Planet 51
When Earth astronaut Capt. Chuck Baker arrives on Planet 51 -- a world reminiscent of American suburbia circa 1950 -- he tries to avoid capture, recover his spaceship and make it home safely, all with the help of an empathetic little green being.
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- Cast:
- Dwayne Johnson , Seann William Scott , Jessica Biel , Justin Long , Gary Oldman , John Cleese , Alan Marriott
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Reviews
Must See Movie...
Don't listen to the negative reviews
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
Planet 51 (2009): Dir: Jorge Blanco, Javier Abad / Voices: Dwayne Johnson, Justin Long, Jessica Biel, Gary Oldman, Seann William Scott: Family animation about places and the beings living there. Astronaut Charles lands on a strange planet populated by green people. Among them is Lem who befriends him and struggles to hide him from authorities who seized his spacecraft. Directed by Jorge Blanco and Javier Abad who have fun with placing the shoe on the other foot in terms of who is on what turf. While the narrative is certainly bland at best it is equipped with a colorful animated world. Dwayne Johnson voices Chuck who gradually adapts in communicating. He is now the one being observed as oppose to the one observing. Justin Long voices the ambitious Lem who decides to assist him in reaching his ship. We know how this turns out and the supporting characters are an even bigger torn in the side. Jessica Biel voices the bland love interest Neera and that pretty much sums her up. Gary Oldman plays the stereotypical General Grawl who is out to expose and exterminate Chuck. Seann William Scott voices Lem's best friend who works at a comic book store. The role is as straight forward as it sounds. The screenplay will hardly appeal to adults but children may find its simplicity amusing. Interesting concept places humans as the observed and misunderstood. Score: 6 / 10
Lem(voiced by Alvin & The Chipmunks Justin Long),is a nerdy alien who's got a crush on an alien girl (voiced by Mrs Justin Timberlake Jessica Biel)who likes Lem as well but she doesn't know that he likes her too. Meanwhile we are introduced to a very charming astronaut named Chuck (voiced by Dwayne The Rock Johnson who I swear can be a bit annoying in this flick at times) enters Lem's world and befriends him while Lem's people thinks that Chuck is an alien,when in actual fact its Lem's people that are aliens,but when this military alien(voiced by Gary Oldman)and a Professor (voiced by Swan Princess and Shrek 2 and 3 star John Cleese) wants to get rid of Chuck, will Chuck ever see his world ever again?The story is kinda bland and the humor isn't that bad,the animation is good and the charcthers are OK.Overall it wasn't a bad film,some of it was funny but don't go expecting a great flick like Tangled or How To Train Your Dragon which are two of my all time favourite CGI movies of all time. Bottom line Planet 51 is an average kids film that centers on aliens (actually this movie reminds me of the 2006 film Monsters Vs Aliens as that contains aliens too and a human befriending the aliens like Susan for example and Chuck who befriended aliens.I'm giving it a 6 out of 10.
At least one major critic said that "Planet 51" was a one-joke movie, and I agree with that statement. Though the movie tries to reverse things by changing around the roles, it otherwise plays like movies about aliens visiting earth. The movie does try hard to have a sense of humor about the situation, but I didn't laugh, except for the part of the movie where a cover of "Greased Lighting" plays with sanitized lyrics. Another fault I found with the movie were the characters were pretty thin and one-note. As for the visual look of the movie, the art design and the animation is serviceable, but is notably missing the polish found in Pixar and other big budget Hollywood computer animated movies. Still, I feel that (young) kids may find the juvenile feel of the movie appealing, and will not feel that they've seen it all before somewhere, because they probably haven't. However, they won't understand the references to other (and better) science fiction movies.
On a planet far far away, a green Martian species exist quite quietly, content to keep their sights set on their own world and nothing more. The population of this world (I guess it's called Planet 51 but I'm not really sure) is going through their version of the 1950s, complete with poodle skirts. Everything is fine until human astronaut Captain Charles Barker (The Rock) lands on Planet 51, unaware of its inhabitants. Things take off from there as must of the Martians organize a manhunt to track down Barker while Lem (Justin Long) attempts to help the alien get back to his shuttle.The first 15 minutes or so of "51" aren't bad. It's kind of a fun "Back to the Future"/"Pleasantville" mix that comes off as a bit inventive if uninspired. And you could do worse in the voice talent category than Justin Long. Where this movie made a decisive turn for the worse was the minute, nay, the second, that The Rock's Captain Barker stepped onto the screen. Some actors have the ability to move from live action to animated feature seamlessly and some don't. It's a different talent, a different skill set that some great actors can't master. Of course, this transition is probably a little easier for an actor who can, in fact, act. Unfortunately The Rock is not an actor and he seems hell bent on proving his talent deficiency at every opportunity. I have yet to see The Rock do anything in his short career that hasn't made me want to set myself on fire. And I refuse to call him Dwayne Johnson until he does something to prove he's an actor, not a wrestler masquerading as an actor. In all seriousness, his arrival in "Planet 51" is the exact moment that the movie begins a steady decline. Very rarely have I seen a single actor or character suck the life out of a movie as quickly as The Rock did here. It's so sudden that you almost want to give the guy an award if only there was a sophisticated way to say, "You sucked so bad that the entire movie crashed around you the minute your character appeared." He's awful. In all fairness, the script, which is riddled with poor attempts at adult humor and outrageously bad dialogue, does him absolutely no favors. But it wouldn't have mattered if "Planet 51" had been penned by Tarantino, Nolan, Sorkin, or any of the others who stand out among the Hollywood elite. What would have been a decent enough kid's flick is instead left broken and mangled on the side of the road, another victim of what The Rock is cooking.My site, The Soap Box Office: www.thesoapboxoffice.blogspot.com