PLANET 51 Movie Review

Planet 51 was just released to theaters this Friday November 20, 2009. The animated movie stars the voices of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Jessica Biel, Justin Long and directed by Jorge Blanco. Planet 51 is the story of American astronaut Captain Charles "Chuck" Baker who lands on Planet 51 thinking he's the first person to step foot on it. To his surprise, he finds that this planet is inhabited by little green people who are happily living in a white picket fence world reminiscent of a cheerfully innocent 1950s America, and whose only fear is that it will be overrun by alien invaders--like Chuck! With the help of his robot companion "Rover" and his new friend Lem, Chuck must navigate his way through the dazzling, but bewildering, landscape of Planet 51 in order to escape becoming a permanent part of the Planet 51 Alien Invaders Space Museum. If you are planning to go see the movie, here are a few reviews from around the web to help you make up your mind.

Cinematical
As voiced by Dwayne "the artist formerly known as The Rock" Johnson, astronaut Chuck Baker is the paragon of all-American achievement -- that is, until he conquers a far off world with an unexpected population, one inexplicably steeped in our '50s-era culture and terrified by the prospect of an alien invader in human form. More unfortunately for us, Chuck has landed smack-dab in the middle of Planet 51, a short-sighted assembly of sci-fi references and scatalogical humor that should nonetheless placate undemanding tots and, by extension, their undiscerning parents for ninety minutes or so. Read More

Blogger News
The name alone takes a stab at Sci-Fi myths and legends. Area 51 has long been thought to house beings and spacecrafts from other worlds. So it only fitting that if you are going to make a film about an alien planet being visited by a man from earth, then 51 is totally appropriate. The new family animated adventure from first time directors Jorge Blanco and Javier Abad packs the necessary ingredients to make an all encompassing PG flick; one that has enough site gags and visuals for the kids but plenty of wit and clever dialogue for adults. Read More

Flick Filosopher
We have no idea why it’s called Planet 51, or why the pleasantly blobby green humanoid aliens wear no trousers -- jackets and ties or T-shirts for the males, and of course the ladies wear skirts (and have feet shaped like high heels, like Barbie!). We have no idea how cultural convergence allows them to speak English -- except for the proper names, which all sound like “Vernkot” and “Glipforg” -- or to be having their 1950s, complete with malt shops and alien invasion movies, just as a human from Earth arrives among them to terrorize them. Read More

You can also watch the trailer here.