Planet 51

There is one good joke in Planet 51, and it happens early on, when we're being introduced to an alien world, where the inhabitants of the planet live peacefully in a suburb that seems to be inspired by 1950s Americana cliches. We see the aliens living in picket fenced homes, going to monster movies, and hanging out at the ice cream parlor. We also see an alien woman walking her dog. The canine is modeled after the creature from the Alien movies, and is even named Ripley, after the Sigourney Weaver character from the films. This is the best gag that writer Joe Stillman (Shrek and Shrek 2) comes up within the entire 90 minutes.

Planet 51 is harmless enough, but it's also pretty brainless. It's not as bad as Delgo, but about on par with Space Monkeys, in terms of CG animated films. That enough should tell anyone who has seen those films all they need to know, but I'll go into more detail for those who haven't. As I mentioned, the alien world seems to be modeled exactly after our society. The inhabitants claim to have never heard of Earth, yet they have obviously somehow heard the music of Elvis Presley, as one of his songs is playing on the jukebox in one scene. The inspiration for the cartoon seems to be the classic B-movie space invasion films of the 50s, only with the roles reversed. The aliens are distressed when a space shuttle lands right in their backyards, and a human astronaut from Earth named Charles T. Baker (voice by Dwayne Johnson) steps out. He expects the planet to be uninhabited, but when he lays eyes on the creatures, he runs and hides. The aliens, fearing they're being invaded, call upon the vicious war General, Grawl (Gary Oldman) to save them.

As Charles tries to figure out a way to get back home (Grawl and his soldiers have confiscated his craft), he befriends a young alien named Lem (Justin Long). Lem's your typical animated film hero. He doesn't believe in himself, he pines after the girl next door (Jessica Biel), but can't admit his feelings, and he has a goofy best friend (Seann William Scott) to dispense one-liners. The movie is supposed to be focused on the friendship that develops between the human and the young alien, but I never sensed it. The necessary scene where we feel like the characters are truly connecting is missing. Now that I think about it, the main thing that seems to be missing from Planet 51 is a purpose. The script is scattered and aimless, throwing in a ton of sci-fi references that will likely fly over the heads of most kids in the audience, and some adult humor that unfortunately will not. (When Lem and his friends see Charles naked at one point, they all look down at his legs, and comment on the "antenna" he has down there).

I can see what the filmmakers were trying to do here. This could have been a really fun movie if it had just been smarter, the humor had been sharper, or the characters been more memorable. Yeah, the movie's drawn nicely, but so what? Very few CG films aren't. It still feels like a waste of concept and talent. I liked the idea behind the movie's premise, but the screenplay does nothing with it. You also get the sense that the celebrity voice talent isn't being used to the best of their ability. My attention sparked when I saw John Cleese's name appear in the cast during the opening credits. (He plays the scientist who works alongside General Grawl, and wants to dissect the human astronaut "terrorizing" their world.) Too bad he's given a thankless role here, and probably would have been better off staying home, or waiting for a better project to come along. No matter how good your cast is, they can't breathe life into your project if you give them nothing to do.

A lot of people obviously believed in this project. Planet 51 boasts three directors and 16 different producers (that has to be a record). I fail to see what the draw was. The movie's designed to steal some money from kids on Thanksgiving break, and will probably be forgotten by anyone who sees it by the time they're putting away their Christmas decorations, if not sooner. I'm already beginning to forget it, which is probably for the best.

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