Early Saturday morning, we trooped out in the cold to pre-screen the movie “Escape from Planet Earth” and boy, is it a fun romp and a cute story (the commercials do NOT do it justice!)!!
The jokes range from classic alien humor to the “evil” of humanity (a bit of a social statement, but not enough to hit you over the head).
The 3-d effects didn’t seem contrived and seemed to fit the movie, and there were some fun “in your face moments” that the kids just loved!
Gary (Rob Corddry), head of mission control at BASA is a loveable “button-pusher”, great at what he does! However, he’s eclipsed by his brother , astronaut Scorch Supernova (Brendan Fraser) who is a national hero to the blue alien population..including product endorsements and throngs of adoring fans.
Scorch jumps at a dangerous mission to go to Earth, commonly known as “the dark planet”, where throngs of aliens have disappeared through the years – NO one has ever returned (dum, dum, dum!!!!) The evil Shanker, one of earth’s finest (played by William Shatner – love the Elvis wig) captures Scorch and it’s up to nerdy Gary to go rescue him.
There are tons of hysterical jokes and gags, the kids favorites were the computer (Mr Bing, James Bing), who’s voiced by Ricky Gervais who busts out some hysterical computer humor and the aliens they meet inside Area 51 are funny and likable. The “grey aliens” (your traditional big head, big eye aliens) offer a plot twist at the end. I think what we all most liked about the humor is that it ranged from slapstick-silly to intellectual humor that my husband and I laughed at.
Don’t’ miss this one – seriously, it’s going to become a classic in our home!
