Escape from Planet Earth(2013).The story takes place on planet Baab where admired astronaut Scorch Supernova (Brendan Fraser) is a national hero to the blue alien population. A master of daring rescues, Scorch pulls off astonishing feats with the quiet aid of his nerdy brother, Gary (Rob Corddry), head of mission control at BASA. Written byWebsurfer... Synopsis Escape from Planet Earth(2013)
Movie Title: Escape from Planet Earth(2013)
Run Time:
Rating: 5.6 / 10
Genres: Animation |Adventure |Comedy |Family |Sci-Fi
Release Date: 15 February 2013 (USA)
Director: Cal Brunker
Writer: Bob Barlen,Cal Brunker, ... and other credits
Actor: Brendan Fraser,Sarah Jessica Parker,Jessica Alba
Escape from Planet Earth had a good voice cast going for it and looked as if it would be moderately entertaining. It wasn't a terrible film, just forgettable and got a very mixed view from me. And of the animated films seen so far from this year, Escape from Planet Earth is the second weakest(the disappointingly awful My Little Pony: Equestria Girls was the worst, coming from someone who loves the Friendship is Magic show), Epic was decent if lacking, The Croods and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2 were very good and Despicable Me 2 and Monsters University were outstanding.
What was good about Escape from Planet Earth? The best thing was the animation which was beautiful and really quite fantastic, the backgrounds and textures are bright and rich and the 7-Eleven is rendered beautifully. Aaron Zigman's score has a strong amount of energy and compliments things very well, the songs are not quite as well-placed-some feel thrown in- but they are also catchy, Shooting Star is a very nice song. Brendan Fraser's voice acting is spot on and he is cast perfectly as the lead character Scorch, there is a touch of arrogance about him but he's also kindly and heroic. Rob Corddry is appealingly geeky as his brother, and William Shatner seems to be having fun as the villain. Not all the voice cast are entirely successful, commendable on all counts but not everyone makes an impression. Sarah Jessica Parker is sweet and benevolent and Ricky Gervais is admirably more restrained than usual and amusing in how sarcastic he is but neither have a huge amount to do, though both are still good.
But Jessica Alba is bland, doing very little with her role and Jane Lynch and especially George Lopez are irritating. Where Escape from Planet Earth falls down is in the script and story. The biggest failing is the script which is weak, the jokes are stale(some will fly over children's heads) and wear thin quickly and the dialogue can resort to childishness, awkwardness and lack of flow rather than genuine wit and charm. The story has a decent idea, is easy to follow and some nice conflicts, except that the conflicts are too broadly explored and resolved while the story is too simplistic and thin, in the second half contrived also. Pacing is an issue as well, the physical comedy is rushed but most of it feels too drawn out, maybe an effort to disguise the fact that the story is too thin for the running time. The characters are stereotypical(how many times do we have to see the stay at home mum and the female turned bad after being wronged by a man clichés?), switch of gender roles perhaps may have made things less so, and don't have that much personality- Lena had potential but was very shallow and bland instead- apart from the two lead male characters. To conclude, visually beautiful, commendably voiced and with a good soundtrack but with a weak script and thin story, not a bad film and far from one of the worst animated films ever but forgettable on the whole. 5/10 Bethany Cox
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