'Planet 51', stuck is '51

It has been instilled in our minds since we were kids: When the aliens come, they will come with the malicious intent to either destroy or control humanity. What happens when we are the aliens though?

The new animated film Planet 51 goes out of its way to get the point across that there's nothing wrong with change, and that things that may be "alien" to us aren't always out to get us. It's unfortunate that it doesn't entertain while it makes its point, leaving audiences with a 90 minute film that feels twice that long. Hollywood, we have a problem.

The story follows Captain Charles "Chuck" Baker (voiced by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), an astronaut who is surprised to find that the planet that he's just discovered is already inhabited by a green-skinned society that resembles suburban America in the 1950s. Upon landing, he also finds that the locals are fearful that aliens (like him) will invade their planet and eat their brains. With the help of his new friend Lem (Justin Long) and robot companion Rover, Chuck is trying to find a way to get back home.

Although the target audience is obviously kids, the movie does try to appeal to adults. Unfortunately, this leaves both kids and their parents with a mediocre offering. Planet 51 lacks in the areas that count when making a family film. Rather than drawing audiences in with characters and situations that they can identify with, this movie goes over the top with attempts at humor that tend to fall flat. The best parts of this movie can be found in its trailers.

The storyline has plenty of issues, the biggest being the time period. Not only is there no reason to have the alien world stuck in the fifties, it actually detracts from the story. Most of the kids that see this movie won't get the cultural references, and adults will be left to wonder why the little green men are so technologically behind if they've already invented hover cars.

Shockingly, Johnson delivers a decent voicing for his character. The weakest performances actually come from John Cleese and Gary Oldman, who provide voices for the films antagonists. Considering that these two are arguably the best actors in the cast (which also includes Sean William Scott and Jessica Biel), one might contest that their characters were just poorly written. But if you're going to go there, you might also say that the whole movie was poorly written.

Kids these days are spoiled with great animated movies from studios like Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks. Because the standard has been raised by these production companies, Planet 51 (which was produced by Madrid-based Ilion Animation Studios) is left in the dust, and it feels like it might have been more comfortable going straight to DVD. The animation itself is alright, but the story and dialogue could have used some serious work. Even movie-going kids will be able to notice a distinct difference in quality between this movie and classics like Up, Shrek, or Toy Story.