ALIENS IN THE ATTIC - Blu-ray review

I can remember seeing the trailer for "Aliens in the Attic" and thinking the film could be a lot of fun. It reminded me of previous "sci-fi" children's films such as "Flight of the Navigator" and while it certainly wasn't the kind of movie to pull in any awards or strong critical response, the strong negative backlash towards the film kept me from hitting the multiplexes to witness this mix of CGI animation and live action. I've always been a sucker for cheesy and fun entertainment and "Aliens in the Attic" looked like a movie that had a lot of potential for this. Just the sight of "Everybody Love Raymond" star Doris Roberts taking a kung fu stance was enough to perk my interest. Hearing J.K. Simmons voice an alien and "The Ladies Man" Tim Meadows was almost enough for me to want to take my young nephew out to see the film.

I'm glad I didn't go. After watching "Aliens in the Attic" on Blu-ray I am less than impressed and felt that while the picture was affable enough to watch from beginning to end, it was not worth spending too many of my hard earned dollars. This is a great movie for younger children to watch on a rainy Saturday afternoon, but it is not a film for anybody over the age of ten to particularly enjoy. "Aliens in the Attic" is horribly silly and while it does throw in a few jokes for older audiences, the action is far too cartoonish and childish to be enjoyable by anybody who does not love "Dora the Explorer" or "Spongebob." The filmmakers were far too influenced by the Nintendo Wii to appeal to the Xbox and Playstation crowd to entice even young teenagers.

In the film, Stuart Petersen (Kevin Nealon) is taking his family out for a vacation to go fishing and travel to their large summer house with members of the extended family. This includes grandmother Nana (Doris Roberts), Uncle Nate (Andy Richter) and his family. The Petersen children include youngest daughter Hannah (Ashley Boettcher) and the eldest sister Bethany (Ashley Tisdale) as well as Tom (Carter Jenkins). Tom is the film's central character and he would rather hack the school computer instead of fishing and his dropping grades has been a cause for concern for his parents and places him under the ire of Stuart. The family is joined by Bethany's college age and Camaro driving boyfriend Ricky (Robert Hoffman).

The story moves along and the family finds the satellite dish has been damaged. Ricky and Tom head to the roof to fix the satellite dish and they discover the four-armed alien called Sparks (Josh Peck). He seems friendly enough, but his leader Skip (J.K. Simmons) and the always arguing Tazor (Thomas Hayden Church) and Razor (Kari Wahlgren) feel that humans should be imprisoned and the pint-sized invaders attack Tom and Ricky. Ricky is placed under mind control where a motion-sensing controller allows the aliens to control his every move and use him as a weapon, but the devices do not work on immature humans and Tom is able to avoid being taken control of by the aliens. Later in the film Nana is also placed under mind control and the big fight between Nana and Ricky was one of the trailer's highlights.

There are a number of subplots that unfold as the film continues. Ricky and Bethany's relationship comes under strain as he acts unusual due to the mind control. Hannah becomes friends with the ‘nerdy' alien Sparks and it is revealed that a device has been hidden buried under the vacation home that will allow the Zirkonians to invade Earth as they can supersize and then send beacons into space to call in the invasion force. While Stuart is a nerdy father, Uncle Nate is the fast driving Uncle who brings illegal fireworks and this mirrors their sons Tom and Jake (Austin Butler). Tim Meadows has a small supporting role as the small town sheriff who is the only lawmen in town as his deputy is off on maternity leave. The children try to keep the aliens a secret from the mind-control susceptible adults.

I've not seen a single "High School Musical" film and although I've seen "Donnie Darko" a couple times I had zero knowledge of who Ashley Tisdale was before watching "Aliens in the Attic." In truth, the complete young cast of "Aliens in the Attic" was alien to me. The ‘mature' actors in the film included Kevin Nealon, Andy Richter, Tom Meadows and Doris Roberts from "Everybody Loves Raymond." Veteran actors Thomas Hayden Church and the always entertaining J.K. Simmons provide voice talent. While this isn't a bad overall cast, the recognizable faces were either underutilized or poorly utilized and added little to no entertainment value in the film. Only Doris Roberts stood out among "the adults." Tisdale seemed to be cast due to her popularity among "tweenage" girls and given a bikini to draw in similarly aged boys. Young Ashley Boettcher was very cute and the only standout among the younger actors.

Director John Schultz last directed the ‘urbanized' version of "The Honeymooners" that placed Cedric the Entertainer into the iconic shoes of Jackie Gleason and his previous claim to fame before that picture was Lil' Bow Wow's "Like Mike." Neither films received much positive praise and his other projects leave a lot to be desired. While he may not be blazing a trail to the A-List of directors, Schultz does a credible job with creating an action film for kids. Watching "Aliens in the Attic" reminded me in tone of the 1998 Joe Dante film "Small Soldiers" and while I don't feel this picture can speak to adults, Schultz seems to understand what children enjoy. Some credit must be given to Shultz and the young actors for their performances against CGI creations and there are adult actors who have difficulty acting against actors who aren't really there.

Would I watch "Aliens in the Attic" again? Probably not. Would I recommend the film to any teenager or older viewer? Again, probably not. However, I would have no problem whatsoever of throwing the title into the video disc player and letting my young neighbor laugh heartedly at the happenings on screen. I'd prefer this picture over another "Spongebob" adventure. This film was intended to a given audience and it is one of those pictures that isn't going to transcend beyond its given demographics, but young boys will especially enjoy the film and especially the slapstick hilarity of motion controlled adults. Sure, there are far better genre pictures than this, but the movie is harmless and has gained a stamp of approval by the Dove Foundation, which is used by some parents to select titles for their children to view.

Video:

It is a pretty safe generalization to say that computer animated films always looks stellar in high definition on Blu-ray. I've seen a few that are average, but the majority are above average. That makes the partially CGI animated "Aliens in the Attic" a curiosity as some of the characters are computer derived, while much of the film is live-action. I found the transfer to be fairly average across the board and that the aliens were not nearly as sharp as their Pixar counterparts. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as it allows the higher resolution aliens to look fairly good against their fleshy human counterparts. Sometimes a little less resolution can be a good thing. Colors are strong and flesh tones are accurate. The Bumblebee colored fourth generation Camaro is very good looking. Black levels and shadow detail may not be the strongest, but look good during the basement and attic scenes in the film. Everything is clean.

Audio:

Although it is a film intended for younger audiences, "Aliens in the Attic" is still an action film at heart and there are a number of decent sounding action scenes. The film's biggest moments are when the super-sized Zirkonians are on the rampage, but where this DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix excels is in the minor details. A scene late in the film where Skip tries to take control of Tim Meadows character has the mind control dart bounce harmlessly from his badge. The sound of Tom stepping onto the dart sounds wonderful. There are not a huge number of moments that fill all six channels, but this movie impresses when it needs to. Compared to a big Hollywood action film, "Aliens in the Attic" would be comparable in size to a Zirkonian, but the film holds its own well enough.

Extras:

After about a dozen minutes of promotional trailers, the first disc of the two disc set for "Aliens in the Attic" begins. The second disc is a Digital Copy of Aliens in the Attic for Portable Media Players. The first disc includes Introductions to the Film and Special Features with Ashley Tisdale. The introduction (:21) has the actress briefly introduce the film. Nothing of detail is included here. Introductions to Special Features with Ashley Tisdale (:21) is another near pointless introduction. Nothing on the disc requires either Profile 1.1 or Profile 2.0. Aside from the digital copy, the remaining items are all stand-alone items that can be selected from the "Special Features" menu and nothing is included to watch during the film.

Some of the stand-alone items are additional content. The Alternate Ending(2:48) does not feature the final textures and is roughly animated, but shows a different possible ending to the film where nothing is radically different, but has different characters doing slightly different things. The small collection of three Deleted Scenes (3:34) includes a fun bit featuring Tim Meadows having problems with gravity and an alternate "resolution" scene. A fairly longGag Reel (4:54) is included. The Animated Short Behind the Zirkonians (15:26) is the main bonus item on the disc. This is a traditionally animated short with a cheesy theme song and comic book styling. This is definitely for kids. Meet the Zirkonians Interactive Featurette allows the user to browse the aliens and get information on each of the four Zirkonians. This was a nice addition to the disc.

The remaining items pertain more to the making of the film. The Ashley Encounters (4:09) features the two young actresses named Ashley (Tisdale and Boettcher) hosting a short making-of featurette to promote the film. Kung Fu Grandma (1:01) is a brief trailer that capitalizes on the scene where Doris Roberts is under alien motion control technology against the song "Eye of the Tiger." This is extreme cheese and was funny. The Brian Anthony "Electricity" Music Video (1:36) is a music video featuring clips and a song from the film. Finally, the Fox Movie Channel Presents Life after Film School with Barry Jospehson (27:31) is the behind-the-scenes promotional show that was shown on the Fox Movie Channel to promote "Aliens in the Attic." It is mildly informative and has good information from the film's producer as he is interviewed by three interviewers.

Closing:

"Aliens in the Attic" is a science fiction film for the Nickelodeon crowd. The film tries to entertain an older audience that may have driven the nine-year-old to see this picture, but many of its older-skewed jokes fail miserably. This is a film intended solely for the younger crowd that can find enjoyment from a Wii console longer after adults have grown tired of the gimmick. While the young actors are not overly familiar, the supporting adults are far more famous, but grossly underused. Poor Tim Meadows definitely deserved better and Andy Richter will always be just a sidekick. The Blu-ray shows off good sight and sound that will easily impress younger audiences. The special features are not spectacular and will likely only entertain young children to a small degree before they are off to fantasize about potato guns and paintball guns. I'd recommend this over "Spongebob" any day, but considering my disdain for the seasponge, that isn't really saying a lot.