There’s a certain expectation nowadays when you go to see a children’s film that even if you’re not a child you will still find something that will entertain you or make you think.
   With the bar being raised higher and higher by excellent animated children’s films, it’s hard not to assume this. Planet 51, a new animated film with an ET-like storyline, reverses
the roles (a human astronaut is the alien in an alien world) and has proven to me that this assumption is not always warranted.
   I would not recommend director Jorge Blanco’s Planet 51 to the discerning adult viewer, but it certainly contains the full package for entertaining children: bumbling and foolish characters to laugh at, plenty of slapstick and toilet humour and the intense exaggeration of everything from characters’ emotions all the way to the saturated colours onscreen.
   There are a few novel aspects of the film, despite the fact that the main concept of role reversal may be a bit obvious and played out. The alien society that our main character,
Captain Charles T. Baker (voiced by Dwayne Johnson), finds himself in is a direct parody of ’50s-era United States. Other notable actors include Jessica Biel, Gary Oldman,
John Cleese and Seann William Scott.
  It certainly is entertaining to see advanced alien technology like hover cars put into the context of white picket fences and the wholesome suburban family culture of the 50s, but a gimmick like this can’t hold a film together by itself.
   Another interesting aspect of the film is that the aliens are actually less advanced than humanity. Despite having hover cars and laser blasters, these aliens still think that space is only a few miles wide and have all the sensibilities of your typical ’50s stereotypes. It’s not every day that you see a film bucking the trend of always
featuring aliens technologically superior to us, a prospect that, when you one thinks about it, seems equally likely in a boundless universe.
   Although the most dyed-in-the-wool sci-fi fans may find something to enjoy in Planet 51 due to all the references and inside jokes, the average adult viewer will definitely not enjoy this as much as they may have enjoyed other sophisticated films marketed to children in the past (think: pretty much anything by Pixar).
   The characters are not too interesting, the moral at the end of the story is cringe-worthy and the film will probably be forgotten within a week.
    If you find yourself babysitting kids in the near future and are looking for entertainment, seek it elsewhere if you want something you can enjoy too.