ALIENS ATE MY HOMEWORK
Starring: Jayden Grieg, Lauren McNamara, Tristan Pong, Dan Payne, Alex Zahara, and William Shatner
Directed by: Sean McNamara
Written by: Garfield Reeves-Stevens & Judith Reeves-Stevens
Based on the series: Aliens Ate My Homework by Bruce Coville.
Before you judge the title, I will say that this isn’t an all in all BAD movie. I never think any film terrible per say. I usually try to stay the most optimistic when it comes to a film. This is how you know I can’t judge one BAD thing from another. But, I can decide when a movie needs a little tweaking and when it does good with what it has. This is probably the case with Aliens Ate My Homework. Not a terrible or bad movie, but you have to appreciate how much they tried adapting a book series into a film.
Aliens Ate My Homework is based off the series with the same name by Bruce Coville. The movie focuses on Rod Albright (Jayden Grieg), a lovely young kid who appears only to have one friend and continuously bullied by Billy Becker (Ty Consiglio). One day, his life gets turned around when a spaceship lands through his window. The spacecraft contains small alien lifeform that is in desperate need to get back to work for the Galactic Patrol. Rod not only has to hide the aliens from everyone or risk getting his brain scrambled by a ray gum, but he has to deal with his cousin, Elspeth (Lauren McNamara) helping along with the mission.
Now, I’m going to go through the fantastic things that this movie has to over and then point out the glaring problems (cause there’s a couple) later. I have a day job in a library. Aliens Ate My Homework seems to be one of the biggest things that kids love to take out. I’ve read a bit of it, and this kind of details word for word of what the book is. If anything, this movie sets upon the importance of working together as a team and being a better family. It also stresses the importance of believing in truth and which path you take for it.
The cast is charming as f*ck. I’m not going to lie. I kinda fell in love with each other the aliens. Sometimes Tar Gibbons (Alex Zahara) could be annoying with all his Yoda-isms. The aliens steal the show for the most part, not saying the kids aren’t good cause they’re okay, but the actors under heavy makeup and prosthetics took this movie and ran with it. With Alex Zahara as Tar, Dan Payne (Grakker) and William Shatner (Phil), give each of their characters life with personality and zing that brings you to want to finish the film.
I was honestly waiting for William Shatner to show his face in the movie, but LO AND BEHOLD, he was Phil, the alien plant… with all the awful puns in the world that will make your household plants weep. However, my favorite of all the aliens was Tristan Risk as Madame Pong. How has this woman not gotten a side-roll in a Hollywood film yet? She’s regal, calm, chill factor on 80, and she knows what she’s about. She’s the centerpiece and significant force between the aliens and if you see this movie, just see it for her.
This, again, isn’t to say the kids are bad. They were pretty exceptional in this film. They take the ridiculous in stride and knew their characters different personas and expectations and enhanced them. The audience can relate to Rod because he’s so small and charming. You think Elspeth is annoying, but see the qualities in her. You hate Billy with a passion worth a thousand lightyears. I ended up seeing him as a pre-Jason Sudeikis if this kid was in Colossal as Oscar. The two kids I loved the most were Rod Albright’s little brother and sister, Linda Albright (Carmela Nossa Guizzo) and Eric Albright (Christian Convery). They were adorable and stole every scene even from Jayden Grieg and Lauren McNamara.
Now, I had some big ol’ glaring issue with the film. One was the number of fat jokes thrown at this kid just trying to live his existence. I commend Rod Albright for what he’s done for the planet and also taking half of what people say about him in stride. Every both his classmates, his bully, and his cousin all comment about him going on a diet and being fat. Have you not evolved enough to stop making fat jokes towards children. Another thing I had an issue with was the apparent placement between telling a lie and telling the truth.
You may be wondering why I say this, so let me explain. Most of the time that Rod is on screen, he has to face the obvious fact that his dad left him and never returned. He also duels with the fact that his dad would never lie that he’d be coming back if he wasn’t. Also, dude left in the middle of the night, that’s kinda messy.
As his parents are separated, Rod has to deal with his cousin, whose parents are going through a separation themselves. Elspeth lays down some harsh truth to Rod, telling him that his father lied to him and he’s not coming back. Billy also tells him that the Federation lied to him about his dad and knew where he is (turns out he was telling the truth). However, this kid has to wrestle back and forth the morality of fact and fiction all throughout this movie. It starts making you feel bad after a while.
Also, the alien’s explanation of where his father is should not have been a happy moment. His dad came down, started a family, then said: “GOT A JOB TO DO, BYEEEEE.” It brings up a healthy set of questions. Will his dad come back? How long does Galaxy Patrol stuff usually take? Is it like being on a police force or the military? Did the mum even know he was an alien? How is she okay with all of this? Why is everyone just okay with this? Are Rod AND his siblings half alien? Is this guy the bastardized nice bro of Ego, the Planet Dad from Guardians of the Galaxy? I have so many questions.
Verdict: Eh, WATCH IT! Listen, if you’re up for a good time with literally no expectations, I’d suggest giving Aliens Ate My Homework a go. It’s not Oscar of BAFTA worthy but carries a fun narrative that gives you a warm feeling of adventures, some supercritical questions, and some alien fun.
