Planet 51

An American astronaut (voice by Dwayne Johnson) lands on a planet where little green creatures live in a retro-1950s suburbia. He befriends a local science geek (Justin Long), but most of the inhabitants regard him as an outer-space monster from one of their sci-fi flicks. Joe Stillman’s lame script plays desperate variations on that one labored joke, and the movie is crusted over with ersatz secondhand 1950s nostalgia like barnacles infesting a rusting old hulk. The story is essentially a role-reversal rehash of E.T. with pop-culture references to everything from It Came From Outer Space to Back to the Future. But the characters are as thin and unengaging as the animation is sleek and shiny. A penchant for penis and butt-plug jokes means that any parents who take the kids should have their heads examined.