My Uncle the Alien

My review summary says it all. This movie is really very good.

The only thing that would make it better would be if Chris Eliot played some of the roles. Also, they should have re-animated Scatman Cruthers to have a cameo in it. Its also interesting that Roman Polanski has a small (uncredited) part in the movie, toward the end when the alien spaceship lands on the White House. It's surprising that he didn't get arrested, as there had been an outstanding warrant for him since the 70's. I guess that's why he was uncredited. Or maybe they just shot the scene in Europe. It would be interesting to find out either way. Its so funny because it's true! Everyone should go out and see "My Uncle the Alien" today!

Kelly, the President's daughter, is dismayed that a Los Angeles homeless shelter may be closing. She wants to help it remain open so she arranges a way for herself to sneak away from the Secret Service. Trouble is, on the streets of LA, she is recognized and kidnapped, along with a homeless young teen. They try to escape, time and time again but are always thwarted. Kelly insists she has an alien "uncle" who can rescue them. Just what is taking this green-faced angel so long? This was one poor, poor movie, despite the cute cover. Most of it is just chase, escape, chase again. The alien does not even enter the picture until late in the fourth quarter. The young girl playing Kelly does not really do a bad job and the rest of the cast is adequate. It is the writing and story that is just abysmal, along with the production values. Perhaps you have a child who would rather sit in front of the tube than do anything else in life. If so, you might want to experiment with him or her and find out just how long they can endure this mess. Otherwise, there is no earthly reason to see My Uncle is an Alien.

My Uncle: The Alien. That title. Oh boy. I have been dreading the day that I had to watch this film and well, that day has come. Sometimes before I watch a film, I tend to look at the ratings for the film I am about to watch (though that might not be a good idea). Seeing how low of a score this film got just made me not want to watch this film. But, I did and I was surprised. I cannot pull out a whole lot of information about this film. All that I can find out is that this film was directed by Henri Charr who has not directed anything that I know (mostly mediocre low budget films by my guess) but has remained fairly active throughout the years. Nothing else is really notable about this film (other than I watched this film as part of the Echo Bridge 8 Family Movie Collection).

Kelly is the President's daughter. On Christmas, she goes from Washington DC to Los Angles to a home for homeless children where she has some friends. Everyone learns that a vote to keep these type of homes open did not go in their favor. Kelly has a plan to help everyone but when she escapes, she then is kidnapped by some goons along with this other homeless kid. Oh and their is this alien who is Kelly's "Uncle".

Notice how the plot of this film lacks the titular character. This film is called "My Uncle: The Alien". I expect there to be an alien. Trust me, there is an alien. But, he only appears in the very beginning (even then he is not really seen), the very end where he gives a dumb speech, and thorughout the middle of the film his appearances are scattered. Thankfully, someone did my job for me and I was able to find out that Uncle does not make an appearance in the film until 39 minutes into this film. With all of that being said, Uncle does look good. I am pretty sure he is done with animatronic work and it looks pretty good for a film like this. Sure, there are certain features that I do not like. For example, the eyes. Also, his voice sounds really really weird but thankfully he only talks in the very beginning and very end. Also, does Uncle even need to be in this film? He does not do anything in this film at all and his scenes really do suck. Also, what type of relationship do Uncle and Kelly have? I feel as if I missed out on a film and this is the sequel. But no, this is the only My Uncle: The Alien movie. So, Uncle sucks, surely the rest of the film sucks just as bad as Uncle does. Right? Actually no. If you honestly take out the alien part of this film, this could be a 90s film that would be bad, but have a following of sorts. Much like alot of the comedies of the 90s. The acting is not great but not bad. I know, there is no character development. But that is all what is usually present in a crappy cult 90s comedy. So, there are a lot of those tropes. Sure, the politics are boring but I suppose the two goons make up for that boring political crap. These two guys are actually fun to watch. There is one particular scene where they are trying to get ahold of the President to demand a ransom but they keep getting redirected and at one point get redirected to the White House kitchen. That is quite funny actually. There are not too many other scenes like that but when there are, they are quite fun to watch. An annoyance that occurs in this film is the constant references to other films which are all better than this film. I do not know why, but it makes me want to watch those referenced films. There is a lot to nitpick about this film. For example, there is a scene where the police are chasing after a van and all of a sudden it disappears. No problem. But the police and FBI are like "It must have been the shadows". Clearly there are no shadows. It is kind of laughable. A lot of this film is basically amauter cinematography with plenty of goofs to keep me entertained.

My Uncle: The Alien is not as bad as I would have hoped. Honestly, if you took out the alien aspect, this film might have a following. The acting is not that bad, the story is not really strong. Yes, I am disappointed that I did not get the out of this world adventure that was promised. But, it is what it is.

This has to be the worst film of all time. The presidents' daughter runs away to get some funding for a youth hostel where her friends live, gets kidnapped by a pair of losers and meets up with a sassy skateboard kid. Utter Crap.

A totally random story with rubbish poundshop ET alien in it that doesn't show up until the last five minutes, spouts some inspirational crap to the president's daughter, then buggers off to his spaceship and says he never will return- Great!

Truly, Truly Awful. You will never see a worse film than this, unless it's a snuff film of a close family member.

That line, said by the "tuff, kewl homeless kid" Zeke pretty much sums the movie up.

As every review mentions, the titular uncle doesn't interact with anyone until the 1 hour 19 minute mark, before that he is seen in only a few scenes, which is a shame because the animatronics on him are way better than I was expecting. When he speaks however he will drive you up the wall, they gave him a raspy old woman voice and he ends every sentence with "mmm" or "ohmm".

It's clear they had a low budget, but when you market your film as an ET-type movie, kids will expect the actual alien, not a lame kidnap movie. The filmmakers should have chosen one genre to stick with. If they went the kidnap adventure type they could have had a bit more money for set pieces with the saved money on no animatronic alien.

Instead, we have a uneven curio that while it will draw viewers in with its oddball title and hilarious cover, it's destined to disappoint.