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PLANET 51

With voices by Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Biel, Justin Long, Gary Oldman, John Cleese, Seann William Scott

Written by Joe Stillman
Directed by Jorge Blanco, co-directed by Javier Abad & Marcos Martínez

I was pleasantly surprised to see the Handmade Films logo on this production, having thought that this fantastic production company (founded by ex-Beatle George Harrison, responsible for such gems as Monty Python movies, Withnail & I, Mona Lisa, and Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels) had been dissolved - but here it is, still active, and with a digitally animated adventure no less!
Chuck Baker, an astronaut (voiced by ex-wrestler Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson) lands on an alien planet. The inhabitants are however very much like the USA from the '50s (except they're green and almost everything is round in shape, from cars to houses). With the town up in arms thinking he's here to eat their brains, Lem, one of the town kids (with some serious girl trouble) finds him and eventually agrees to assist in getting him back home. One serious obstacle (besides the townsfolk overtly vigilant but incompetent in finding the monstrous alien), is the military putting all of its might (and stupidity) in action to get him. What makes this worse amid the mad scramble to escape these threats, the countdown of his orbiting ship's automatic launch sequence had been set in motion, having them racing against the clock. A mad batch of characters stand together to get our astronaut (who is also more of an egotist poster boy than a hero) back home.
Some great sci-fi in-jokes like an Alien pet adds a lot of texture to this fun family movie.
With a largely Spanish contingent behind the visual fingerprint of this co-production, it stands up next to any Pixar or Dreamworks production.

4 / B
- Paul Blom


0 1 2 3 4 5 6
- A - B - C

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6 - Volcanic
5 - Blistering
4 - Hot
3 - Smolder
2 - Room Temp.
1 - Fizzled
0 - Extinguished

A: Multiple Viewing Potential
B: Deserves Another Look
C: Once Should Suffice

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