Red’s Movie Reviews: Planet 51

  A beginner’s guide to simple allegory.

It would be the easiest thing in the world for me to slam Planet 51 from the perspective of a man in his early 30’s, but I’d feel guilty doing it.  Like picking on a child for telling a joke he loves off a Laffy Taffy wrapper.

So yes, let me be far from the first to tell you that Sony Pictures’ new computer animated comedy (that flips the script on alien invasions in the same way Orson Welles reversed Othello) is not that good.  I’d also like to be the first to tell you that, when it comes to kid movies like this, “not that good” does not automatically mean “really bad.”  It’s just simple.

Planet 51 is set on an alien world where everyone is stuck in the 1950’s.  Not only are they stuck in the 50’s, they’re stuck in OUR planet’s 1950’s.  They even listen to the same Top 40 playlist (Lollipop, Mr. Sandman, Be Bop a Lula, etc.) and obsess over the same alien invasion films where “humanoids” enslave the planet.   What’s that?  Don’t buy it?  Meh, get over it.  It’s a kids movie.  You’ll survive.

But along with the 50’s soundtrack and lifestyle on Planet 51 comes a McCarthyist intolerance for the unknown that Planet 51’s inhabitants are pretty comfortable with, especially the military.

So when “alien” American astronaut Chuck Baker (Dwayne Johnson) lands on the planet and discovers it’s actually inhabited, it’s no surprise that he isn’t made to feel welcome.

Chuck eventually meets Lem (Justin Long), who has a more liberal foreign policy when it comes to interplanetary relations, and it’s Lem and his friends who rise to the task of returning Chuck safely to his ship while simultaneously teaching his entire planet about the ugliness of intolerance and how it’s much better to accept those who are different from you instead of shooting at them.

Awwww.  What a wonderfully cute way to introduce your children to allegory.

But for the rest of us adult folk, Planet 51 is kind of a drag for a few reasons.  First, they missed a great opportunity to make this move accessible to parents.  It attempts to do this through a litany of pop-culture Sci-Fi references to every major sci-fi film ever made: a pet dog is a cute little H.R. Giger alien, a shot from E.T., a Close Encounters joke, etc. etc., but it just doesn’t work.

The problem is that Planet 51 isn’t very clever about incorporating these references into the narrative.  The E.T. scene, for example, just pops up so we can point at the screen and say, “Hey, that’s from E.T.!” but it doesn’t really serve any other purpose within the world.  The references are just sort of there, and almost felt like a prop to keep older viewers interested than actual, perceptible wit.

And this brings up the second drag about Planet 51:  It’s funny, but never witty, and it’s wit that makes a kids movie funny for parents, too.  This is a pretty big letdown when you consider Joe Stillman, the same guy who had me in stitches when he wrote Shrek, wrote Planet 51.

So what we’re left with here is a movie the kids will enjoy, but it’s so rudimentary to adults that it just comes across as tedious.  There’s likely more enjoyment for parents in watching their children have fun than watching the screen.

But hey, the kids are the point here.  And what your kids will get out of Planet 51 is a fun time watching a well intentioned and beautifully rendered animated film with a fine message.

There.  Let’s all hug and go home.

–Joey Alfino, Red Editorial Staff