Escape from Planet Earth

ACTION/ADVENTURE, ANIMATED, COMEDY, FAMILY, SCI-FI/FANTASY

Earth's Greatest Secrets Break Out

8.25 out of 10 | MOVIE - DVD

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Rated: PG Some mild rude humor and action.
Release Date: February 14, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 29 minutes

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Director: Cal Brunker
Writers: Tony Leech, Cory Edwards, Cal Brunker, Bob Barlen
Cast: Brendan Fraser, Rob Corddry, Ricky Gervais, Jonathan Morgan Heit, jessica Alba, Sofia Vergara, Sarah Jessica Parker, William Shatner

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SYNOPSIS:  Astronaut Scorch Supernova finds himself caught in a trap when he responds to an SOS from a notoriously dangerous alien planet. His nerdy brother Gary from Mission Control may be his only hope.

REVIEW: Cal Brunker, storyboard artist on films like Despicable Me and Horton Hears a Who!, takes direction to new heights as the director of the new Weinstein Company animation Escape from Planet Earth. A cadre of writers bring this cosmic cartoon to life, including Hoodwinked! screenwriters Tony Leech and Cory Edwards, director Brunker, and Push and Turn writer Bob Barlen.

Scorch Supernova (voiced by Brendan Fraser, Furry Vengeance) is a home world hero to the citizens of Baab. He goes out on various missions rescuing babies from baby-eating savage aliens, and more. Always trying to prep and prepare scorch for every mission is his older brother Gary (voiced by Rob Corddry, Warm Bodies), considered a nerd who rattles his fingers on keyboards at mission control by his brawny dimwitted brother and the rest of the workers. When Scorch is told to answer a distress call on the 'Dark Planet' and his eagerness works against his brother's preparedness, Gary quits and Scorch is left to his own devices. When Scorch is captured by the 'Dark Planet's' government's military, Gary must sum up the courage to go after Scorch on a rescue mission of his own. In his attempts to rescue his brother, Gary is captured by the men of General Shanker (William Shatner, Boston Legal) at Area 51 who is using other captured aliens - including a three-eyed slug named Thurman (George Lopez, The Smurfs), a solar brute librarian named Io (Jane Lynch, Wreck-It Ralph), and a psycho-therapist personality Doc (Voiced by Craig Robinson, Hot Tub Time Machine) - to build a defense weapon before they are allowed to return to their respective planets. But as Gary tries to break his brother out of Area 51, they uncover more than they bargained for.

The Weinstein Company and Kaleidoscope bring out their big galactic guns for a space odyssey that centers around two orbiting brothers. Gary is the older brother that tries to look after his younger, bolder and reckless brother and hero Scorch. Looked down by Scorch, and even his own son Kipper (voiced by Jonathan Morgan Heit, Date Night) who idolizes the planetary explorer, Gary is forced to face the prospect of having to step light years outside his comfort zone to save his captured family. But as with every tale that included Area 51, a deeper conspiracy is afoot, making this personal tale more galactic.

General Shanker is the typical steely eyed military leader obsessed with taking advantage of the secrets and technology the aliens who have been captured have to offer. But his terrestrial trappings does not limit his malice to his own planet. He may even have corrupt allies on other planets!

Escape from Planet Earth is a silly animated tale that should delight children and parents alike. The voice com in mission control and on board the escape pod Mr. James Bing (Ricky Gervais, The Invention of Lying) belts out a variety of quick throw-away one-liners that only adults will catch and appreciate. Lopez's Thurman provides slimy and sticky comic relief for the kids. Even a janitor and his nemesis, a broom handle, add to the yucks. It's screw ball animated comedy that the whole family can enjoy.

The animation is reminiscent of Monsters Vs, Aliens and Planet 51. Cartoony, detailed, and pleasing to the eye, Escape from Planet Earth will give you something fun to look at - at the very least! The 3D is cool, but not critical to the enjoyment of the film. If you need to save some dollars in favor of more concessions for the kids, skip the cost for the 3D glasses.

Escape from Planet Earth offers a fun family comedy. It's clever, without the need to be overbearing. Just the right amount of silly galactic goodness for the whole family to enjoy.

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The Three Stooges

Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk!

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Rated: PG  Some rude and suggestive humor, slapstick action violence and language
Release Date: April 13, 2012
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins

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Director: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Writers:  Mike Cerrone, Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Cast: Sean Hayes, Will Sasso, Chris Diamantopoulos, Jane Lynch, Sofia Vergara, Jennifer Hudson, Stephen Collins, Larry David

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SYNOPSIS: Left on the doorsteps of the Sisters of Mercy Orphanage as babies, Larry, Curly and Moe grow up and are never adopted. As bumbling adults, they set out to save the orphanage but find themselves embroiled in a murder plot and connected to a reality show.

REVIEW: The Farrelly Brothers, Bobby and Peter, creators and directors of Stuck With You, Shallow Hal, and Hall Pass, return to the big screen with their Me, Myself and Irene co-scribe Mike Cerrone to adapt the long running slapstick trio of Larry Fine, Curly Howard, and Moe Howard - also known as The Three Stooges.

Left on the doorsteps of the Sisters of Mercy Orphanage as infants in a duffel bag, the Three Stooges start off as adored babies by the nuns, except for Sister Mary-Mengele (Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm). Ten year later, young Moe (Skyler Gisondo, Psych), Larry (Lance Chantiles-Wertz, Pan Am) and Curly (Robert Capron, The Sorcerer's Apprentice) have managed to frazzle the patience and good will of the nuns, including Sister Rosemary (Jennifer Hudson, The Secret Life of Bees) and up to the Mother Superior (Lane Lynch, Glee) herself. Never properly adopted, the trio grows up and become ill-suited handymen around the orphanage grounds. Adult Moe (Chris Diamantopoulos, Under New Management), Larry (Sean Hayes, Will & Grace), and Curly (Will Sasso, Life As We Know It) bumble about causing more damage than they fix. When Monsignor Ratliffe (Brian Doyle-Murray, Groundhog's Day) announces to Mother Superior that the orphanage has run out of funds and will be forced to close in 30 days, the Stooges take on the challenge to go out into the world and raise the hundreds of thousands of dollars themselves.

I remember the Stooges in many incarnations as I watched their syndicated exploits on Saturday morning as a pre-teen, and watched them more after midnight into Sunday morning during my late teens and twenties. If you close your eyes during the Farrelly Brothers' version of The Three Stooges, you could swear that you were transported back to those similar times. With every "Whatsa matta with you?", classic boink sound effects, "Nyuk!" and "Whoo, Whoo, Whoo!", its hard to imagine that any times has past at all. Always a fan of the slap stick symphony of The Three Stooges, I believe the Farrelly Brothers did the ages-old entertainment trio franchise justice.

Both Chris Diamantopoulos and his younger counterpart Skyler Gisondo have perfected the classic Moe scowl. That, plus the bowl hair cut that preceded Jim Carrey's Lloyd Christmas by decades, make both of them modern carbon copies of Moe Howard. Sean Hayes uses his follicle challenged curls and over-sized wardrobe to embody the man named Larry. And Will Sasso uses his size, facial expressiveness and mannerisms to mold into a stooge named Curly. The Three Stooges have been parodied and copied countless times over the years since the decline of the Stooges popularity due to illness, line-up changes and death in the troupe, but Larry, Moe and Curly have left an indelible mark on entertainment and pop culture. The Farrelly Brothers do a good job both honoring the spirit of the purely American comedy act with its roots in vaudville and making a enjoyable popcorn comedy to boot.

The Three Stooges film is broken up into three connected short episodes just like we remember from our local Saturday morning affiliates. Each episode or vignette carries the classic title card for the Stooges with each member's face mugging with their names plastered beneath them. The first episode deals with the Stooges origins and their growing up in the orphanage. The second has them setting off to raise the money to save the orphanage, going to the big modern city, and finding themselves smack in the middle of a murder plot to kill a husband by gold-digging wife Lydia (Sofia Vergara, Modern Family) and her boyfriend Mac (Craig Bierko, Superhero Movie). The third episode finds Moe leaving his stooge pals after a blowup and ending up been discovered to be added to a popular reality show.

For me, the best part of the film is the first episode. The physical gags and slapstick works best when the stooges are still on orphanage grounds. It may be because it resembles closest to what I remember from the 40s and 50s short subject films watched in my youth - timeless in its hijinks. I have some critics bending my ear that the movie should have been left in black and white (what is this, The Artist?), but I feel it still holds an earlier era feel with the sets and costume through the first act. The rest is still funny, moving the stooges to the big modern city to contend with murder plots and reality shows. The best gag is Curly's reaction to an iPhone. And I am complete as I live vicariously through Moe as he contends with real reality stars like he would the absent Larry and Curly.

All in all, the Farrelly Brothers bring to the theater a light-hearted slap-sticky comedy that can appeal to the young and old. Kids will like the physical comedy like we all did as kids, and the adults will enjoy watching the Stooges in new situations. I would have liked to see something more inventive in spots, like a Matrix-y slo-mo action sequence as Moe is hammering away at Larry and Curly, but the Farrelly Brothers remain true to the original source materials and the men that made the comedy trio cultural icons. And for that I tip my hat and say Nyuk!, Nyuk!, Nyuk!

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WORTH: Matinee or Rental

Happy Feet Two

Fluffy Song and Dance

Director: George Miller

Writers: George Miller, Warren Coleman, Gary Eck, Paul Livingston
Cast: Elijah Wood, Pink, Ava Acres, Benjamin Flores Jr., Sofia Vergara, Robin Williams, Common, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Hugo Weaving, Hank Azaria, Richard Carter, Anthony LaPaglia

SYNOPSIS: Mumble and Gloria's offspring Erik finds that he can't find his voice or his happy feet. When Erik and his cousins Atticus and Carmen run off to follow Ramon back to his clan, Mumble searches after them.

REVIEW: Who would have predicted that Mad Max and The Road Warrior writer and director George Miller would find himself gathering recent success with dancing and singing animated penguins! Was the 1998 animated pig adventure Babe: Pig in the City a turning point for a career birthed from the motorcycle patrolled sandy wastelands of a post-apocalyptic Australia? Maybe Miller is getting soft (and fluffy) in his old age. Whatever the reason, the winner is the audience. Re-teaming with Happy Feet writer Warren Coleman, and joined by  new writers Gary Eck (The 50 Foot Show) and Paul Livingston (Good News World), Happy Feet Two shuffles, scats and sings its way back into our hearts.

In Happy Feet Two, two-stepping Mumble (Elijah Wood, LOTR trilogy) and Gloria (now voiced by Pink) are raising their new hatchling Erik (Ava Acres, Weeds) who is struggling to find either his singer's voice or his happy feet. Unsure of how he should find the song that is in his heart or how to express it, a depressed Erik chases after a fed-up Ramon (Robin Williams) who journeys to return to his own colony, Followed by Seymour's (now voiced by Common) son Atticus (Benjamin Flores Jr.) and Miss Viola's (Magda Szubanski, The Golden Compass) daughter Bo (Meobh Campbell), the trio and Ramon leave their own colony behind. When Mumble realizes that Erik and the other fluffy hatchlings are gone, he waddles off to corral and return them home. But the task is not as simple as one thinks.

Socially relevant, Miller uses the the vanishing ice caps to make Mumble's and Erik's journey much more difficult. Ice quakes, warming temperatures and a mammoth break away glacier make the journey arduous, as well as returning to the colony impossible. All the while, Mumble finds himself insecure as a father figure as Erik is taken by a strange penguin, Sven (Hank Azaria, The Smurfs), who has the unique ability to fly and to bolster the spirits of those around him. Adding more struggles, always boisterous Ramon struggles to find a mate in standoffish Carmen (Sofia Vergara, Modern Family), butting heads with the beloved large beaked Sven.

Almost as a aside, we also get to follow the story of rebellious Will the Krill (Brad Pitt, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) and his friend Bill the Krill (Matt Damon, Contagion). Tired to being a nameless part of the Krill swarm, Will swims to the edge of his universe to find that there is more to life. Bill follows in an attempt to bring Will back into the fold. As Will decides to become an evolved predatory species, we are treated to beautifully detailed, expertly choreographed and hilarious sequences. When Will the Krill tries to take on a seal, every detail of ice crystal and strand of fur are beautifully rendered.

My only complaint is Robin Williams. His Latino-tinged Ramon and tent preaching colony leader Lovelace sound more distracting than endearing, but his characters are colorful enough to get the job done.

Touching, funny and heart-felt, Happy Feet Two is a fine follow-up to the Oscar winning Happy Feet. Choreographed by tap maestro Savion Glover, you will be tapping your feet in the dark. The songs sung by Pink's Gloria are uplifting and heart wrenching. And when Erik finally finds a way to express himself, you should come away with goosebumps, I mean, penguin bumps.

WORTH: Matinee and DVD