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Planet
51
The malt shops
have booming business, the jukeboxes blare that rock and
roll stuff and yet everybody still knows everybody else
and says howdy with a smile. It's the fabulous fifties,
complete with backyard barbecues and kids gathering at the
local movie house to see the latest cheap sci-fi horror
movie. Just for good measure, a creeping xenophobia lurks
underneath everybody's green smiles.
Yes, green -
because despite completely parallel cultural development,
this isn't Earth; it's Planet 51. Doesn't that sound
clever?
Well, it's reasonably
clever, and a sound way to examine the conformity of the
fifties, especially when American astronaut Captain Charles
T. Baker (Dwayne Johnson) lands and claims a backyard in
the name of the United States. Of course everyone panics,
though some think it's a publicity stunt for the latest
movie in the "Humaniacs" franchise. So it's up to high school
senior Lem (Justin Long) to find a way to sneak Chuck back
to his capsule so he can get back to his powerful warpship
and get home to Earth.
Clever, yes,
but Planet 51 also has occasional huge chasms in
plotting in order to generate both mild suspense and mild
humor. Eventually one has time to wonder how this planet
developed so identically to middle America, right down to
language (nope - it's not translated for our benefit; they
speak English), music and movies. Fashion, too, seems almost
identical, though women wear skirts and men go pantsless.
Then again,
you might wonder why NASA would send someone like Baker
on a major intergalactic mission in the first place. Clearly
modeled after Johnson's more comedic film roles as an affable
but self-absorbed lunkhead, Baker doesn't seem the least
bit qualified for the job. He even says he isn't, until
the climactic moment when he suddenly is.
At least we
have the universal and unreasoning language of paranoia,
here exemplified by General Grawl (Gary Oldman) and Professor
Kipple (John Cleese). In space, British actors still play
villains.
Still, it's
a good-natured movie that just doesn't bother much with
logic. The sixties are encroaching, but with protest singers
that offer polite suggestions, not revolutionary slogans.
All the aliens drive floating circular vehicles, but insist
on referring to Baker's lunar module as a flying saucer.
And for pets, they keep black creatures that look like a
cross between Alien and Sam Kieth's Iz; cute enough, if
not for its tendency to urinate acid.
In defense
of these people, they can't see past the nose on their face,
only partly because they have no noses. Strangely, this doesn't
do much to lessen the attractiveness of Jessica Biel's Neera.
Planet
51 was directed by a trio of video game directors, and
it does prove that to some extent, the skills translate
between media. In fact, I saw an ad for the videogame last
week and couldn't tell the difference. Baker moves a lot
like Johnson; it might have been a slightly more interesting
movie if they'd just gone ahead and tried to juxtapose the
live actor with the animated environment. As it is, though,
it proves that Johnson has charisma even when a cartoon.
Kids
love him, and they'll love Planet 51. It just gets
a little tiresome for adults, just like a lot of kids' videogames.
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