Race To Witch Mountain

Rating: PG

Movie Release Date: March 11, 2009 (Egypt) / March 13, 2009 (USA)

DVD Release Date: August 4, 2009

Plot 411: Two kids recruit a cab driver and a scientist in order to get back home.

Review: Two aliens in the shape of children named Seth (Alexander Ludwig) and Sarah (AnnaSopia Robb) crash their spaceship on Earth. While avoiding the government and an alien set on killing them, they jump into Jack's (Dwayne Johnson) cab and enlist his help. At first he is skeptical and think they're runaways. But he soon discovers their unique attributes and has a run in with the killer alien. In this family-friendly action adventure flick, I could only find a couple tihngs enjoyable and worth watching. The first and best (in my opinion) is the small role played by Garry Marshall. In the short scene or two that he's given, he puts on a master class for the other actors. The second cool thing about this movie is the 3D visual of space, which, of course, is created with obvious CGI. The CGI was really distracting in this movie. You'd think that in a movie about aliens with astounding technology, they'd front the money for better effects. Do they think kids won't notice the difference? As far as the acting goes, I felt Robb did a satisfactory job, especially with her facial expressions. Ludwig just looked constipated the entire film. And Johnson still hasn't shown that he can make in on the big screen. While all his fight scenes may look legit, the rest of his acting desperately needs Marshall's master class. Also in this film are Carla Gugino, Tom Everett Scott and Chris Marquette.

Watch It: Only for the reasons I pointed out above.

Skip It: Instead of wasting 90 minutes of your life.

Planet 51

Rating: PG

Movie Release Date: November 20, 2009

DVD Release Date: TBD

Plot 411: An astronaut lands on an alien world but finds that he is like an alien.

Review: This was a cute animated film starring Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) as Chuck, the captain of a space shuttle, and Justin Long as Lem, the alien teen who discovers him. When Chuck's shuttle lands on a planet, he confidently bounds outside and stakes the American flag into the land to claim it. Little does he know, the land is already claimed by a group of little green beings who live in an idyllic world similar to Earth's 1950s. The green men quickly form a manhunt to capture him because they think he is trying to invade their world and turn them into zombies. The rest of the movie is about Lem's attempt to reunite Chuck with his ship and the obstacles that prevent this occurrence. The movie was mostly light-hearted fun and was filled with many movie and song references throughout. The highlight of the film was the 1950s music. The world of the little green people was a highly stylized version fo the 1950s with hippie protesters and secret government experiments. There was even a hidden base similar to all the Area 51 conspiracies. The movie was humorous and had a quick pace throughout. It didn't spend too much time setting up plot points, which I suppose is very good in a children's film. There were moments of cleverness, but it's mostly just adequate and nothing special. Seann William Scott was very unrecognizable as Skiff, Lem's best friend. Jessica Biel was almost nonexistent as Neera, Lem's crush. Her presence was barely felt and could probably have been eliminated altogether.

Watch It: For your kids beg you to go see this.

Skip It: If you don't have any kids. This isn't a must-see like Wall-E.