Planet 51 (U)
- Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Biel, Justin Long, Gary Oldman, Seann William Scott, John Cleese, Freddie Benedict, Alan Marriott
- Director: Jorge Blanco
- Duration: 91 mins
- Year: 2009
Planet 51 is a galactic-sized animated alien adventure comedy revolving around 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.
Reviews
Alison Rowat's Review
That old movie chestnut of aliens invading our corner of the universe gets a nifty reworking in Jorge Blanco’s cheery animated tale. Instead of ET or one of his ilk coming to Earth, this time it’s a homo sapiens who has taken a wrong turn at the Milky Way and ended up far from home.
Captain Chuck Baker (voiced by the likeable Dwayne Johnson) is the hapless astronaut from the 21st century who lands on Planet 51, a place that bears a startling resemblance to fifties America except it’s full of little green men, women, boys and girls, among them Lem (Justin Long) and the object of his affections, Neera (Jessica Biel). Before Chuck can tell Planet 51 that he comes in peace, he is designated public enemy number one and is being hunted down like a space dawg.
Blanco has a lot of fun turning conventions on their head, there is just enough slapstick to keep young cinemagoers amused and adults will smile along with the sly nods to everything from Singin’ in the Rain to The Right Stuff. At just 91 minutes, it doesn’t overstay its welcome, either.