Escape from Planet Earth

Well, It's the start of another year of animated films front and center. It's just a shame that the first one could have not been pulled together a bit better than what we see at the multiplex. But even though it wasn't the animated flick I was hoping for, "Escape from Planet Earth" still has something to offer.

The story takes place on planet Baab where admired astronaut Scorch Supernova (Brendan Fraser) is a national hero to the blue alien population. A master of daring rescues, Scorch pulls off astonishing feats with the quiet aid of his nerdy, but intelligent brother, Gary (Rob Corddry), head of mission control at BASA.
Scorch finds himself caught in a trap when he responds to an SOS from a notoriously dangerous alien planet that the folks of Baab call the dark planet or as the inhabitants of that planet call Earth. Scorch's brother follows him to the planet to rescue him only to be caught himself. As they ponder what to do, they come upon other imprisoned aliens including Thurman (George Lopez), Doc (Craig Robinson), and Io (Jane Lynch). They clue Scorch and Gary in on the fact that none of them are going nowhere, because General Shanker (William Shatner) has plans for them all toward his greedy end.

Others to round out the cast are Sarah Jessica Parker as Kira Supernova, Gary's wife, Ricky Gervais as Mr. James Bing, voice of the computer, Jonathan Morgan Heit as Kip Supernova, son of Gary's, Sophia Vergara as Gabby, a newscaster at BNN, Jessica Alba as Lena, boss of Gary and Scorch, Steve Zahn as Hawk, Chris Parnell as Hammer, Paul Scheer as Cameraman, and Jason Simpson as Barry.

This was directed by a virtual newbie to the directing realm who's past experience is predominately that of storyboard artist. And even though this is Callan Brunker's first directing gig, it wasn't really bad, in fact it was decent. This was written by Bob Barlen and Cal Brunker which was based on a story by Tony Leech and Cory Edwards. The animation and the writing was definitely geared to a child, approximately 9-15years. I'm not sure if the writing was purposely executed this way or not, but assuredly, parents should feel safe to bring their young kids to this one, not to mention the kids will love the 3D process.

One thing's for sure, this is a great family film with a really good message, and certainly is a breath of fresh air for that demographic, but if you're looking for something that is slickly written with a script that's geared more for the adult here, better wait for the DVD on this one.

Out of 4 Stars: 2.5                      Rated: PG                        89mins.