I wrote this review a long time ago and realized I never posted it.  But, since the film is being released on Blu Ray and DVD today, I have another bite at the apple.

Planet 51 is a creative idea.  Unfortunately, the movie fails in its execution with a formulaic exercise of film making.

The complete discussion, after the jump.

So while every tween member of Team Jacob and Team Edward in the country went to see New Moon (I even suspect they were all in my local theater), I took my four year old daughter to see Planet 51.  At the end I asked my daughter if she liked it.  She thought for a moment and responded turned to me and said, "Not really, Daddy, it wasn't very good." On that we can agree. 

I was very interested when I heard the plot of Planet 51.  The film follows a NASA astronaut, Captain Charles "Chuck" Baker (Dwayne Johnson) who lands on Planet 51 thinking he's the first to set foot on it. However, he discovers it's inhabited by little green people who live in a white picket-fenced world reminiscent of 1950s America. This freaks out the aliens, who think he's an alien invader.  The film features some well known stars to provide voices including,  Dwayne Johnson,  Jessica Biel, Justin Long, Seann William Scott, Gary Oldman  John Cleese and  Ryan Rosenfeld.  Each does a good job.

I'm not sure exactly where the movie went wrong.  It has an interesting plot, a great voice cast and even a cute robot.  Interestingly, the plot summary is the most interesting part of the movie.  The world in the movie has a lot of inside jokes (such as the names of the comics), but all of this backdrop can't fix the movie, as it walks through a formulaic plots and hackneyed dialogue.  There's even a musical number, featuring a souless cover of Greased Lightening.  The film is supposed to be a parody of the plot to almost every 1950s sci fi movie.  Unfortunately, while those classics have nostalgic value, they are quite boring to sit through.  So while the film may be inspired, it lacks heart. Or, in the words of a four year old, "it's not very good."