Escape from planet earth movie#

Back home on planet Baab, brother Gary and his son Kip (Jonathan Morgan Heit) decide Gary should head over to the third rock from the sun and rescue him. When Scorch lands at a 7-Eleven near the notorious Area 51 in New Mexico, he’s captured by the nefarious General Shanker ( William Shatner). James Bing says the Dark Planet is the “only known world where evolution is happening in reverse” and its inhabitants “worship money, soup, dental floss and Simon Cowell.” Does this place sound familiar? James Bing ( Ricky Gervais).Ī cheeky though family-friendly version of HAL, Mr. Only Scorch’s nerdy brother Gary ( Rob Corddry) at Mission Control is trying to prevent him from embarking on this potentially hazardous journey, but Scorch is undeterred despite the less-than-promising description of the Dark Planet given by a computer called Mr. He’s excited to go on a mission to the “Dark Planet” - a place so dangerous and mysterious, no one ever returns. If that tack ranges from functional to reductive, it’s at least largely in keeping with the overall tone of this material.Scorch Supernova ( Brendan Fraser) is a blue-skinned alien astronaut from planet Baab who’s more in love with his fame than the adventure of space travel.

Escape from planet earth movie#

Ricky Gervais provides a few delights as the voice of Gary’s computer assistant, but the movie otherwise leans on its supporting vocal players (including George Lopez, Craig Robinson, Jane Lynch, Sofia Vergara and the aforementioned Shatner) to basically do “bits” that ape the rhythms of their famous voices. The character of Scorch, a cocksure space explorer, is a deep, ahem, homage to Buzz Lightyear of the Toy Story films, and Fraser’s swaggering-himbo vocal turn channels Tim Allen by way of Patrick Warburton. While there is a lot of movement within frames, which helps creates an unflagging sense of energy sure to help hold the attention of younger viewers, so much seems left unexplored, both visually and narratively. The film’s animation style is second-tier, lacking the attention to background detail of Pixar’s efforts. But it doesn’t let Scorch and Gary really discover any of their misconceptions about Earth - potentially rich comedic terrain - and the movie’s frenzied tone mostly reflects a lack of trust in its characterisations, which are quite wan. The script has a small handful of fun moments, including a silly food fight and a mock-educational filmstrip which assesses Earth as a place of evolution in reverse. Swallowing his considerable nervousness, Gary heads to Earth to break his brother free, and help save the day.ĭirected by Cal Brunker, Escape From Planet Earth unfolds as a slap-sticky light-and-noise show, where two seconds of consecutive silence is frowned upon and three unthinkable. In short order, however, Scorch is captured by General Shanker (William Shatner), a gruff and power-hungry military man who’s amassed a collection of all sorts of different aliens in the dusty American Southwest, as part of his plan to build a special asteroid gun. When space programme chief Lena Thackleman (Jessica Alba) gets word of a situation on Earth, Scorch shrugs off an argument with Gary and bounds off on another mission, this time solo. Assisting Scorch on missions is his by-the-rules, danger-averse brother, Gary (Rob Corddry), who works in mission control at the space programme and just wants to provide a nice life for his wife Kira (Sarah Jessica Parker) and son Kip (Jonathan Morgan Heit), the latter of whom idolises Scorch. The movie opens on the planet Baab, where astronaut Scorch Supernova (Brendan Fraser) is a master of daring rescues and a national hero to his fellow spindly, blue-hued compatriots. Instead, the movie should realise most of its value in ancillary home video markets, where it can dutifully occupy the under-eight set for a while. The film’s animation style is second-tier, lacking the attention to background detail of Pixar’s efforts.Īnimated movies are of course big business, but it’s hard to envision Escape From Planet Earth mustering enough positive word-of-mouth to carve out a franchise beachhead. Unremittingly bland conflict and stock characterisations mar what could have been the much more cleverly executed concept of a bunch of desperate aliens who band together to foil the power-grab of a military general gone mad, and get off of an uncivilised Earth.

A hollow centre, in the form of a decided lack of ambition, lies underneath the colourful candy shell of Escape From Planet Earth, a peppy and at times downright manic animated adventure that eschews much in the way of substance in serving up a familiar story that will connect best with undemanding family audiences and younger viewers.