Hyper sapien: gli extraterrestri ci guardano

If you remember Talia Shire from the Rocky franchise or from The Godfather, you might be surprised that she has been very active as an executive producer, including this early effort in science fiction romance. Its also Keenan Wynn's last film and reminds viewers that he was a capable actor. This is a watchable movie, interspersed with pieces of plot that go nowhere (why is there a U. S. Senator wedged into the story and why is there an alleged assassination plot against her?) and an animatronic alien creature named Kirby who is both a plot device and comic relief. The editing choices also are peculiar and the other acting performances are mediocre. Still, its pleasant and, in the end, mildly suspenseful.

A group of humanoid aliens travel to Earth after intercepting broadcast transmissions from radio and television establishing a base on the moon to observe humans. On one journey by the aliens to the surface, two alien children Robyn (Sydney Penny) and Tavy (Rosie Marcel) and a Trilat (three eyed creature with three appendages) stowaway on board and wind up on land near Aladdin, Wyoming in the hopes of proving to their people they can live among the humans. They encounter Robert "Dirt" McAlpin (Ricky Paull Goldin) while he checks for gaps in the fencing along his family's land and after learning they're aliens helps them by taking them to his Grandpa (Keenan Wynn) to ensure their safety as their Uncle Aric (Dennis Holahan) looks for them before their discovered.

Hyper Sapien: People From Another Star is a 1986 Science Fiction family film that like many similar films of the time was an attempt to capitalize on the success and popularity of E. T.. The film was initially announced as a project for director Michael Wadleigh who also wrote the script, but following his departure (with conflicting reports saying he was either asked to leave or he quick after frustration with the animatronics), Peter R. Hunt took over with Wadleigh replacing his writing and story credit with "Christopher Blue". The distribution was initially acquired by Tri-Star Pictures with the intention of giving it a July 1996 release, but Tri-Star later decided to release it in December of that year and gave it a limited theatrical run with most of its exposure seemingly having been through cable when it aired on outlets such as The Disney Channel. If I had to guess, Tri-Star also released the similarly E. T. inspired Short Circuit that year and they probably decided that would be the better bet in comparison to Hyper Sapien and you certainly couldn't fault them for thinking that because of all the E. T. knock-offs and clones of the 80s....this sure is one of them I guess.

While I say this is an E. T. clone, that's really only part of it because with the two humanoid aliens who come with the Trilat, it's also a little bit like Escape to Witch Mountain (only with no sense of urgency). For the first 70 minutes of the movie there's no real conflict and our characters mostly amble around the Canadian landscapes doubling for Wyoming engaging basically spinning their wheels until the movie rushes through a conflict in the last 20 minutes because rather than creating character or investment it's more focused on filling just enough time to go to "feature length". The aliens aren't particularly interesting or special with their gimmick of understanding humanity through TV broadcast something that was done much better in Explorers and while the Trilat Kirbi is somewhat unique in design with his three eyes and three limbs, he's not really all that interesting and does little aside from his appearance at distinguishing himself from other E. T. clones. The one element that I can say is genuinely good is Arthur B. Rubinstein's score for the film which has that sweeping feeling of whimsy many Spielberg inspired films strive for and to the film's credit the score does bring some life to that flat, conventional TV movie like approach of the film.

Hyper Sapien is a movie that feels like it was designed in the same manner as an architecture project or a utility system, it has a purpose that it needs to do and if it does it: it's a success. It's the kind of movie that challenges you to remember anything about it because it's such a banal and soulless product you can't even have much emotional response to it. At least with their worst E. T. knock-offs like the "so bad it's good" stupidity of Mac and Me or the grating annoyance of Nukie leave impressions on you, Hyper Sapien doesn't.

Three aliens–two girls who look like they've been dragged through a bush backwards and a three-eyed, three-limbed, petrol-drinking fur-ball with dubious looking facial folds and orifices—try to prove to their people that mankind is ready for extraterrestrial contact by stowing aboard a craft to Earth and taking off for the wilds of Wyoming, where they are befriended by rancher's son 'Dirt'.

Although this fairly unremarkable family friendly sci-fi adventure is predictable, saccharine sweet and extremely cheesy, its story about wide-eyed innocents exploring Earth about as twee as one could imagine, the whole thing is simply far too good-natured for me to really dislike it. The special effects are fairly impressive (with kudos going to the creators and puppeteers of three-eyed beastie Kirbi), the direction from Peter R. Hunt is more than adequate, and its potentially nauseating wholesome characters are surprisingly appealing, ageing star Keenan Wynn giving a particularly winning performance as Dirt's wise old grandfather (the actor's final performance).

N.B. Actress Rosie Marcel, who plays Hyper Sapien's gap-toothed alien moppet Tavy, currently stars as feline-faced surgeon Jacqueline "Jac" Naylor in popular BBC medical drama Holby City. She now sports much sleeker hair.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

Now, I can happily say that I did NOT rent this movie. This horrible film was on a Sci-Fi channel late one night, and I laughed so hard for so long watching it!

The acting is bad. The special effects are real bad. The hair is the worst. The girls' hair changes colour every scene ("due to the Earth's sun"), it's bigger than Dolly Parton's hair on a bad hair day after she's been in the wind for 36 hours; and their father/spaceguy leader who's looking for them could very well be the newest "before" picture in a Grecian 5 commercial.

This movie is sick - there's no other way to put it. Rent it simply for a good laugh.

The film is not all that bad but it's really geared for the kids to much for me to really enjoy and not like and not as good as E.T. but it is somewhat enjoyable. If you have kids and like Sci-Fi (or your kids do) then this is an entertaining family film.

The film movie had it's moments of being okay (from adult perspective) and I'm sure if I watched this one as a kid I would have liked it. Actually I'm surprised I've never seen this one before but then again I was 14 in 1986 and this film is geared for a younger than 10 years old audience I believe.

I would recommend this movie for a family styled Sci-Fi movie night/day. I'm sure the kids would enjoy it with that 3-eyed, 3-legged monster thingy running around who's about as annoying as Jar-Jar Binks.

4/10