It all starts when an astronaut leaves his shuttle and sticks the flag he carries with him into the ground in an attempt to extend the pride and prowess of his country to another planet. Great is his surprise when he steps back and hears the squeaking sound of a rubbery ducky. Even greater is the followup surprise when he discovers the planet is more lively than expected.
Staged on a planet other than Earth this animation film plays the "what-if" of an alien arrival from the aliens point of view - where the human is the alien. The effects are clear - the inhabitants of the planet, still ignorant in most of their ways, are in shock and as panic conquers them the chase is on - the human must be caught. And if it wouldn't be for one brave little alien it would turn very sour for the astronaut.
Watching this together with a kid I found myself wondering what audience this film was aimed at. Some of it was clearly meant for a very young audience, other bits for a clearly older one. My guess is that an attempt was made to mix just the right amount of grown-up effects into the mix to make it appealing to the adults accompanying the kids, but that that attempt failed because the mix got out of balance.
As it is a lot of the story goes way over the heads of the children - turns too dark even - and the bits that are meant for the kids are sketchy because of that. Drawing style used is funny enough though and it is a pleasure to watch the design of the alien planet and its denizens.
All in all, it would have been better if the mix between adult and child stuff was better but it isn't entirely bad as it is.
5 out of 10 aliens landing
Staged on a planet other than Earth this animation film plays the "what-if" of an alien arrival from the aliens point of view - where the human is the alien. The effects are clear - the inhabitants of the planet, still ignorant in most of their ways, are in shock and as panic conquers them the chase is on - the human must be caught. And if it wouldn't be for one brave little alien it would turn very sour for the astronaut.
Watching this together with a kid I found myself wondering what audience this film was aimed at. Some of it was clearly meant for a very young audience, other bits for a clearly older one. My guess is that an attempt was made to mix just the right amount of grown-up effects into the mix to make it appealing to the adults accompanying the kids, but that that attempt failed because the mix got out of balance.
As it is a lot of the story goes way over the heads of the children - turns too dark even - and the bits that are meant for the kids are sketchy because of that. Drawing style used is funny enough though and it is a pleasure to watch the design of the alien planet and its denizens.
All in all, it would have been better if the mix between adult and child stuff was better but it isn't entirely bad as it is.
5 out of 10 aliens landing