Planet 51 (2009)

November 20, 2009

November 20, 2009

Planet 51 is a 2009 computer-animated science fiction comedy film directed by Jorge Blanco and co-directed by Javier Abad and Marcos Martínez, from a script by Joe Stillman, based on an original idea by Javier Abad, Jorge Blanco, Marcos Martínez and Ignacio Pérez Dolset. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Biel, Justin Long, Gary Oldman, Seann William Scott and John Cleese, the film follows an astronaut who lands on an alien planet, as one of the aliens helps him return to his ship while evading the military.

An international co-production by Spain, United Kingdom, and United States, with the studios Ilion Animation Studios based in Madrid, and HandMade Films in London, the film was originally acquired for North American distribution by New Line Cinema, but then sold to Sony Pictures before completion. Originally titled Planet One, and later named as an allusion to Area 51, the film was completed on a $70 million budget, which, as of 2010, was the most expensive film produced in Spain.

Planet 51 was released on 20 November 2009 in the United States and Canada by Sony Pictures Releasing's TriStar Pictures and Remstar Media Partners respectively, on 27 November in Spain by DeAPlaneta Distribución, and 4 December in the United Kingdom by HandMade Films International. The film grossed $105.6 million in the worldwide box office. It received generally negative reviews from critics, but earned the Goya Award for Best Animated Film in Spain.

Storyline

On Planet 51, green extraterrestrials live peacefully in a society reminiscent of the United States during the 1950s, although the planet has notable differences from Earth and its inhabitants have glaring ignorance about astronomy, believing that the whole universe extends for only about 500 miles and has around 1,000 stars in it.

One day, a mysterious spacecraft lands in the city of Glipforg. NASA astronaut Captain Charles T. "Chuck" Baker emerges from it, shocked to find the planet inhabited. Panicked, Chuck escapes to the town's planetarium, where he meets a teenage alien named Lem, who works there part-time. Chuck convinces Lem to help return him to his spacecraft before the command module Odyssey, orbiting Planet 51, departs for Earth in three days and leaves him stranded. Planet 51's army, led by the paranoid General Grawl, arrives to inspect and deduces that the astronaut is an alien invader bent on turning the planet's population into zombies, similar to how invaders are depicted in media, and a manhunt ensues.

Lem enlists the help of his best friend Skiff, an eccentric science fiction aficionado with conspiracy theories about the so-called "Base 9" (Planet 51's equivalent of Area 51), to hide Chuck away from the army. During his efforts to conceal Chuck, Lem inadvertently upsets his neighbor and crush Neera, who believes the alien is friendly, and is also fired from his job when his boss discovers Chuck. In Lem's room, Chuck reunites with a dog-like NASA probe called Rover, which freed itself from the army's base after tracking Chuck with a GPS and headed for the city and which befriends a small, domesticated Xenomorph. After the army searches Lem's home for traces of the alien, Lem and Skiff move Chuck to a comic book store Skiff works at, where the news station manages to capture Chuck acting out references to Earth's pop culture, which is misinterpreted as alien threats. After escaping the store from the invading army, Grawl has Chuck's spacecraft moved to a secret location to be dismantled and studied. Chuck is later captured by Grawl's forces during a festive movie premiere in town and is slated to have his brain removed by alien scientist Professor Kipple. When Lem defends Chuck, Kipple deems him a zombie minion. Resigned to his fate, Chuck pretends to release Lem from his "mind control" and is taken away with Rover to Base 9.

Lem gets his job back, but is determined to rescue Chuck and gets into his flying car. Joined by Skiff, Neera, her younger brother Eckle, and Rover, Lem tracks down Base 9's location in the desert to a gas station where Skiff inadvertently opens a gate to the underground base. They free Chuck from Kipple and find his spacecraft, but they are cornered by Grawl and his forces. Bent on eliminating the human, Grawl reveals he has the base rigged to explode. Lem attempts to reason with the General to not shoot Chuck but inadvertently activates the countdown. Enraged, Grawl attempts to shoot Lem, but Eckle tosses a hook to him and ignites an explosive, causing him to be trapped under debris. Chuck rescues him before launching his spacecraft into Planet 51's orbit. However, Chuck goes to activate the autopilot, but realises the autopilot takes 60 seconds to start up. So instead, Chuck climbs up a ladder inside, to the pilot seat and manually flys the spacecraft up the and out of the bass as Base 9's destruction ensures. After admiring Planet 51's view from space, Lem successfully asks Neera out on a date, while Grawl expresses his gratitude to Chuck for saving him. Chuck returns Lem, Skiff, Neera, Eckle, Rover, and a redeemed Grawl home, allows Rover to stay behind with Skiff, who has bonded with the probe, and bids Lem and the rest of the town farewell before launching back into space, But, the last few seconds of the film show that an alien dog is onboard the ship in place of Rover.

In the mid-credits scene, Kipple climbs out of the underground base, but is taken back to his own lab for brain surgery by two of his own patients, whom he wrongly deemed to be mind-controlled by Chuck earlier. Meanwhile, Chuck is stuck being licked by the alien dog pet as he comments that 'this is gonna be a long trip'.

Movie Trailer

Sound Effects Used

Image Gallery

Audio Samples

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