What’s on at the cinema

Published:

(U, 90 minutes)

THE future and the past collide with amusing results in the computer-animated comedy from debutant Spanish directors Jorge Blanco, Javier Abad and Marcos Martinez.

Planet 51 unfolds on the titular world, far from our own, where little green beings live in domestic bliss which bears a spooky resemblance to 1950s white-picket-fence America.

The Chordettes’ perky Lollipop plays on the jukebox of the local diner and kids crowd the cinema to watch the latest sci-fi epic about those nasty human invaders trying to destroy the resident alien communities.

When a lone astronaut does touch down on the planet, he faces the same level of hostility levelled at Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Screenwriter Joe Stillman has fun recreating the paranoia and fear of bygone America in an extraterrestrial society, creating archetypes like a mad scientist and a warmonger general to stoke the tension.

In a nice twist, the human is a narcissistic, dimwitted buffoon who didn’t even have to delicately navigate his craft down to the planet’s surface, he just hit the auto-pilot button.

Gung-ho American astronaut Captain Charles “Chuck” Baker (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) touches down on Planet 51 believing he will be the first being ever to set foot on this alien world.

Instead, the human interloper discovers teenage budding astronomer Lem (Justin Long), his friend Skiff (Seann William Scott), sassy next-door neighbour Neera (Jessica Biel) and a species that has been nurtured on a fear of men from the skies.

Once his presence on the planet is known, General Grawl (Gary Oldman) sets out to capture Chuck and deliver him to deranged Professor Kipple (John Cleese).

“You must capture the alien and bring it to me so I can unlock the secrets of its marvellous brain,” chortles the loopy scientist.

Lem and his pals have a little more commonsense, and reason that Chuck must be a good guy: “If it was smart enough to come all this way, wouldn’t it be smart enough to come in peace?”

General Grawl won’t hear such nonsense, and incarcerates the astronaut in a subterranean base.

Lem, Skiff and Neera launch a daring rescue mission with the help of Chuck’s trusty robot companion Rover to help the human visitor avoid a grim fate as a permanent exhibit at the Alien Invaders Space Museum.

Planet 51 is an entertaining if slight fantasy that cues visual and soundtrack nods to the likes of ET The Extra Terrestrial and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The animation doesn’t challenge Pixar for sophistication, but it’s brightly coloured and energetic, with solid vocal performances.

Lessons about tolerance and community are laid on thick in-between the set-pieces, and Stillman ensures the violence remains cartoonish throughout, introducing the cute robot sidekick and lots of slapstick for younger audiences.

The nostalgic throwbacks to the 1950s are purely for (grand)parents.

(12A, 115 minutes)

IN OUR hi-tech age, it’s sometimes easy to forget the consequences of our choices when everything is available at the click of a mouse or the touch of a keyboard.

The Box is a cautionary tale, adapted from the short story Button, Button, by Richard Matheson, about a family living in 1970s suburban America who are faced with a terrible moral dilemma.

The repercussions of an apparently simple decision become clear only once the choice is made, by which time it is too late to backtrack on a life-altering proposition.

Writer-director Richard Kelly, who gained cult status with Donnie Darko, demands another gargantuan suspension of (dis)belief here as the narrative careens from the sublimely twisted to the ridiculous.

Norma Lewis (Cameron Diaz) and her husband, Arthur (James Marsden), are woken early one morning by the chimes of their doorbell.

Opening the front door, Norma discovers a parcel containing a wooden box housing a bright red button and a note bearing the instructions: “Mr Steward will call upon you at 5pm.”

Sure enough, at the agreed time, when only Norma is home, the horribly disfigured Arlington Steward (Frank Langella) makes his entrance and sets out a tantalising proposition.

If the Lewises push the red button in the next 24 hours, someone they don’t know will die and they will collect $1million.

If they don’t push the red button, the box will be taken away and they get nothing.

While teacher Norma and Nasa engineer Arthur agonise over their decision, fate deals them both cruel blows.

With the clock ticking and their cosy existence suddenly in jeopardy, they must think hard about Steward’s horrifying proposal – not only for themselves, but also for their 13-year-old son, Walter (Sam Oz Stone), who is understandably curious about the parcel.

“You sure do ask a lot of questions,” laughs Norma. “And you’re avoiding them,” retorts the boy astutely.

The Box is another perplexing cinematic mind-game from Kelly, capturing the same sense of bewilderment and foreboding as Donnie Darko, albeit on a much larger budget.

Diaz wrings every drop of emotion from her fiercely-protective mother, who is just as disfigured as Steward after a freak accident, while Marsden adopts a more reactive role, caught in a web of intrigue which seems to involve the family’s babysitter, Dana (Gillian Jacobs).

Langella doesn’t overplay his enigmatic part.

The writer-director leaves some plot threads hanging and resolves others, asking us to swallow each outlandish twist and turn as Norma and Arthur try to wriggle off Steward’s hook.

Ultimately, the effort doesn’t reap rewards, but you can’t help but admire Kelly’s picture – even although you feel somewhat cheated by it.