Starring: Carter Jenkins, Ashley Tisdale, Kevin Nealon, Doris Roberts, Andy Richter
Director: John Schultz (The Honeymooners, Like Mike)
Running Time: 1 hr 26 min
Release Date: July 31, 2009
Budget: $45 million
Average Critics’ Score: 38%
“Perfectly calibrated for the pre-adolescent set…” Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times
“Nowhere near as bad as “Coneheads,” but still isn’t worth your time.” Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
It’s cloying, unoriginal and unfulfillingly simple, but Aliens in the Attic is wholesome family fare with a good (if strained) message about teenagers valuing their intelligence over their coolness factor. This live-action fantasy, however, neglects strong character development and instead revolves around a pointless plot about the Pearson family kids waging war against the invading aliens they discover in the attic of their vacation house. While Jenkins gives a solid performance as the lead teen character, the big-name adult actors are left with nothing to do. Aliens is quasi-amusing for kids, but adults will only chuckle at occasional jokes like a character describing an alien fight as “real – like Wii.”
