Recently, I got a message from a reader who wanted a recommendation for a cartoon for a preschooler — but not a film from Disney or Pixar, which I guess they'd pretty much run through.
It turned out to be a harder question than you'd think, because once you count out those two powerhouses....
Yes, I'm fond of "The Iron Giant," and at least the first "Shrek" or two. But "Frankenweenie" and "Rango" are probably a bit much for a tiny tot, and beyond that the list gets very thin.
The Weinstein Company's new "Escape From Planet Earth" helps illustrate why.
It's not unprofessionally done. The computer graphics capture the sheen of every surface and the fluffiness of every cloud, the themes include all the essential feel-good-about-yourself tropes, and it ends with the almost obligatory all-stops-out chase.
And yet, you can't help but feel that this is coming from the B team, while all the really creative people are busy somewhere else.
The story has two squabbling alien brothers, one a big brawny astronaut and the other the nerdish one back at mission control who keeps getting him out of trouble. They kvetch, quarrel, stop talking — and then the big brawny one gets in trouble on dangerous Planet Earth.
Guess who's got to rocket over and rescue him?
It's the debut directorial effort of Cal Brunker, who's bounced around the art departments of other second-string cartoons ("Despicable Me," "Ice Age: Continental Drift") and seems to be recycling things here, particularly in the rubbery blue character designs.
Nor are the music cues or the voice actors — including Brendan Fraser and Rob Corddry as the brothers — especially lively. And a few guest stars are criminally wasted. (How can you sign William Shatner to play a toupee-wearing sci-fi villain and not play that to the hilt? Somehow, Brunker manages.)
The best moments come from left field, and don't really advance the plot at all — like a cockeyed history of human civilization, or a supposed `50s instructional film for recently arrived ETs. (There's also an odd Beatles joke that I didn't see coming.) It's as if Brunker has good ideas, but just can't weave them together for an entire feature.
So, yes, this is definitely not A-list material — although that doesn't quite explain why the studio is giving it the bum's rush. (It showed at NJPAC recently, as part of a lively fundraiser for Newark Beth Israel, but regular press screenings were never held). It still provides a few smiles, and a decent amount of rainy-day, kiddie entertainment.
But also another reminder: What those geniuses do at Pixar is really, really hard.
Ratings note: The film contains sci-fi violence.
(PG) Weinstein (91 min.)
Directed by Cal Brunker. With the voices of Brendan Fraser, Rob Corddry. Now playing in New Jersey.
★ ★ ½
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