Nov. 26, 2009
BECK AT THE MOVIES: 'Planet 51': Humans Landing on Foreign Planet
By Jeff Beck
Special to Huntingtonnews.net
Richmond, VA (HNN) -- "Planet 51" is an interesting twist on your average alien invasion story. We usually see the impact of what happens when an alien lands on Earth, which has led to multiple stories from "War of the Worlds," "Independence Day," and "Mars Attacks" (wow, not a lot of optimism when it comes to possible alien races), but what if it was a human landing on an alien's planet?
On a planet far from Earth, there is a society that is currently experiencing a similar cultural movement that resembles America in the 1950s. The inhabitants of this world go about their daily lives much like people on Earth except with a few differences. Their alien horror movies involve humans enslaving their species and eating their brains. So, it's no surprise that when a spaceship from Earth lands on their planet, most of the inhabitants freak out.
The occupant of the spaceship is Captain Charles T. Baker (Voice of Dwayne Johnson). After trying to hide, he meets one of the young inhabitants named Lem (Voice of Justin Long). Lem's life had been going perfectly up until that point. He had just gotten a job at the local planetarium and he recently found out that the girl he's had a crush on for a long time, Neera (Voice of Jessica Biel), is interested in him. Now, with the help of his friends, Skiff (Voice of Seann William Scott) and Eckle (Voice of Freddie Benedict), he must help Captain Baker get back to his ship while evading General Grawl (Voice of Gary Oldman), who is determined to capture the alien.
One of the best things about this film was the numerous references it contains to other films, mostly from the science-fiction genre. Most of these came from Ridley Scott's masterpiece "Alien." One of the inhabitants of this world has a pet that is a miniaturized version of the alien from the film. The other references to it are a storage room that looks exactly like the egg-hatching ground and when Captain Baker quotes the tagline "In space, no one can hear you scream."
Several other references occur like when Captain Baker quotes various lines from "Star Wars" and when a soldier tries to find a manual for when a human invades, he passes by a manual telling how to respond when a 50 ft. woman attacks. One of the more interesting references came in the form of Captain Baker's companion, a machine called Rover that basically acted like a dog. Rover was very Wall-e-esque, which seemed like a very purposeful design, especially when Rover encounter a bug on the planet's surface only to have the opposite reaction to it that Wall-e had to it in the Pixar film.
"Planet 51" continues the tradition of trying to make animated films that both kids and adults will enjoy. Everyone in the theater was laughing at the obvious jokes, while the adults also got to chuckle at some things that the kids wouldn't get such as the multiple references to older films like "Alien," "Attack of the 50 ft. Woman," or "The Right Stuff" (which was, of course, a book by Tom Wolfe first, not that kids would know it either). So, as far as the tradition goes, it succeeds in entertaining and amusing both groups.
The voice-acting was well-done. I didn't know it was possible for Dwayne Johnson to be effective in any role (well, to be fair, he was pretty good in "Get Smart"), but here, he disguises his normal voice rather well and creates an interesting character in Captain Baker. Justin Long is equally impressive at giving life to Lem. Then there is Gary Oldman, who is simply excellent in every film he's in, even if it's just his voice, and this is no exception.
The 1950s-like setting gives the whole environment a very quaint feeling. I'm not sure that it was really necessary to have it set in that period, unless they were trying to evoke the whole feeling of the Roswell incident, which they kind of do with some of the desert settings later in the film, but not much. Not that it was problematic for the film; it doesn't hinder it at all. In fact, it left it open for the inhabitants to be watching cheesy 50s-esque B-movies.
Overall, "Planet 51" is a fun film that both parents and kids will probably enjoy. There are plenty of jokes for both groups, and there will probably be others out there who will have fun picking out the numerous references to other films like I did. There are probably some that I didn't even find. One thing’s for sure, after watching this film, I now have a strong urge to go back and revisit "Alien." 3/4 stars.
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BECK AT THE MOVIES: 'Planet 51': Humans Landing on Foreign Planet
By Jeff Beck
Special to Huntingtonnews.net
Richmond, VA (HNN) -- "Planet 51" is an interesting twist on your average alien invasion story. We usually see the impact of what happens when an alien lands on Earth, which has led to multiple stories from "War of the Worlds," "Independence Day," and "Mars Attacks" (wow, not a lot of optimism when it comes to possible alien races), but what if it was a human landing on an alien's planet?
On a planet far from Earth, there is a society that is currently experiencing a similar cultural movement that resembles America in the 1950s. The inhabitants of this world go about their daily lives much like people on Earth except with a few differences. Their alien horror movies involve humans enslaving their species and eating their brains. So, it's no surprise that when a spaceship from Earth lands on their planet, most of the inhabitants freak out.
The occupant of the spaceship is Captain Charles T. Baker (Voice of Dwayne Johnson). After trying to hide, he meets one of the young inhabitants named Lem (Voice of Justin Long). Lem's life had been going perfectly up until that point. He had just gotten a job at the local planetarium and he recently found out that the girl he's had a crush on for a long time, Neera (Voice of Jessica Biel), is interested in him. Now, with the help of his friends, Skiff (Voice of Seann William Scott) and Eckle (Voice of Freddie Benedict), he must help Captain Baker get back to his ship while evading General Grawl (Voice of Gary Oldman), who is determined to capture the alien.
One of the best things about this film was the numerous references it contains to other films, mostly from the science-fiction genre. Most of these came from Ridley Scott's masterpiece "Alien." One of the inhabitants of this world has a pet that is a miniaturized version of the alien from the film. The other references to it are a storage room that looks exactly like the egg-hatching ground and when Captain Baker quotes the tagline "In space, no one can hear you scream."
Several other references occur like when Captain Baker quotes various lines from "Star Wars" and when a soldier tries to find a manual for when a human invades, he passes by a manual telling how to respond when a 50 ft. woman attacks. One of the more interesting references came in the form of Captain Baker's companion, a machine called Rover that basically acted like a dog. Rover was very Wall-e-esque, which seemed like a very purposeful design, especially when Rover encounter a bug on the planet's surface only to have the opposite reaction to it that Wall-e had to it in the Pixar film.
"Planet 51" continues the tradition of trying to make animated films that both kids and adults will enjoy. Everyone in the theater was laughing at the obvious jokes, while the adults also got to chuckle at some things that the kids wouldn't get such as the multiple references to older films like "Alien," "Attack of the 50 ft. Woman," or "The Right Stuff" (which was, of course, a book by Tom Wolfe first, not that kids would know it either). So, as far as the tradition goes, it succeeds in entertaining and amusing both groups.
The voice-acting was well-done. I didn't know it was possible for Dwayne Johnson to be effective in any role (well, to be fair, he was pretty good in "Get Smart"), but here, he disguises his normal voice rather well and creates an interesting character in Captain Baker. Justin Long is equally impressive at giving life to Lem. Then there is Gary Oldman, who is simply excellent in every film he's in, even if it's just his voice, and this is no exception.
The 1950s-like setting gives the whole environment a very quaint feeling. I'm not sure that it was really necessary to have it set in that period, unless they were trying to evoke the whole feeling of the Roswell incident, which they kind of do with some of the desert settings later in the film, but not much. Not that it was problematic for the film; it doesn't hinder it at all. In fact, it left it open for the inhabitants to be watching cheesy 50s-esque B-movies.
Overall, "Planet 51" is a fun film that both parents and kids will probably enjoy. There are plenty of jokes for both groups, and there will probably be others out there who will have fun picking out the numerous references to other films like I did. There are probably some that I didn't even find. One thing’s for sure, after watching this film, I now have a strong urge to go back and revisit "Alien." 3/4 stars.
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