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Escape From Planet Earth Photos
Movie Info
On the planet Baab, dashing astronaut Scorch Supernova (Brendan Fraser) is a national hero and master of daring rescues. However, Scorch does not work alone; his nerdy brother, Gary (Rob Corddry), head of mission control at BASA, often lends quiet, behind-the-scenes support. When a distress signal arrives from a dangerous planet, Scorch ignores Gary's warnings and sets out on a rescue mission. Scorch soon finds himself caught in a trap set by an evil enemy, and it's up to Gary to save him.
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Rating: PG (Some Mild Rude Humor|Action)
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Genre: Kids & family, Comedy, Sci-fi, Adventure, Animation
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Original Language: English
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Director: Cal Brunker
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Producer: Catherine Winder, Luke Carroll, Brian Inerfeld
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Writer: Bob Barlen, Cal Brunker
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Release Date (Theaters): wide
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Runtime:
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Distributor: Weinstein Co.
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Production Co: GRF Productions, Rainmaker Entertainment
Cast & Crew
News & Interviews for Escape From Planet Earth
Critic Reviews for Escape From Planet Earth
Audience Reviews for Escape From Planet Earth
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An exciting and thrilling animated feature, Escape From Planet Earth is entertaining and fun. After receiving an unidentified distress call from Earth the planet Baab sends their top astronaut to investigate, but when he's captured by the U.S. military he discovers a nefarious plot against aliens. Featuring William Shatner, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Alba, and Brendan Fraser, the film has a strong cast. Additionally, the comedy is pretty good (even though it does get a little too cartoonish at times). However, the plot is full of cliches; and while some of them work, others drag the film down. Yet despite its flaws, Escape From Planet Earth is a film that can be enjoyed by all ages.
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Here's me thinking I missed the latest Snake Plissken adventure from John Carpenter, but actually I didn't miss much at all. I hadn't even heard of this film before, I merely stumbled across the poster one day and it looked quite cool, the title was the eye catcher though, love that. Problem is the films title doesn't really sum up the films plot all too well. A couple of aliens get caught on Earth by some evil military geezer and are held captive in an Area 51 type area...oh wait it is Area 51. There, alongside other captured aliens, they are forced to build this big death ray laser gun thing to destroy planets. Why? because the evil human military leader is evil and wants to...plus the Roswell aliens killed his dad in the infamous Roswell crash. Clever huh? no not really you're right. So as you may have already guessed this CGI animated film contains almost every cliched cheesy cornball sci-fi in-joke and visual gag you can imagine. The entire film is completely pointless in the fact that the whole thing has been done time and time again and there really is no need for this to exist. The main alien characters just look dull, completely dull and lifeless blue cliched aliens. All the alien sidekicks they meet up with are your bog standard array of yet more cliches...a slimy alien, a big strong angry alien and a cute little furry alien, all bases covered. I guess the real crime here (lame plot and character design aside) is the really really average CGI animation. The backgrounds, skies, spacescapes and landscapes all look nice, nothing to blow your eyes from their sockets but they are nice. But in general most of the locations/settings, all the characters, the equipment on display and alien planet terrain/city all look pretty damn generic and bland. Lets just call it planet bland with lots of interstellar alien logos, yep the aliens in this have their own TV stations, sponsors, adverts etc...just like us! its all very crap. The voice cast doesn't boost your moral put it that way, you know to be weary when Brendan Fraser gets the lead role lets be honest. The story is weak and pointless, the visuals are bright and colourful but sorely lacking quality, few laughs to be had, drab characters and rather limp action sequences. This really is a poor man's 'Monsters vs Aliens' in every sense, feels more like a glossy kids cartoon for a dreary rainy Saturday afternoon. Considering this is all about aliens and space adventure its virtually grounded on Earth for the whole run time, not much escaping going on anywhere.
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First it was New York, then it was L.A., and now things are getting so rough that Snake Plissken is going to have to bail out of Earth itself. Oh, come on, people, don't tell me you weren't thinking it when you saw this film's title, even if you only did it to not think of "Planet 51". Hey, "Planet 51" could have been worse, you know, like this film, or the video game "[u]E.T.:[/u] Escape from Planet Earth"... I think. Yeah, I didn't play that game, but then again, not a whole lot of people did, as surely as not a whole lot of people are going to see this film, except maybe the John Carpenter fans who really are expecting this to be the completion to the "Escape" trilogy, seeing as how marketing behind this project is limited. Man, Carpenter hasn't done anything in so long that it would be in his financial interesting and, well, just plain interesting for him to do an animated "family" film (I don't want to know about his family), but if any legendary gorror filmmaker was going to direct this, then it would be David Cronenberg, because this film is so Canadian that it gave Brendan Fraser and William Shatner jobs. Poor Shatner can't get away from either space or Priceline, so I guess Kaley Cuoco really is a good casting choice for the role of his daughter in the newer Priceline ad campaigns, because looking at her level of success outside of "The Big Bang Theory", she can't afford get away from nerdy stuff either, even if Shatner would have to have been 54 when he had her. Hey, Shatner's awesome enough to get a gal at that age, but at 82, he doesn't appear to be able to even get good film roles, which isn't to say that I can't compliment certain aspects of this misfire. The animations in this film aren't all that special, as they're conventional and, if you will, a little too over-the-top, often to the point of feeling lacking in life, yet the designs never abate when it comes to delivering on sheer color, particularly during the action. The film doesn't exactly play up action all that much, and when it does, it's hardly all that special, but heights in set piece liveliness such as the action prove to be reasonably fun, if formulaic in their staging and upping momentum. Really, technical value is consistent in sustaining some degree of entertaining momentum, which is truly charged by genuine highlights in writing, of which there are only so many. To tell you the truth in advance, Bob Barlen's and Cal Brunker's script is not simply weak, but bad, so it's Brunker's still-flawed direction which really saves the final product as merely mediocre, although it does receive help from highlights in humor that are in turn complimented by highlights in voice acting, in addition to the direction. Granted, even then, Brunker, as director, may save this film, but also threatens the final product with his own laziness, and yet, the point is that credit is due to brisk pacing, backed by the sense of laziness' at least being prevalent enough to not feel actively insulting. Well, the film takes down to the viewers a fair bit, yet on the whole, this flick is simply too bland to be bad, and while that aspect is ultimately what saves the misguided misfire as simply mediocre, there's no denying that the technical sharpness and occasionally storytelling sharpness don't have something to do with the final product's ever so narrowly avoiding collapse into contemptibility. Of course, the fact of the matter is that this film is no more likable than it is unlikable, having its strengths, to be sure, but also an almost crippling collection of weaknesses, or at least laziness, even within its basic story concept. Now, I'm not asking that this film be all that unique, but may I be struck down if there's anything original here, as this narrative, at least in concept, is so shamelessly trite that even the sci-fi mythology behind it conforms too much to traditional sci-fi formulas, as well as to human cultures. The concept behind this film itself is completely uncreative, being lacking in its mythology's depth, as well as devoid of originality in its story, whose scripted execution, courtesy of Bob Barlen and Cal Brunker, makes matters worse with a wealth of tropes, as well as plenty of other problems. Again, while there are highlights in Barlen's and Brunker's writing, this script, as this film's weakest attribute, is pretty bad, with humor which is plagued with painfully obvious references, glaring immaturity and all-around cheesiness that exacerbate a sense of laziness, which is even found within characterization. Thinly drawn characters back a lame, clumsily structured plot that pays little attention coherency, and is only one of many misguided elements that make Barlen's and Brunker's script an ultimately considerable misfire that would make the final product bad if it wasn't for the directorial efforts that, for the record, also have their own problems to worry about. I mean, the highlights in Brunker's efforts as director are certainly there, but lowlights are impossible to ignore, making cloying plays on anything from lame-brain writing to an unlistenable pop soundtrack that cleanse storytelling of subtlety, while overtly busy plays on momentum to plotting, though adequately entertaining, get to be frantic an obnoxious point. As you can imagine, this pacing freneticism's ironic fusion with laziness in most every other storytelling aspect reflects the trait that really drives this "effort" into frustrating: stupidity, which would be easier to forgive if the film wasn't too aware of its thinness to be inspired. Needless to say, there is just enough inspiration to the handling of this sometimes amusing, often adequately entertaining and consistently colorful family affair for the final product to evade contemptibility, but there's still a certain pretense of entertainment value surrounding this misguided mess that seems to talk down, not just to the youths, but to just about everyone, and while I can't promise that you'll be frustrated with this film to the point of out-and-out disliking it, I am more comfortable in assuring that this pseudo-effort is a challenge that offers nothing new and barely anything inspired, until finally sputtering out deep into mediocrity - nay - on the cusp of contemptibility. When it's finally time to escape from this film, through solid animation and colorful highlights in action, voice acting, writing and direction, the final product just barely escapes collapse into all-out badness, but through a trite and thinly drawn story concept, lame-brain script and frantic direction, aggravating laziness is stressed enough to firmly secure "Escape from Planet Earth" as a mediocre misfire of a steaming pile of sci-fi family filler (Again, I don't quite hate it, but boy, I come close). 2/5 - Weak
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This movie isn't really as bad as I was expecting going in. When I, originally, saw the trailers to this film, I was reminded of Planet 51. Just the whole look and feel of the entire thing felt low-budget and it felt more like more of a TV pilot than anything else. I'd say the same thing for this movie, it looks and feels low-budget, sort of like a show you'd see on Nickelodeon. But, while I wouldn't say this movie is good, at all, it certainly surpassed almost every expectation, however low they were, that I had. This movie would never win awards for its originality, hilarity, or heart, but it at least has an energetic pace that certainly doesn't give you much time to think about how generic the entire movie really is. The film is certainly meant for kids, but at least it, somewhat, tries to make it tolerable for adults. There's also this weird namedropping thing they do with some of the workers of Area 51 where they'll be named after famous film directors. An example of this would be one scene where two characters are named Peter and Jackson. They also namedrop Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese, both by first names only, Christopher Nolan and George Lucas. It was, seriously, one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in a kids' movie. And I mean weird because what's the point? Prove to the film nerds that you know a thing or two? It is funny, like the first time. But they keep reusing the "joke" and I don't really know what was the point. They were trying too hard to be cute and clever. Again, it worked the first time because it was unexpected. But doing it more than once feels like pandering to an audience that, most likely, wouldn't have been interested in your movie anyway. The cast is fine but, in most cases, unless it's a Pixar project or a high-end Dreamworks film, it always comes across as a way to make a paycheck and not really because they thought the project was genuinely interesting. Ricky Gervais is definitely the highlight of this film, shame he didn't have more lines. The animation is fine for a movie that, clearly, didn't have the budget of a Pixar movie. But it does look, and feel, low-budget. Really, this is a generic, read: average, movie at best. I have to give them points for at least trying to make the movie watchable for adults, if not entertaining. But, at the same time, this really doesn't offer anything that good to begin with, so I just wish the script would've been a little better than it was, rather than being as predictable as it was. Still, it's better than what I was expecting.
jesse o Super Reviewer
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