Rating: 3/20 (Josh: 7/20; Ryan: 6/20; Abbey: fell asleep; Buster: no rating)
Plot: A family of aliens are vacuumed into a space device and brought back to earth accidentally. One of the kid aliens escapes and befriends a handicapped child who later tries to reunite him with his family. It's not like E.T. at all!
See that expression on Mac's face? That's the only expression he's got! Try watching that for an hour and forty minutes. And that's not the most disturbing thing about this piece of crap. No, that would have to be either the decision made by writer/director Stewart Raffill to just rip off an 80's blockbuster. Or maybe it's the most blatant and sickening display of product placement you're ever likely to see in your entire life. Or maybe it's the bizarre and ludicrous feel-good ending in which [Spoiler Alert!] a handicapped child is brought back to life (but does not walk as I predicted) and the aliens are sworn in as American citizens. No, I am not joking. But back to that product placement. Coca Cola, which actually helped keep the aliens alive (No, I'm not joking about that either); Sears; McDonalds, which gets what I can only describe as a five-minute commercial during which the alien dances on a counter while wearing a bear costume while four McDonalds employees look embarrassed behind him in a scene that just might be the greatest thing that has happened in film; Skittles, which characters snack on at times when tasting the rainbow might not seem all that appropriate; and even Volkswagon all get their products in here. Frankly, it made me a little sick to my stomach. Need proof about the obviousness of the product placement? Four-year-old Buster actually said, "The aliens drink Coke when they're thirsty," completely unprovoked by me. And she was even up way past her bedtime. This movie is packed with wrongs that go beyond the product placement and plagiarism, two things as American as apple pie and jazz music. There are numerous what-the-hell-were-they-thinking scenes involving plummeting wheelchairs, house destruction, aliens stuck in trees, cars chasing wheelchairs, and vacuuming. Although the puppet work suffices, the aliens look stupid. Whoever did the Mac and family concept art probably shouldn't have been allowed to work in Hollywood again. They've got that perpetual O-face you see on the poster up there, lack genitalia if you're into that sort of thing, and move with this swagger that made me a little uncomfortable. I don't think this was a huge hit or anything in the late-80's, and that's probably a good thing. It's entirely possible that it could have turned an entire generation of children into morons.
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