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PLANET 51 |
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Once upon a time cartoons were made for children. They were carefree,
didn't need a major plot and didn't have a lot of style. None of the Hanna Barbera cartoons (Yogi Bear, The Flintsones,
The Jetsons, Quick Draw McGraw, Wacky Racers, Huckleberry Hound and others) had much of a plot. Much of the
animation included repeated backgrounds and hands with three of four fingers - depending on who drew them. Yet,
they were a lot of fun and I remember waking every Saturday morning and vegetating in front of the Zenith until
they were over in the early afternoon. The same was true about the Looney Tunes cartoons: Bugs Bunny,
Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Speedy Gonzalez, Sylvester, Tweety, Marvin the Martian, Taz, Wile E.
Coyote and Road Runner,and others. Their only major attribute was Bob Clampett and Friz Freleng's desire
to have great classical music in the background. I can truly say I learned most of the great classics watching Bugs Bunny. |
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But somewhere along the line, cartoons started becoming serious. They started featuring only
Autobots, Thundercats, and the Smurfs. There was nothing funny about the Snurf aside from wondering
who knocked up Smurfette to get Baby Smurf - I still say it was Pap Smurf! Animated features have always kicked it up a notch since studios
realized that parents would probably be in the audience. The storylines have alwys been a little more complex
and the animation surely was superior. But of late, those feature length cartoons forgot the one
person who just wanted to sit back and have fun... the younger kids. Spanish director Jorge Blanco remembers the good old days and takes us back in time with his first
work "Planet 51". |
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With heavyweights Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Jessica Biel, Justin Long, Gery Oldman
and John Cleese adding their distinctive voices - "Planet 51" offers up a cute non-sensical story that
totally ingores the parents and focuses on the young children. Planet 51 is a small planet inhabited with carefree Smurf-like
critters with 4 fingers, duck feet and antennae. They haven't a care in the world as they live their lives
straight out of a 50s TV series. Their biggest concern is being invaded by aliens. Enter Chuck
(Johnson, a hapless astronaut who's best ability is to fly his ship on autopilot. He lands on the planet
with the silly notion he was the first inhabitant. Boy is he surprised by the little green critters. Chuck means no harm but the critters are still scared of the
hideous creature who is certainly [in their minds] out to take over their planet. Only one of the critters, Lem (voice by Long)
figures out Chuck isn't evil. Along with his pals Skiff (Seann William Scott) and his almost girlfriend Neera (Jessica Biel)
they procede to hide Chuck from General Grawl (Gary Oldman) and Professor Kipple (John Cleese). If you see a sort of "ET" in reverse, you hit the story right on the money. Blanco steals from everyone including "The Day the Earth Stood Still",
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Wars, and others. It is not original, but it is fun. "Planet 51" can't compete with the technology of the latest animated
films like "Up", "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" or "Coraline". But it does
offer something safe and fun for the little squirts who can't vegetate in front of the television on Saturday. --GEOFFREY BURTON
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