Les zévadés de l'espace

'ESCAPE FROM PLANET EARTH': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

An animated sci-fi adventure film about a popular astronaut hero from another planet who becomes trapped on Earth and has to be rescued by his computer nerd brother. The all-star voice cast includes Brendan Fraser, Rob Corddry, Ricky Gervais, William Shatner, Jessica Alba, Sofia Vergara, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jane Lynch, Craig Robinson, George Lopez, Steve Zahn and Chris Parnell. It's directed by first time feature film director, and former storyboard artist, Carl Brunker and written by Brunker, Bob Barlen, Tony Leech and Cory Edwards. The animation is colorful and fun to look at and the cast is impressive as well but the story and scene content is pretty simplistic. I liked the monster movie sci-fi send-up though.

Scorch Supernova (Fraser) is a popular astronaut superhero, of sorts, on his home planet Baab. He's looked up to by many there but his brother, Gary (Corddry), is the brains behind their team and he always guides the dimwitted Scorch through his missions, from the BASA base where they work. Gary never gets any of the credit though and even his own son Kip (Jonathan Morgan Heit) idolizes Scorch. When their boss, Lena (Alba), orders Scorch to travel to the 'Dark Planet' (Earth), in response to an SOS there, Gary knows it's a bad idea (due to the fact that no other alien life form has ever returned from there). He advises Scorch not to go on the mission but Scorch ignores him and the two get in a huge fight when Gary quits. Scorch goes on the mission without his brother's help, for the first time, and is captured and imprisoned at Area 51. It's of course up to Gary to save him.

The animation is beautiful to look at and has a lot of character to it, unfortunately the story doesn't. It's about as simplistic and by the numbers as you can get. I like a lot of the actors in this cast (especially Corddry, Gervais and Vergara) but their talents are wasted here. Fraser is perfectly cast as the dimwitted hero, once again, but he's the only star that really adds anything special to his role (which is funny because he's arguably the least talented). Like I said the whole Area 51 monster movie send-up is fun but that's about it. It should please kids but other than some great looking animation and a decent score (including a cool song by Owl City) the film has little else to offer adults.

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It's no Frozen of course, but some light fun with aliens for the whole family with some awesome animation.

Much like the, certainly better, "A Cat in Paris", the generically titled "Escape from Planet Earth" inhabits the lower bounds of what can be considered a theatrical release. Essentially, the movie is Sesame Street's Earnie and Burt were aliens from the planet Bob (spelled "BAAB") held captive on "the Dark Planet" (earth) by "Dr. Stangelove's..." General Turgidson (voiced by the incomparable William Shatner) with predictable outcomes. Dissimilar from similar recent children's cartoon fair ("Monsters vs. Aliens", "Hotel Transylvania", etc.) the film does not contain referential humor and smart asides aimed at the supervising adults or the brighter little nippers. The film does contain all of the color and motion you would expect from bringing to the kids to see the "Madgascar" series and the soundtrack here is actually slightly superior as it relies less on 1990's dance tunes (yes, there is the requisite dance number at the end that all the animated characters - whether they survived or not - participate in). In short, wait for this short, empty calorie trifle to make it to pay-per-view on your cable box for a fraction of the cost.

Along with bird flick Adventures of Zambezia, this animated alien escapade has been stuck in the large shadow cast by Dreamworks' The Croods this school holiday period. Which, frankly, is completely expected, yet also a bit of a shame. Escape never soars to great heights, in fact it's happy to just coast along in second gear for the most part, but there's a simplicity and lack of self-knowingness to it which is uncommon for family outings these days, making it somewhat refreshing. There are very few pop culture winks and nods, and even less gags for adults, with the focus predominantly on crafting a fun, and funny, film for the kiddies. The animation is noticeably cut-price, the story is unoriginal and the voice cast is a who's who of of C-grade talent - Brendan Fraser as the dimwitted hero, Rob Corrdry as his brainy brother, William Shatner as the nefarious human villain, plus Sarah Jessica Parker, Steve Zahn, Jane Lynch and Craig Robinson to boot - however the tempo is quick, the jokes are frequent and the action sequences are full of gusto; everything a little critter wants from a trip to the cinema.

Escape from Planet Earth is a good movie for kids. It's funny, and colorful. However, do not think that it's bringing anything new to the table. It's nice entertainment, without any real disappointment, but it's a light meal.

It's real and only strength lies in the slick and extremely colorful graphics. they have their own style and there's not denying the appeal or the design of the alien home world.

The rest is merely acceptable. The story is linear, the scenario unimaginative, and the dialogs simple.

I liked it because it was fun, but don't expect much out of it and you won't be disappointed.