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This movie was fun to go watch, albeit a little slow starting out. Being a geek myself, I enjoyed watching a movie where the geeky engineer is the protagonist, gets (already has) the girl, and saves the day. Escape from Planet Earth is a pretty predictable movie, but what would you expect from a children's movie. I enjoyed the fact that almost every alien stereotype and conspiracy theory is addressed as the source of comedy in the movie (i.e. the road signs stating that Gary Supernova was entering and leaving area 48, 49, and 50 before "entering" area 51). Although a movie made for children, Escape from Planet Earth is a good movie for the young at heart as well. It seems like not many family movies now days actually contain an entire family, but this movie does. It also focuses on the tight-knit cohesiveness of the family unit and brings to the surface the fact that we would do almost anything for family.
The reason I rate it 4 stars is that, as I stated before, it is slow-moving. I would have expected a little quicker plot, as the title and movie artwork would suggest. However, I feel that the moral of the story, combined with the humor, overcome the pace. It really is an enjoyable movie, though it might be better to go to a matinee or wait for it to be released to video.
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The beginning of the year is a slow time for the PG regular movie-going crowd. Family-friendly movies are more sparse, and GOOD family movies are a downright rarity. Which has never made much sense to me, since in the cold winter, going to the movies is one of the few (somewhat) affordable things to do with kids. So, we were excited when Escape From Planet Earth came out and we had high hopes that it was going to be a good watch.It was a nice story about two very different but close brothers who have to learn how to be themselves while also letting the other one shine. Anyone who has more than one kid would probably agree that they watch their own children struggle with this quite often, so I liked the message behind the movie.
The other positives:
the animation is great (but nothing we haven't seen), it's colorful, appropriate for young kids, and has a few laughable scenes sparringly scattered throughout.
The not-so positives:
It's extremely predictable. Yes, it's a kids movie. But does that mean it has to be a generic kids movie? My kids appreciate something original just as much as I do. Unfortunately, being formulaic means despite its best efforts, it gets pretty boring most of the time. I had to take away my 10 year old's itouch because she kept going on it and my 7 year old son was more entertained by playing with his 3D glasses and the seat. They don't demonstrate poor behavior during movie showings, we go all the time. So when they get this distracted, I know that they're getting just as bored as I am.
The movie TRIES to engage parents, even reaching as far as staging a good old fashioned Mommy-War in there... You know, the Stay-At-Home-Mom gets belittled by the Working Mom yet ends up being 10x's smarter and more resourceful, demonstrating that Stay-At-Home moms are worthy of respect.... Oh, yawn. The only people who don't respect Stay-At-Home-Moms or Working Moms are morons, so do we really have to be pandered to like this during a kids movie? Of course, my kids never would have picked up on this, it was just an annoying observation. Had the movie been able to keep us successfully entertained, I would have completely overlooked it.
But, apon walking out after he movie was over and asking for reviews, all I got from the kids and their friends was a resounding shoulder shrug and a "it was okay... Can we go to the arcade now?"
And that's what Escape From Planet Earth is: Boring for parents, just okay for kids.
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