss poor or you've got an agenda
-
Nov 20, 2009 3:58:42 PM CST
If this was by Pixar, you shits would be eating it's ass
by lockesbrokenleg
-
It would probably be good
-
Stamp Pixar name to it and the masses will claim its the 2nd coming!
-
A *lot* wittier than I expected, and full of great gags both visual and verbal (I loved how a TV announcer noted that the food-related weather catastrophies were targeting well-known landmarks first, as any disaster movie fan will recognize). Good voice work, clever designs...it wasn't Pixar Good, but it was still pretty damn good.
-
And how David Lynch was the roast chicken scene?!
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 171 total posts 169 posts
- AVENGERS enemy revealed as pink boardgame pieces... You might suffer some form of elation... SPOILERS!!! -- 157 total posts 111 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 138 total posts 75 posts
- Here's The Red Band Trailer For Drafthouse Films' THE FP! -- 67 total posts 67 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 479 total posts 62 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 59 total posts 59 posts
- Does ‘SNL’ Rhyme With ‘Deschanel’?? Learn Which SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Vet Hosts After Sexy Zooey!! -- 62 total posts 59 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 48 total posts 45 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 116 total posts 32 posts
- SPACE 2099!! -- 181 total posts 30 posts