IMDb RATING
5.3/10
4.1K
YOUR RATING
Dimwitted Martians drop into a little Illinois town on the day that the local radio station happens to rebroadcast Orson Welles 1938 "War Of The Worlds".Dimwitted Martians drop into a little Illinois town on the day that the local radio station happens to rebroadcast Orson Welles 1938 "War Of The Worlds".Dimwitted Martians drop into a little Illinois town on the day that the local radio station happens to rebroadcast Orson Welles 1938 "War Of The Worlds".
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
Tonya Williams
- Ernestine
- (as Tonya Lee Williams)
James Eustermann
- Clown
- (as Jim Eusterman)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
I understand many will think "Spaced Invaders" a lame farce about little green men trying to take over Earth; but believe me, compared to "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," which I have just finished watching with my family, "Spaced Invaders," along with "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids", makes me weep with nostalgia for how low Disney has fallen in quality. While "Spaced Invaders" is the film of least quality of the trio I mentioned, it nonetheless has a cheeky sense of humor, with a wonderful script and actors (er, voice-over artists for the Martians) who make this film highly watchable (and with no lame CGI effects of dragons or fireballs to ruin the fun!).
The Martians themselves make a great team. Their antics and delusions of grandeur are insanely fun to watch. One person compared the ostensible military commander of the Martians to Invader Zim, the protagonist from the eponymous Nickelodeon cult classic, and I think it is an apt comparison. Why does one Martian have a Jack Nicholson voice? I don't care, and I love it. Enjoy the futile attempts of the Martians to get their jalopy of a spacecraft to go airborne, and their desperate fight against the hicks and yokels of Big, Bean, Illinois. The human robot slave is one of the coolest sidekicks I've seen, and his creation, a robot made from tractors and other farm machinery, is one of the best special effects I've seen in a Disney movie. How can you hate his best line: "the smell of battery acid makes me thirsty!"? Answer: you can't.
This is one movie where you root for the alien invaders all the way. The human, denizens of a small Midwestern farming town, are made to be less than sympathetic characters, especially the wicked banker named Clembecker (or whatever his name was). One of the good humans is a brilliant example of character design, a crazy, wiry old farmer named Wrenchmuller who has a way with words and with nitroglycerin. The kid in the duck costume who also speaks with a lisp is also fun to watch, though he isn't in the film all that much.
Don't take "Spaced Invaders" too seriously as a film, nor look for any important theme or message. Sit back and enjoy Disney before CGI and Jerry Bruckheimer eliminated any camp value the company once had.
The Martians themselves make a great team. Their antics and delusions of grandeur are insanely fun to watch. One person compared the ostensible military commander of the Martians to Invader Zim, the protagonist from the eponymous Nickelodeon cult classic, and I think it is an apt comparison. Why does one Martian have a Jack Nicholson voice? I don't care, and I love it. Enjoy the futile attempts of the Martians to get their jalopy of a spacecraft to go airborne, and their desperate fight against the hicks and yokels of Big, Bean, Illinois. The human robot slave is one of the coolest sidekicks I've seen, and his creation, a robot made from tractors and other farm machinery, is one of the best special effects I've seen in a Disney movie. How can you hate his best line: "the smell of battery acid makes me thirsty!"? Answer: you can't.
This is one movie where you root for the alien invaders all the way. The human, denizens of a small Midwestern farming town, are made to be less than sympathetic characters, especially the wicked banker named Clembecker (or whatever his name was). One of the good humans is a brilliant example of character design, a crazy, wiry old farmer named Wrenchmuller who has a way with words and with nitroglycerin. The kid in the duck costume who also speaks with a lisp is also fun to watch, though he isn't in the film all that much.
Don't take "Spaced Invaders" too seriously as a film, nor look for any important theme or message. Sit back and enjoy Disney before CGI and Jerry Bruckheimer eliminated any camp value the company once had.
Zany and fun -- that's all this movie is about! Don't think about trying to read too much into it. If you do, you'll be sorely disappointed. It's just a farcical take-off on monster movies and contains some real good slapstick moments. No violence, no sex, no foul language -- safe for the kids and fun for the adults!!
Spaced Invaders rocked! It was an awesome underrated movie that very well should definitely have gotten much better ratings. I saw it when it was out in the movie theatres eleven years ago. I thought it was incredibly funny and still think that way today. I think they should have made action figures and a sequel of this great movie.
After mistaking a Halloween re-broadcast of Orson Welles' classic radio adaptation of WAR OF THE WORLDS for a real Martian invasion, a group of moronic Martians shows up on Earth looking to conquer only their plans go awry as they find themselves truly out of their element and in reality all alone.
This really is often quite good and funny, with some decent lines (just check the memorable quotes) to boot. It will most likely appeal to Sci-Fi fans. This has passed the test of time for me as seeing it again recently it proved much better than I expected it to be. Despite a cast made up of no-name stars, this may just be the funniest Martian invasion ever put to film. Interestingly enough, the Martians themselves seem to represent almost every classic Action Hero/Sci-Fi Hero stereotype there is (cool 50s teen, fighter pilot, fearless astronaut, brave soldier and kooky scientist). Fun for the whole family.
"Prepare to DIE! Earth Scum!"
This really is often quite good and funny, with some decent lines (just check the memorable quotes) to boot. It will most likely appeal to Sci-Fi fans. This has passed the test of time for me as seeing it again recently it proved much better than I expected it to be. Despite a cast made up of no-name stars, this may just be the funniest Martian invasion ever put to film. Interestingly enough, the Martians themselves seem to represent almost every classic Action Hero/Sci-Fi Hero stereotype there is (cool 50s teen, fighter pilot, fearless astronaut, brave soldier and kooky scientist). Fun for the whole family.
"Prepare to DIE! Earth Scum!"
I thought this would be another goofball ET ripoff (like the awful "Nookie"), but it is, instead is light-heartedly enthusiastic, with clever dialog, and a generally don't-take-ourselves-too-seriously attitude that makes this a great late-night (or late-saturday-afternoon) entertainment. Give it a watch! "That's it! Take me to a Government Lab, and cut me into wafer thin sections."
Did you know
- TriviaThe actors performing as the Martians were virtually blind when the Martian heads were in place, so they had to be talked through their actions.
- GoofsIn the opening scene, when Sherrif Hoxley is getting a bottle of soda pop out of the machine and talking to Russell on his radio, reflected in the window over the machine are two rather-tall palm trees, trees which are not native to Big Bean, Illinois.
- How long is Spaced Invaders?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Space Invaders
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $3,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $15,369,573
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $4,474,336
- Apr 29, 1990
- Gross worldwide
- $15,369,573
- Runtime
- 1h 40m(100 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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