Alf - Der Film

Alf is a good comedy, but it is definitely WAY behind the series, maybe because of the lack of the original characters. They were WAY funnier and the series in general, too. The only funny character of this TV-movie is Alf and the only good part is the first 20 minutes.

I am a kinda fan of the series, but this one cannot stand up to it at any part of it.

All in all, I rated this movie 6/10. I recommend it to fans of the series.

It is such a shame that person who wrote the lines for ALF didnt write in the same vain for the rest of the cast. The bits that ALF is in are good and are worth watching , especially when he is having the tests. The rest is not worth watching.Kids of the younger age would like this and thats about the best i can say about this film. What on earth was Martin Sheen thinking about when he took on this role? from Apocolypse Now to Project Alf!!!! 6 out of 10

Six years after the series "ALF" was canceled after the fourth season, leaving us with a cliffhanger, the authors decided to pack the story set for the fifth season into a TV movie. On the one hand, I am pleased that the story is rounded up, on the other, they did not particularly bother to do it right. The complete original cast disappeared without a trace, and Alf, although standardly good, can not outweigh all the other aspects of the movie that are quite lame. While nostalgia is struggling with disappointment, I will rate it

6/10

There are plenty of versions of the story behind the ending of the ALF series and this 1996 TV movie: some claim that the cliffhanger finale was a final bid for the show to remain on the air; some claim the film is an extended rendition of a single final episode planned all along; and yet more people claim the movie is the result of an uphill battle by creators Paul Fusco and Tom Patchett after being shafted out of plans to conclude the series more satisfactorily. In the end, the only concrete fact is that the film was released almost a full six years after the TV show concluded, to tremendous fan expectations, and then it didn't turn out all that great. I'm not the biggest ALF fan in the world, but even I have to admit that a lot was lost during the transition of serial to feature.

The story: Held by the Alien Task Force for six years following his capture, Alf's death is plotted by an obsessed colonel (Martin Sheen) but thwarted by two military scientists (William O'Leary and Jensen Daggett) who smuggle him out of the facility to bring him to safety.

The biggest disappointment of the film? - no Tanner family. Anyone who's researched the show will know all about the mixed feelings with which the human cast regarded their stay, but while their absence isn't really surprising on a deductive level, the film suffers from it nevertheless. Max Wright, Anne Shedeen, Andrea Elson, and Benji Gregory were as much of a part of the ALF franchise as the alien himself, yet they're afforded only a minute's exposition early in the film before being forgotten completely. Alf doesn't even mention them, which is particularly disappointing considering the bond the characters formed over four years. I don't want to sound too sappy, but it eats at me that Alf was apparently able to get over the people he once referred to as "my Tanners." The characters replacing them aren't awful but pretty unmemorable: William O'Leary and Jensen Daggett are neutrally likable, but not only don't they sell the reactions to Alf's shenanigans nearly as well as Wright or Shedeen ever did, it's never quite clear why they're helping Alf. The Tanners struggled through their frustrating tenure via a mixture of family support and underlying affection cultivated over a matter of years, but O'Leary and Daggett apparently just have an inherent goodness of heart and know-how to endure Alf in situations wherein he's previously sent other outsiders screaming from the room. I don't buy it.

Where the writing is concerned, the show retains creators Fusco's and Patchett's trademark humor: one-liners and pop culture references abound, branching out to Alf's first gay joke and some death-related humor. Alf's cat obsession is revived for the sake of a couple jokes. The main agenda of the film seems to be giving Alf a chance to interact openly with a greater number of people and injecting a defined antagonist into the picture - something the series didn't have (or particularly need). The surprise and novelty of seeing Alf barb with humans outside of the Tanner household is short-lived, as most folks (with the ironic exception of Ray Walston) seem to get over his being an alien pretty quickly. Sheen gives a fun, hammy performance but his character just isn't worth the movie; if Alf needed a nemesis, it definitely ought to be someone more interesting than this goof. Where the technical aspects are concerned, the film doesn't try anything new: having a bigger budget than a weekly TV show seems like it would've been a good opportunity for Alf to do something physically out of the ordinary, but the most you get is seeing him spun around in a chair. You'd think that director Dick Lowry would've tried for something bigger than that.

When judged on its own terms, PROJECT ALF doesn't really do anything wrong but it doesn't get too many things right, either. I consider it a way-too-late attempt to salvage a poorly-executed finale. Paul Fusco probably did all he could, but being away from his core franchise for so long likely took its toll on his creativity. I'm not sure whether to recommend this for die-hard fans, so watch at your own risk.

Years after the TV series Alf is being held in a military base undergoing a series of tests. The fate of Alf comes up before committee with Milfoil (Martin Sheen), Mulican (O'Leary) and Hill (Daggett) debating his future. Milfoil wants Alf incinerated Hill and Mulican want him to have human rights. Mulican decides to take matters into his own hands forcing the others to smuggle him out of the base and go on the run.

The film is not a work of art and is basically a silly excuse for laughs. And it is funny - a lot more than you'd think. The whole film plays with it's tongue in it's cheek - it knows not to take itself seriously. Alf may not be everyone's cup of tea but he is generally funny with his wise cracking - although several moments aren't funny and he can get quite annoying at times. The humans all play their parts well - Martin Sheen hams it up well and gets some good laughs while O'Leary and Daggett play their roles as Alf's straightmen well - and it's always good to see Miguel Ferrer (playing Dexter Moyers) as a bad guy in another small film! Special mention for Rocket the sarcastic robot who wins many of the laughs towards the end.

The plot may not be up to much but at least it tries - it has some twists that are obvious from the start, but that's not really what this is about. Everything about this is a setup for Alf to make jokes and wise cracks, and in that respect it does pretty well. Good support from Sheen, O'Leary and Daggett help along the way - Sheen in particular getting good laughs.

Word of warning - if you're not in the mood for Alf then don't watch this, wait until you want to laugh at silly jokes and then you'll like this.