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This summer has been chock-full of brainless action movies for grown-ups—so I guess it’s only fair that kids get their share, too. First, a team of super-smart guinea pigs took on an evil villain and an army of robotic coffeemakers in Disney’s G-Force; now a bunch of kids take on an attic full of little green space invaders in Aliens in the Attic.
The Pearson family is just settling in for a week of extended-family bonding when a passing storm blows out their vacation home’s satellite dish. But when brainy Tom (Carter Jenkins) and his sister’s obnoxious boyfriend, Ricky (Robert Hoffman), head upstairs to investigate, they find that the storm blew something else in. Four angry aliens have landed on the roof, and they’ll stop at nothing to get some sort of alien device that appears to be hidden somewhere in the house. And once they do, they’ll use it to take control of Earth.
Fortunately, the Pearson kids soon discover the aliens’ secret: their most powerful weapon—a remote mind-control device—only works on adults (like Ricky, who isn’t really as young as he claimed to be). So while their parents remain blissfully unaware of the dangers trapped in the attic, the kids try to figure out how to save the planet.
Like G-Force before it, Aliens in the Attic is another corny but kid-friendly adventure, complete with wacky slapstick humor and goofy-looking CGI characters. Aliens, however, doesn’t have that Disney polish (nor does it have the 3D graphics)—so, at times, it comes off more like a made-for-ABC-Family movie.
The story isn’t exactly solid, either. It’s all a bit scatterbrained—and there are plot holes and flaws galore—but that’s not what matters. Let’s face it here: the target audience won’t get upset if they don’t really understand the aliens’ motivation. What matters is that Aliens in the Attic is a kooky action-comedy, in which a bunch of resourceful kids come to the rescue, saving their clueless parents (and the rest of humanity) from extinction using fireworks, remote control Barbie cars, and a homemade potato shooter. And, in the process, they even get a little bit of revenge on that pretentious jerk, Ricky, and they get their lovable old Nana (Doris Roberts) to perform some sweet kung-fu moves. It’s all in good fun—and even the grown-ups will get a good laugh or two out of Ricky’s smooth dance moves and Nana’s martial arts abilities.
So, although it’s more MacGyver than Michael Bay, Aliens in the Attic is still an entertaining kids’ adventure. It’s wacky and overdone—and it probably won’t end up a family favorite—but it’s good for 90 mindless minutes of air-conditioned giggles.
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