Escape from Planet Earth (2013)

As a fan of animated features, I figured that this was a good opportunity to start the year off with some fun and fancy. Escape from Planet Earth looked from the trailer as if it was a story of captured aliens farmed out to work for free, inventing all the convenient gadgets that mere Earthlings could never have conceived. That concept was taken directly from Men in Black but that didn't dismay me I still expected a pretty good story to unfold. It turned out that this was one of the best looking worst written stories that I have had an opportunity to view lately. The animation was first rate, and I thought that would translate into a first rate film. It was sometimes hard to stay in the moment, my thoughts strayed numerous times. The first half hour was just a series of animated physical comedy that was not particularly funny, stepping on a broom and being popped in the face is just plain unoriginal and old. I believe that the issue with this story was that it was trying so hard to be good by adding in all the elements that make for a good movie that it somehow missed the mark. There was at the very foundation of the story the sibling rivalry between Gary Supernova (Rob Corddry) and his younger bigger brother Scorch Supernova (Brendan Frazier) and with them the brain versus brawn was at the core of their contention. There was some tongue in cheek Area 51, trailer park behavior, and a number of other hijinks that should have been fun or funny but just weren't. I suppose I expect a story to make sense and the opening scene with Scorch saving babies who happen to be in an unmanned crashed spacecraft was just ridiculous, so the rest just seemed like fodder. I did like the fact that Sofia Vergara (Gabby) was not just there for her sex appeal. As I mentioned before even without seeing the film in 3D which I didn't it looked great, the animation with all the pretty colors would be appealing to a small child, and they may find the broom in the face funny once or twice, but thrice! I don't think so. This is definitely a good rental to keep the little ones entertained in the comfort of your own home, but you can't leave them unattended since there is that PG rating. I give this film a red light.