Customer Reviews

Planet 51 (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

'Planet 51' was the last thing showing at our local theatre that I hadn't already seen. The previews and lobby displays (mis)led me to believe it was just another throwaway kids' cartoon, full of forced cuteness, predictable gags, and cardboard characters; but I had time to kill and the ticket was at matinee price, so I finally went in. Am I ever glad I did!

The obvious send-up of 1950s American culture is fun, and so is the shoe-on-the-other-foot twist of the human being viewed as the fearful alien menace, but if that's all a viewer takes away, he or she is missing a lot. There was plenty of unexpected satire that had me laughing out loud through much of the film. There is also a profound message that centering one's society around perpetual fear can cause more harm to a culture's core values than the thing being feared; however, the message very carefully doesn't get in the way of the humanity (alienity?) of the story.

The music was well done and really enhanced the fun. Visually, I loved the film. Character design wasn't anything particularly special, but the look of the planet itself was gorgeous. This is a cartoon, after all, not an overblown CGI extravanganza like Avatar, so you shouldn't expect photorealistic rendering of every tiny detail. The beauty of this kind of artwork is in the imaginative forms and colors, the simplicity of shapes and lines that enhance the story, not overwhelm it.

Actually, having brought the subject up, I suppose many comparisons and contrasts could be drawn that make Planet 51 a kind of Anti-Avatar. Here, the humans are neither conquering villains, nor paternalistic hero figures. People--er, beings--from both sides have to do their part on Planet 51 to bridge the misunderstanding of cultures and enable goodwill to prevail. That may not be the kind of dramatic plot it takes to engage some viewers' attention these days, yet it's exactly the sort of solid but gentle storytelling one should expect from the offspring of George Harrison's Handmade Films.

Plus, so far as I can tell, no one has yet suffered depression after viewing Planet 51. :)

I was a bit surprised to see the chilly reviews of most of the critics (the movie got an average C in the Yahoo critics review). I saw the movie with my 8 years old and we both enjoyed it a lot. It is a fun little movie which includes parody on many sci fi movies as well as on the 50's Americana. It's true that there are many references and puns pointing to other movies but in my eyes this was part of the fun and not 'unoriginal copying' as some critics claimed. I was especially proud when my son identified the scene from Singing in the Rain! My own favorites were a killer, acid-urinating pet formed after the monster in 'Alien', and the paranoid general in sun glasses which reminded me of Jack D. Ripper from 'Dr. Stragelove'.
I saw some complaints about the 'simplicity' of the graphics, it's true they are not in the league of 'Shrek' or 'Bolt' but they do just fine in the context of the movie. Overall I will not claim this is a ground breaking movie in any way, but I enjoyed it more than 'Monsters vs. Aliens' which covers a somewhat similar teritorry and which we saw earlier this year.

This film was very enjoyable if you know the references to the 1950s films along with other scifi films; being a cinema major and music junkie I knew majority of the films that were parodied making it extremely funny. However 99% of the people (including critics [Which are usually film school drop outs always bitter]) didn't get the references and made it less enjoyable for them. The reason why the film didn't do good was that it was released during the same weekend as New Moon (UHF did the same with Indiana Jones 3) and was too specific of a market. It's a great film if you've seen all those cheesy films but not for kids. The film was made for them but kids won't get this however mom and dad would find it to their enjoyment. For adults think of it as a kids film but with clean jokes for you. John Cleese from Monty Python is in there along with the "Rock" as the astronaut which both have perfect roles. The music had lots of remade hits from the 1950s. So before you watch it make sure you know lots of the films and music otherwise you may not be able to appreciate the film for what's there. It's definitely a film to kick back with a beer and some of your friends who are into the retro films to get a good laugh from. Highly underrated since most people didn't understand it.

I really liked this movie. It had an awesome storyline. I loved that it was set during the 1950's on Planet 51, but is modern day on Earth, because I really enjoy 50's pop culture. Lem is an 'alien' who thinks that the Galaxy is only 500 miles long. On a typical day, an astronaut named Captain Charles "Chuck" Baker lands on the planet and thinks he's the first, but he was dead wrong. All the residents believe Chuck is an alien who wants to eat their brains and turn them into zombies. Lem befriends Chuck and finds out that he's a good guy. The military take over Chuck's ship so they can dissect it. If Chuck doesn't get back to his ship in time, he will never be able to return to Earth. I highly recommend PLANET 51!!!

My six year old son laughed throughout this movie. Tons of song and movie references (everything from Singing in the Rain to Alien) kept the adults interested, too. I was really surprised that a movie rated as having 'minor violence' actually opened with [story-within-a-story] footage of ray guns disintegrating people, but it didn't turn out too violent for us as a whole. I would think twice before showing it to a younger or more sensitive kid, though.

I think this movie is really underappreciated. It didn't have the most spectacular graphics ever, and the love story was admittedly predictable, but the altered perspective - humans as aliens! - was compelling, and the cultural references made for non-stop amusement. The adorable Rover alone would be enough reason to watch it again.

We love this movie, my 2 year old son has been watching it since we first saw it come on Starz and he absolutely loves Planet 51. From beginning to end it is a clever and entertaining movie for old and young.

Original, Fun and Hilarious Adventure
Just got finished watching this movie and I REALLY ENJOYED IT. Maybe it's because I went in expecting to watch a
decent movie after all the negative and plain hateful reviews I read before I bought it. The main reason I took a chance on this film was because it had an original story and I wasn't disappointed in the slightest. It's full of laughs, a few touching moments and overall it's a great little adventure.

If you pay attention to all the little details of this movie like the hidden tributes, the soundtrack and the voices behind the characters I think you'll really love it. From alien cars designed like a VW Vanagon, to throwbacks to ET and the Alien dog it's a fun adventure. And voices of The ROCK, Stiffler, Gary Oldman, John Cleese make a stellar cast.

As for PQ the details are great, colors are bright and lighting is wonderful. The designers behind this movie are game animators with high attention to detail.

As for the audio it's very well done. The voice levels are balanced throughout the movie, the surrounds are well
utilized (love the helicopters flying around), and the music was a perfect match.

So if you have kids over say 7 and if you like Scifi you should own this movie, screw all the negative reviews;
besides it is a kids movie after all.

This movie is a pleasure to watch because the story is laid out very well and has a good flow to it. The story is far from original (quiet similar to "Battle for Terra") but is entertaining. This movie is a keeper.

'Planet 51' is a film that will be most appreciated by film buffs and although the kids should enjoy it, most of the jokes are going to be way over their heads. I happen to love old sci-fi films so this film was a lot of fun for me. The character design is a bit simple, but the animation is striking and beautiful and the world created is wonderful to look at. I loved the soundtrack and the characters grew on me as the film progressed.

Considering we've had two films recently with a sci-fi premise, this film and the other being 'Monsters VS Aliens' I found the creature design to be better in 'Monsters VS Aliens' and the story to be better in 'Planet 51' Although the H.R. Giger Alien dog was top notch comic relief in 'Planet 51' . I enjoyed both films and both were made with sci-fi film buffs in mind.

I bought the Blu Ray DVD combo pack and I hope this is a practice that prevails for a long time. I'm not ready to fully commit to Blu Ray and I like getting a copy of both formats in one package. The cost to add a second disc is very small to the manufacturer and in case I want to watch the film at a friends house who doesn't own a Blu Ray player I have the standard version at hand.

The Blu Ray looks and sounds fantastic, but the DVD is also exceptional. Considering the price wasn't much different I went with the combo pack. I probably wouldn't buy this one for the kids, but if you love old sci-fi films this one is a blast!

Planet 51 is one of those idea's that look good on paper, but usually end up failing to make the jump from concept to production. This movie was a real disappointment because I was really looking forward to it coming out; primly because it was written by Joe Stillman. So I was naturally assuming that this movie would be a Sci-Fi version of Shrek filled with all the humour and loveable characters that made the first two Shrek movies so great. What we got was a patch-work Frankenstein of beautiful design and badly thought out plot & characters.

Planet 51 follows the mis-adventures of American astronaut, Charles "Chuck" T. Baker as he lands on an unknown planet and discovers that it's not as uninhabited as he thought. After slap-stick freak out, Chuck finds himself stranded and is forced to rely on help from the reluctant Lem Korplog; An amateur astronomer who's own perfect life has been turned upside down by Chuck's decision to choose him as his new best friend. Thus the two are forced to partner up and get Chuck back home before time runs out.

One of the major problems with this story is that none of the characters come across as they should. Chuck doesn't feel like an alien, but rather someone who lives down the street. Lem and Nerra's relationship feels forced. Nerra herself comes across as too perfect without an flaws. Ekle could've been put to some good use but instead comes across as annoying. Finally, the three characters of Skiff, Grawl and Kipple succeed too well at being deliberately idiots, to the point where the lines that are meant to draw laughs just draw groans.

The plot it's self was another big disappointment, as it seemed to Snooker-Loop into uninteresting angles, and the majority of the jokes were all aimed at those below the age of 12. (Not one but TWO poop jokes barely within 2 minutes of each other.) The moral of the story is "Don't Fear the Unknown," but the whole movie is put together so haphazardly that when it is finally spelt out for the audience, it feels tossed in. It wasn't as though it was a bad movie. There were parts I really enjoyed and there were moments where you could see it was trying to be a great movie; but for every good moment, it unbalanced it's self with three ridicules moments. I really wanted to like Planet 51, honestly I did. But it just wouldn't let me.

But having seen the movie a few times over, I've come to see it has it's own uniqueness which kept me coming back. The movie needs to be viewed a few times to understand and appreciate it fully and the artistic design of the whole movie is undeniably beautiful. The concept of reverse ET is great, and the moral of "Don't Fear the Unknown," - which has been done to death - comes across in a way that doesn't feel worn out. It's these reasons that keeps it from getting two stars.