Planet 51 (2009)

Directors:

Jorge Blanco
Javier Abad (co-director)

Writer:

Joe Stillman (writer)

Release Date:

20 NOVEMBER 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

Something strange is coming to their planet...Us!

Plot:

American astronaut Captain Charles "Chuck" Baker 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, and whose only fear is that it will be overrun by alien invaders...like Chuck!

Plot Keywords:

Digit In Title | Scene During End Credits | Number In Title

Cast

Dwayne Johnson	...	Captain Charles T. Baker (voice)
Jessica Biel	...	Neera (voice)
Justin Long	...	Lem (voice)
Gary Oldman	...	General Grawl (voice)
Seann William Scott	...	Skiff (voice)
John Cleese	...	Professor Kipple (voice)
Freddie Benedict	...	Eckle (voice)
Alan Marriott	...	Glar (voice)
Mathew Horne	...	Soldier Vesklin (voice)
James Corden	...	Soldier Vernkot (voice)
Lewis Macleod	...	Additional Voice (voice)
Rupert Degas	...	Additional Voice (voice)
Rebecca Front	...	Additional Voice (voice)
Vincent Marzello	...	Additional Voice (voice)
Emma Tate	...	Additional Voice (voice)

Also Known As:

Planet One (UK) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild sci-fi action and some suggestive humor.

Runtime:

USA:91 min

Country:

Spain | UK | USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #45479) | Singapore:G | Australia:PG | UK:U | South Africa:PG | Ireland:G | New Zealand:PG | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Brazil:Livre | Portugal:M/4 (Qualidade) (dubbed version) | Portugal:M/6 (Qualidade) (original version) | Denmark:7

Company:

Ilion Animation

Trivia:

All the female aliens are wearing dresses, the male ones have the "Donald Duck" no pants look.

Goofs:

Continuity: A lander only has enough fuel to take off once from the planet, not twice. We don't see Chuck fuel the spaceship before taking off again.

Quotes:

Glar: The times... they are a different.

Movie Connections:

References Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Soundtrack:

Lollipop

Great quality, easy plot, fun... perfect for kids!

First of all, let me say that I'm tired of dumb reviews saying "why do aliens speak English?" or "they fart and burp a lot". Disney's The Princess and the Frog's trailer has about 3 ass related jokes and one burp in less than 45 seconds. Toy Story's characters spoke English and understood humans and nobody wondered why. A house managed to be lifted by balloons in Up with no police radars detecting anything. So, this said: Let's sit down and enjoy a movie and stop looking for silly excuses to criticize it.

I watched Planet51 with my two nephews (8 and 10 years old) and they enjoyed it all the way. The quality is as good as Pixar's or Dreamworks and, yes, it's true the script is somewhat flat and very repetitive, but as the kids said to me "We didn't understand Wall-E's plot and didn't sympathize with any characters in Up, but Planet51 we did." It has some really funny characters (the white camera ala Wall-e and the alien pet), plus it's easy to understand, and despite the lack of chases or explossions it keeps its pace all the time and, as I said before, kids love the characters and understand -and enjoy- the plot.

As Groucho Marx once said: A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five!!!