hyped garbage

The acting in this movie is really good.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Golan Globus, you've done it again!Done it as in found a highly effective means of inducing a coma through viewing. I've seen Alien from L.A. before and, I will kid you not, rewatching this one had me under the anesthetic TWICE in the same viewing. The dark Atlantean decor, faux Aussie lingo, and Kathy's lulling vocal quality make it very tough to pay attention when you have no idea what's going on and have little or no concern for anything or anyone in the film.Perhaps the film would have fared better if Wanda just hung out in L.A. and never bothered looking for her dad. Then, the movie title would have been way out of context. I guess there's no saving this one. Still, much less painful than Loaded Weapon.

Mousy and squeaky-voiced social misfit Wanda Saknussemm (an endearingly gawky performance by the adorable Kathy Ireland) travels to Africa to find her missing professor father Arnold Saknussemm (a solid turn by Richard Haines). Wanda stumbles across a strange subterranean world populated by a colorful array of oddballs. Trouble ensues when the local totalitarian government mistakes Wanda for a spy and puts a hefty bounty on her head. Director Albert Pyun brings his usual bold imagination and cool arresting outré style to the decidedly kitschy and peculiar, yet still lively and amusing plot. The funky-punky MTV music video-like visuals are suitably garish and over the top, with lots of grungy costumes, excessive make-up, loud splashy colors, and smoky backlighting. Moreover, the cast have an obvious ball with their quirky roles: Ireland projects an utterly disarming sweetness as Wanda, who becomes more appealing as she overcomes her timidity and makes the transition from awkward geek to assured goddess; William R. Moses likewise does well as scruffy prospector Guten "Gus" Edway, Thom Matthews contributes a smooth portrayal as slick and gallant hunk Charmin', Deep Roy really hams it up as sinister boss of bosses Mambino, Janie du Plessis also scores as evil eye-patched villainess General Rykov, and Linda Kerridge enjoys a dual role as both the frumpy Auntie Pearl and helpful barmaid Roeyis Freki. The nicely varied score alternates between sweeping orchestral stuff and groovy syncopated New Wave-type tunes. Tom Fraser's dynamic and polished cinematography delivers a wealth of strikingly bizarre images. The sets and special effects are pretty impressive considering the low budget. Best of all, the silly and lighthearted tone keeps things bouncy and funny throughout. A pleasingly cute'n'campy flick.

This movie is a bizarre fantasy tale, that I'm sure doesn't appeal to anyone over 10, but is too strange for children. The plot is stupid, and the acting is some of the worst I've ever seen.25-year old Kathy Ireland plays a teenage girl who acts like a 9-year old. She seems to have gotten her character's voice by listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks. Her high pitched, screechy baby voice gets annoying the second she starts talking. All of the other acting is bad, but really Kathy Ireland is by far the worst. The plot is also terrible and is kind of a mix between Alice in Wonderland and Mad Max. Wanda Saknussemm (Ireland) gets a letter saying her father, who left her a long time ago, fell down a bottomless pit in Africa, and when she goes to find him, she falls into an underground world full of strange Australian accented people. It's one of the corniest movie you'll ever see, with terrible lines throughout. It's annoying the effects this movie uses for character development. Kathy Ireland is a nerd who won't do anything or go anywhere. She flies to Africa....wow, what development! She drops her glasses and then doesn't need them. Why does dropping one's glasses represent them not becoming a nerd. It should represent her descent into blindness. It's just stupid. The only positive I can think is there are semi-good special effects and camera work, and the musical score sounds OK.Overall this a ridiculous family fantasy that will only appeal to those who expect nothing from a movie.My rating: 1/2 out of ****. 84 mins. PG for violence.

The fanciful tale of a young girl's descent into the underground world of Atlantis, ' Alien From L.A. ', Albert Pyun's homage to Jules Verne's ' Journey To The Center Of The Earth ', is a engaging piece of sci-fi whimsy that makes the most of it's minimal budget. Kathy Ireland as squeaky voiced teen Wanda makes a delightfully offbeat heroine, plummeted towards the centre of the earth whilst searching for her explorer-adventurer father in Africa, missing and presumed dead. The underground world of Atlantis that she stumbles upon is realized as a rather intriguing punk domain with many unusual quirks - non-welcoming to visitors of the surface world. Nowhere near as bad as it has been suggested, ' Alien From L.A. ' remains a fun adventure romp for non-too serious fans of the genre. Interestingly the characters and visuals of the movie were re-hashed to complete the latter half of Rusty Lemorande's own ' Journey To The Center Of The Earth ', released in the same year. Although ' Journey... ' actually pre-dates ' Alien... ' ( production having begun around 1986 ), it was apparently beseiged by financial problems and Pyun was later called in to make the movie his own. This has given people the false impression that ' Journey... ' is a sequel to ' Alien... ' when it is not.