Today’s quick review: Planet 51. Paranoia sweeps a peaceful alien town when human astronaut Chuck Baker (Dwayne Johnson) lands in their midst. Fearing that an invasion is at hand, General Grawl (Gary Oldman) mobilizes the military to hunt down the escaped human. But when Lem (Justin Long), an ordinary teenager, meets Chuck and realizes he’s not an enemy, it falls to Lem and his friends to get Chuck safely back to his ship.
Planet 51 is a family animated sci-fi adventure about an American astronaut lost on an Earth-like planet. The story follows Chuck and Lem as they avoid soldiers and citizens who think Chuck is a movie-style monster bent on conquering their planet. In spite of this colorful premise, Planet 51 does not find much to do with it. One-note humor, weak character work, and a basic plot make Planet 51 a movie that’s pleasant but ultimately unfulfilling.
Planet 51’s main shortcoming is that it only really has one joke. Apart from its green-skinned inhabitants and a few superficial details, Lem’s planet is a carbon copy of 1950s America, down to the clothes, technology, and taste in science fiction. This makes for a charming enough backdrop and an easy source of humor, but the movie never grows beyond it. Instead of building up its own flavor of comedy, Planet 51 keeps recycling the same cheap jokes.
Planet 51 also struggles with its characters. Before Chuck enters his life, Lem is a generic teenager with generic problems. There is no particular reason to sympathize with him or find him interesting. For his part, Chuck is more of a joke than a character. His egotistical personality means that he is entirely unfazed at discovering a planet full of human-like aliens, and he never develops the rapport with Lem needed to make their story touching.
Planet 51 is a fun romp that never figures out how to make its premise work. The movie’s inverted take on the usual boy-meets-alien story gives it an interesting hook, and its light tone makes it a pleasant enough watch even for skeptical viewers. But Planet 51 is missing the sharp humor and rich character development that family adventures are usually able to offer, making it a shallow film that is easy to skip.
For an animated sci-fi adventure with the inverse premise, try Escape from Planet Earth. For one with a similar flavor of 50s-inspired science fiction, try Monsters vs. Aliens. For one that puts a Cold War-era setting to better use, try The Iron Giant. For a somewhat flaky family comedy about an alien invasion, try Chicken Little. For a more energetic meeting of the worlds, try Home.
[6.0 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0762125/). I give it the same for a story that never clicks.