Review of Escape from Planet Earth (2013) by Thomas W — 24 Jul 2013

I have no idea who would ever greenlight or produce an animated film about aliens -- a variety of them -- getting stuck on THE planet earth in which/on which EVERY human being appears to be either resoundingly daft, cruel or dumb.

The entire human race is depicted as lost in this film in order to be the villains these "cute" aliens are supposed want to escape from as the only "decent" earthlings on display are a set of bumbling simpletons who always have the "munchies" and believe towels are optional.

To be fair I will point out it isn't ever stated whether or not these guys are either simple or stoned ... but that says something about both the film and decency and hope of the human race, no? Escape from Planet Earth is much like other films that have come before it -- how many animated alien movies have come and gone over the years? -- and it offers up nothing new.

One narcissistic alien astronaut becomes stranded on earth after a botched mission and instead of leaving him to whatever his fate was going to be -- as NO alien has ever "come back" from planet earth the movie proclaims -- his mission control brother stages a rescue.

There are a couple of other aliens stranded on earth and the military general and officials at Area 51 are all either bug-eyed crazy militaristic chauvinists or mindless zombies obeying every order who trip over one another and don't know left from right (to get laughs .

.. and insult us). While a younger audience might be thrilled with the funny-looking aliens and the colors on display onscreen, an older discerning viewer will most likely feel insulted. The message of the film is supposed to be that the scrawny smart kid can save the day .

.. but how smart is it to make a film insulting everyone who is going to watch it? The humans are bad here and we have no redeeming qualities. This is a very sad film ... and that isn't a good thing as it was not a term of endearment.