Review of “Aliens in The Attic”
One of my favourite Gary Larson Far Side cartoons was entitled ‘Hopeful Parents’ and featured two parents watching their video-game-addicted son, joystick in hand, while thought bubbles overhead showed their daydream, of a newspaper’s Help Wanted section burgeoning with ads like ‘Super Mario Brothers Expert Needed. $95,000 P.A., 4 day week + Ferrari’.
Aliens in the Attic stands above most school holiday fare (yes, it’s almost that time again) because it has its tongue planted firmly in cheek, with a lot of the humour akin to the spirit of Larson’s cartoon. On a Thanksgiving weekend family vacation, the grown-up Pearson brothers (played by Kevin Nealon and Andy Richter) rent a sprawling house in the country near some choice fishing spots, dragging along Nana (Doris Roberts) and children, Bethany (Ashley Tisdale from the High School Musical series), Tom (Carter Jenkins) and Hannah (Ashley Boettcher) with cousins Jake (Austin Robert Butler) and twins Art and Lee (Henri and Regan Young). Tagging along for the ride is Beth’s smarmy boyfriend Ricky (Robert Hoffman).
Their holiday house is visited by four pint-sized aliens, looking for a hidden device that will aid in a full-scale invasion by their species. When the Pearson kids learn the alien’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers-type mind-control technology only works on mature humans, they realise they are the planet’s last line of defence.
The screenplay, from Mark Burton (Madagascar) and Adam F Goldberg doesn’t start out too promising – the story set-up is a little familiar, and the grown-up characters are two-dimensional stereotypes, but once the story progresses to the kids fighting the aliens, there is fun and invention.
In the hands of director John Schultz, it delivers moments of great comic flair: a young lifetime servitude to X-Box and Playstation pay off as the children utilise the combat skills they unintentionally acquired; a fight scene between Ricky and Nana, who have been taken over by alien mind-control technology and are played like two Tekken characters, is perhaps the funniest film moment this year.
Hoffman (Step Up 2: The Streets) and Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond) steal the film while enjoying some wonderful physical comedy, and while few grown-ups will see him in this film, Hoffman’s gift for comedy will see his star rise.
Cute protagonists, sensible morals and refreshing lack of complexity make Aliens in the Attic a bit of guilty pleasure.
CK
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