[EN] Planet 51
Some days ago i went to see the movie Planet 51.
- Planet 51
I didn’t start this blog with the idea of writing movie reviews, so i wouldn’t normally talk about a movie i have seen.
But i want to talk about the particular case of Planet 51, for two reasons: i am currently living in Spain and Planet 51 is the first Spanish animation movie to be release worldwide (it was released in Spain at the end of November).
Especially among animation cinema, it is quite rare to see a spanish movie being released all over the world. I checked, and there are really few famous animation studios: Pixar, Walt Disney, Dreamwrosk, and Studio Ghibli (for the Miyazaki movies). And i just found out that Ice Age was produced by Blue Sky Studios.
Anyway, Planet 51 has been created from two young spanish studios: Ilion Animation Studio and HandMade film; both based in Madrid. With a 49-million budget, it is the most expensive movie ever produced in Spain, animation or no animation.
Obviously, as a big fan of animation movie, and curious about what spanish studio were capable of, i decided to go see the movie.
The plot is original. As far as i know, no one thought about it before.
- Planet 51 green beings
It’s a story about aliens (not alien like Ripley used to fight, i mean alien in the sense of extraterrestrian form of life), but not the usual story of alien(s) coming to our planet, either by chance or with the aim to do experiments on us and/or destroy us. Here, the story is the opposite. The movie starts on a planet far far away, a bit similar to planet Saturn due to the rings around it. We observe the daily life of the inhabitants of this planet : they are green, without any nose, their ears are hanging and antennas on the forehead… but a almost human body apart from those details.
A family of those is busy preparing a barbecue, when suddently the sky gets dark. A giant flame coming from above goes down… and a spacecraft totally similar to the lunar module used in the 60s and 70s lands on the yawn of our new green friends. The door opens, and a NASA astronaut gets out, trying to find the best spot to plant the American flag (a total remake of 21-july-1969)….
And then… Well, you’d have to go see the movie 
- NASA Astronaut
I loved that movie. Probably it is not the best animation movie, nor the funniest, but it is worth its price (my favorite animation movies are Wall-E, Monsters and Cie, Ice Age 1 and 2, Shrek 1 and Aladdin).
The plot gives the movie a real charm; as well as the creation of a total alien world. But most of all, what i prefered is the multiple references to past history (first steps on the moon, Roswell…) and of course references to famous sci-fi movies (2001 Space Odyssey, Alien, ET, Star Wars many times, …)
- A dog that looks like an alien
We could criticize the movie to be « too » american, although it is the pure product of spanish minds; but well, i guess they also thought in terms of marketing. And the movie was first distributed and released in the States. And let’s be honest (sorry my spanish friends): an astronaut with a spanish flag would not be that realistic (but of course, aliens doing a barbecue, no problem ).
Anyway, go see that movie, its worth it. It has already been released or will soon be released.
Trailer is available on Youtube.
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