Planet 51 and B-Movie Science Fiction

It was Thanksgiving in the US last Thursday.  This is a huge holiday that gives us all a really good excuse to eat as much food in one sitting as we should only rightfully consume in about a week.  Once we've eaten our fill of turkey and pumpkin pie, grabbed all the best Black Friday deals, and endured the annoying relatives we've been avoiding since last year (not me of course, I love my whole family, really) we get kinda bored.  And that usually means a trip to the movies.

Since I have two young girls, my options are somewhat limited but, truthfully, there weren't a heck of a lot of choices even without the kids.  2012?  You've seen one disaster flick, you've seen them all.  Twilight?  It's the big movie of the moment but, well, you read this blog so you know how likely it is that I'm going to pay to see that sparklefest.  One movie that did seem like a good choice was Planet 51.  Also, it started just half an hour after we'd made the decision to go to a movie in the first place so the timing was perfect.  My expectations were not high, though, because I'd heard it was only so-so from my friends.  I was about two minutes into the movie when I figured out I'd been listening to the wrong friends.

You see, the friends who'd said it was just okay, weren't geeks.  They wouldn't be able to tell you the difference between Dr. Who and Dr. Horrible if their lives depended on it.  I, however, know that Dr. Who is a Time Lord coming up on his Eleventh Incarnation and I may cry when I have to say goodbye to the Tenth Doctor.  Dr. Horrible, on the other hand, is entirely human and can be reached by contacting The Evil League of Evil.  See, they don't know that, so the best humor in this movie went right past them. There was plenty for the kids to like.  The aliens are cute and silly, their dogs are alien-hybrid things with suction cup tongues that stick to everything, and there are hover cars and gags aplenty that will appeal to everyone.  But the best parts of the movie were the jokes you only got if you'd watched old school science fiction.

You know, the stuff that was filmed in black and white back in the 50's.  Movies where the army attacks the giant spaceship with their puny guns and then the spaceship zaps them to ash with their death ray.  Or where the aliens are trying to eat our brains.  Or take over the world!  The funny here is that the planet with the aliens is visited by a human astronaut, making us the aliens visiting a planet of little green people living in their version of the 50's.  I laughed so hard a few times that the woman at the next table gave me dirty looks.  Bah!  Come on, the little green aliens had manuals on how to deal with catastrophes like Giant Ants and 50ft Women...with covers that looked just like the our movies! 

The B-movie references came so fast and furious, I found myself wishing I could press the rewind button and see them again.  And while the kids were laughing at the astronaut bumbling around an alien planet trying to hide, I couldn't stop laughing at the aliens showing up for a sci-fi movie premier dressed in costume.  Not that I would ever do something that silly.  Those of us raised on cheesy television (anyone remember Creature Double Feature?) will love the shout-outs to movies like Them! and Attack of the 50ft Woman.  In fact, the more of a sci-fi geek you are, the more you're going to laugh.  So, if you thought this movie was just for kids, go grab that foil hat to protect yourself from mind control probes and get to the theater!