Planet 51 Trailer HD

By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY
When the computer-animated space adventure Planet 51 resorts to silly bathroom humor just 15 minutes after the opening credits, we know we're in for a sorry experience.

The idea had promise: The story is set on a distant planet populated by conventional-thinking beings that act a lot like Americans in the late '50s. They may be the color of split-pea soup and sport antennae, but philosophically, they're a lot like the folks in Leave It to Beaver.

While the Cold War era, with its rampant paranoia, was an ideal setting for "B" movies about alien invasions, this insipid and disjointed comedy features an odd mashup of disparate time periods. The music of the '50s exists alongside the hippie ethos of the '60s, and their hovering spacecrafts borrow liberally from Woodies to classic Cadillacs to VW vans with psychedelic insignias.

References to Star Wars, E.T. and Alien might resonate with some of the young audience. 2001: A Space Odyssey allusions could go right over their heads. But whose idea was it to include a Singin' in the Rain homage?

Into this world crash-lands Capt. Chuck Baker (Dwayne Johnson) a carrot-topped astronaut who is an insult to everyone who ever ventured to outer space, including the chimps. He's a cross between Beauty and the Beast's lame-brained Gaston and The Mary Tyler Moore Show's smarmy Ted Baxter. He's eager to get back to Earth for the Kids' Choice Awards so he can get slimed. Of course, this is a bald bid for youthful laughs, but it's not very funny. Chuck brags about having "the right stuff" and is jealous of John Glenn. Why the filmmakers chose to make an ostensibly brave explorer such a moronic doofus is mystifying.

Chuck turns to Lem (Justin Long) to help him return to Earth. Strangely, neither the astronaut nor Lem, an astronomy buff, shows any interest or curiosity in each other's worlds. The planet's armed forces come out in full force. Forced mayhem and uninteresting frenzy ensues.

Joe Stillman, who wrote the witty and endearing Shrek and Shrek 2, is credited as co-writer. Perhaps others got in and mucked about with the screenplay. This has the directionless, recycled feel of a script by committee.

No comments:

Post a Comment