Escape from Planet Earth (2013)

Much like the, certainly better, "A Cat in Paris", the generically titled "Escape from Planet Earth" inhabits the lower bounds of what can be considered a theatrical release. Essentially, the movie is Sesame Street's Earnie and Burt were aliens from the planet Bob (spelled "BAAB") held captive on "the Dark Planet" (earth) by "Dr. Stangelove's..." General Turgidson (voiced by the incomparable William Shatner) with predictable outcomes. Dissimilar from similar recent children's cartoon fair ("Monsters vs. Aliens", "Hotel Transylvania", etc.) the film does not contain referential humor and smart asides aimed at the supervising adults or the brighter little nippers. The film does contain all of the color and motion you would expect from bringing to the kids to see the "Madgascar" series and the soundtrack here is actually slightly superior as it relies less on 1990's dance tunes (yes, there is the requisite dance number at the end that all the animated characters - whether they survived or not - participate in). In short, wait for this short, empty calorie trifle to make it to pay-per-view on your cable box for a fraction of the cost.

Fmovies: Blue alien named Scorch(Brendan Fraser) is quite the thrill seeker, every time he goes on a mission. With his brother Gary(Rob Corddry) who is behind the controls guiding him on the missions, Gary is not a thrill seeker like his brother, they are from the planet BAAB. Scorch gets a new mission, to go the forbidden planet AKA Earth. Gary refuses to go along with it. Cause he is tired of being in his brothers shadow. When Scorch gets captured when he does arrive on earth, it's up to Gary to rescue him, but will he?

The animation is almost up there with Wreck It Ralph. The jokes seem run themselves into the ground. Most of the time instead of trying to have a story, I feel it was going more for satire. Not that it was terrible, but not has good as Monters Vs Aliens(2009). Brendan Fraser and Rob Corddry are alright in voice casting.

This animation is a fun story. Two brothers work make a team that captures the imagination, national hero of the blue aliens Scorch Supernova always comes in to save the day, with a perfect chin and teeth he is the hero to all. However, he depends on his nerdy brother Gary Supernova who is the brains behind the operation as head of BASA and seems to always be there when he comes a bit short In order to keep his legacy alive, Scorch decides to take a trip to the dark planet, Earth. He does so against his brother's wishes and discovers that it is tough being a hero solo. On earth the super hero falls into the hands of the evil military complex and gets caught up in a web of aliens and the technological slave trade. Directed by Cal Brunker, Escape from Planet Earth captures true, justices, and the toughest force of the universe, brotherly love. Lots of sly references to other space movies for example a Star Trek (1966) reference when in the 7-11, one of the clerks uses the Vulcan salute while hiding under the counter. There also is a scene going through some canyons that remind of the Star Wars seen on the death star. Another need reference is whenever two last names are said in succession, they match up with the names of famous directors, e.g. a Hazmat says: "Peter! Jackson! Detain him!" or "James! Cameron! Don't let him get away!

Escape from Planet Earth fmovies. As a fan of animated features, I figured that this was a good opportunity to start the year off with some fun and fancy. Escape from Planet Earth looked from the trailer as if it was a story of captured aliens farmed out to work for free, inventing all the convenient gadgets that mere Earthlings could never have conceived. That concept was taken directly from Men in Black but that didn't dismay me I still expected a pretty good story to unfold. It turned out that this was one of the best looking worst written stories that I have had an opportunity to view lately. The animation was first rate, and I thought that would translate into a first rate film. It was sometimes hard to stay in the moment, my thoughts strayed numerous times. The first half hour was just a series of animated physical comedy that was not particularly funny, stepping on a broom and being popped in the face is just plain unoriginal and old. I believe that the issue with this story was that it was trying so hard to be good by adding in all the elements that make for a good movie that it somehow missed the mark. There was at the very foundation of the story the sibling rivalry between Gary Supernova (Rob Corddry) and his younger bigger brother Scorch Supernova (Brendan Frazier) and with them the brain versus brawn was at the core of their contention. There was some tongue in cheek Area 51, trailer park behavior, and a number of other hijinks that should have been fun or funny but just weren't. I suppose I expect a story to make sense and the opening scene with Scorch saving babies who happen to be in an unmanned crashed spacecraft was just ridiculous, so the rest just seemed like fodder. I did like the fact that Sofia Vergara (Gabby) was not just there for her sex appeal. As I mentioned before even without seeing the film in 3D which I didn't it looked great, the animation with all the pretty colors would be appealing to a small child, and they may find the broom in the face funny once or twice, but thrice! I don't think so. This is definitely a good rental to keep the little ones entertained in the comfort of your own home, but you can't leave them unattended since there is that PG rating. I give this film a red light.

'ESCAPE FROM PLANET EARTH': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

An animated sci-fi adventure film about a popular astronaut hero from another planet who becomes trapped on Earth and has to be rescued by his computer nerd brother. The all-star voice cast includes Brendan Fraser, Rob Corddry, Ricky Gervais, William Shatner, Jessica Alba, Sofia Vergara, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jane Lynch, Craig Robinson, George Lopez, Steve Zahn and Chris Parnell. It's directed by first time feature film director, and former storyboard artist, Carl Brunker and written by Brunker, Bob Barlen, Tony Leech and Cory Edwards. The animation is colorful and fun to look at and the cast is impressive as well but the story and scene content is pretty simplistic. I liked the monster movie sci-fi send-up though.

Scorch Supernova (Fraser) is a popular astronaut superhero, of sorts, on his home planet Baab. He's looked up to by many there but his brother, Gary (Corddry), is the brains behind their team and he always guides the dimwitted Scorch through his missions, from the BASA base where they work. Gary never gets any of the credit though and even his own son Kip (Jonathan Morgan Heit) idolizes Scorch. When their boss, Lena (Alba), orders Scorch to travel to the 'Dark Planet' (Earth), in response to an SOS there, Gary knows it's a bad idea (due to the fact that no other alien life form has ever returned from there). He advises Scorch not to go on the mission but Scorch ignores him and the two get in a huge fight when Gary quits. Scorch goes on the mission without his brother's help, for the first time, and is captured and imprisoned at Area 51. It's of course up to Gary to save him.

The animation is beautiful to look at and has a lot of character to it, unfortunately the story doesn't. It's about as simplistic and by the numbers as you can get. I like a lot of the actors in this cast (especially Corddry, Gervais and Vergara) but their talents are wasted here. Fraser is perfectly cast as the dimwitted hero, once again, but he's the only star that really adds anything special to his role (which is funny because he's arguably the least talented). Like I said the whole Area 51 monster movie send-up is fun but that's about it. It should please kids but other than some great looking animation and a decent score (including a cool song by Owl City) the film has little else to offer adults.

Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n28SgCY6lwc

We took our ten year old, and as always, enjoyed a movie made for kids with enough entertainment thrown in for adults. It appears that kids and parents go through the same things, regardless of the planet. Found myself laughing most of the way through, especially when my boyfriend leaned over and said 'you know this is a movie for kids, right?' I guess I'm a kid at heart and this movie was very enjoyable. Loved seeing who played which characters at the end. I only recognized one during the film, but was pleasantly surprised by the rest! Maybe it was the holiday, but our theater was packed, and everyone seemed to walk away having enjoyed the show.