Review: 'Planet 51'

Bill Goodykoontz | Gannett

'Planet 51' offers alien life lessons

"Planet 51" is kids' stuff.

That's not a bad thing. Nor is it a great thing. It's just an observation that in many ways the movie is as old-school as the 1950s world it depicts.

Not our world, mind you. That's the premise of "Planet 51" - it begins by lightly veiling the fact that it takes place on another planet, billions of miles away from Earth. Lem (voice of Justin Long) is a teenager who's just gotten an underling's job at the local planetarium; suitably emboldened, he's even working on asking out Neera (Jessica Biel).

It's into this cozy little world that Capt. Charles T. "Chuck" Baker (Dwayne Johnson) lands. He's an American astronaut who thinks he's on a mindless mission to pick up some rock samples on the presumably uninhabited planet, then switch on the autopilot in his spacecraft and head for home as a conquering hero.

Shoot-first Gen. Grawl (Gary Oldman) wants to find the uninvited visitor, whom he's certain means harm to the planet; so does Professor Kipple (John Cleese), who wants to remove his brain and study it.

Offering varying degrees of amusement along the way are lots of in-joke references to other movies, including "E.T.," "Star Wars" and "WALL-E."

"Planet 51" isn't as good as "Up." It doesn't try to be. And if you are 8 years old, you probably won't mind that a bit.