Aliens in the Attic

Director: John Schultz
Cast: Carter Jenkins, Austin Butler, Ashley Tisdale, Doris Roberts, Andy Richter and the voices of Thomas Haden Church and Josh Peck
DVD release: 13 January 2010
Rated: PG

Family-friendly resident aliens

The aliens are coming! The aliens are coming! Aliens In The Attic is a movie about an alien invasion which is aimed squarely at family audiences.

A slightly dysfunctional family arrives at a rented cabin for a week’s fishing vacation. Immediately an unwelcome visitor arrives in the form of Ricky (Robert Hoffman), Bethany’s obnoxious, narcissistic boyfriend. But soon there are even more unwelcome visitors, when the kids discover some aliens have landed amidst a meteor shower. Not your typically cute and friendly aliens a la E.T., these are fairly ugly and vicious critters who are the forefront of a full on alien invasion. They also have the power to control the minds of adults, which leads to some amusing moments.

Led by the nerdy Tom (Carter Jenkins) and the more gung-ho Jake (Austin Butler) the kids fight back against the aliens using their ingenuity and whatever is handy – rakes, baseball bats, paintball guns, a fire extinguisher, and even an improvised potato gun. Youngest sibling Hannah (Ashley Boettcher) finds that one of the aliens is actually quite friendly, and even willing to help the humans in their fight to save their home planet from destruction. Meanwhile the adults remain blissfully oblivious to the war of the worlds above them.

The special effects that have created the alien creatures are quite good, and they are seamlessly incorporated into the real life action. J K Simmons, Thomas Haden Church, Josh Peck and Kari Wahlgren provide the voices for these cute and sometimes funny aliens, who quarrel amongst themselves. There is some tongue-in-cheek humour at their expense.

The performances of the largely unknown cast are enthusiastic enough, with Jenkins quite solid in his first leading role. The normally acid tongued Doris Roberts (from hit tv sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond) is given little to do here, except for the one scene in which her slightly doddery grandmother turns into a gravity defying kung fu warrior.

As with the films produced by the late John Hughes (in particular the Home Alone series and Getting Even With Dad) this is full of physically punishing humour and plenty of action. Director John Schultz (Drive Me Crazy) keeps things moving at a fast pace. During the end credits sequence there is a brief bloopers clip; it is not particularly funny, but at least it demonstrates that the young performers enjoyed themselves immensely during the making of the film.

There’s enough action and humour in Aliens In The Attic that should please younger audiences, and their parents.

Greg King

Read more of Greg King's reviews at filmreviews.net.au