Planet 51

Seen at: Cinema Save 6, at 6:00 p.m on Dec. 21.

When I saw the trailer to this, it solved the mystery that had plagued me when I saw the dreadful Battle for Terra last spring in Massachussets. I thought that movie was Planet 51, for which I'd seen the trailer about a year ago. The theme of unwelcome human invaders in an alien world is so common now among animated features that I am getting them mixed up.

How many times must I saw it? If it's animated and it ain't Disney/Pixar, it's going to have goofy alien characters in it. Sometimes I get bored of being proven right so any times like this.

I like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, but he was a terrible choice for the human invader astronaut here. He's simply not a voice actor. Why was he chosen? The kids just don't care about the name actors.

Halfway through I realized this was really a time travel movie in disguise, about a hapless Postmodern emasculated boy-astronaut who gets thrust back into the 1950s. There was even a direct ripoff of, uh I mean homage to Back to the Future.

But what was the point? Not sure. To show how powerless we have now become? I guess I'm too much of a grumpus to enjoy lowbrow animation lately.

Bring in Avatar! Let's see Cameron's take on the human invader thing.

Verdict: I literally fell asleep in the middle of the movie for a few moments, but I didn't miss anything.