Events Calendar
In This Section
Most Read Stories
Another winter punch heading toward Ohio
Man robbed at Tallmadge Avenue eatery
Complaints against officer keep coming
Police: Ohio girl dies after fall into snow bank
Four teens restrain man, take items from his Akron home
Police: Man tries to buy crack with credit card
Police say couple had 50 stolen hubcaps
Blogs:
First Bell - On Education:
No City of Akron basketball tonight
Pets:
Pet telethon re-airs
The Heldenfiles:
Chipmunks "Squeakquel" on DVD/BD March 30
Akron Zips:
Zips favored on road against MAC West leader
Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated
Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9
Cleveland Cavaliers:
NBA Power Rankings from Around the Internet
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day
Varsity Letters:
Five local gridders to play in Big33
All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Republican Pre-Conditions
Akron Law Café:
Law, Love and Chocolate
Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
OFCCP Report
Akron Gamer:
Makers of 'Castle Crashers' unveil 'BattleBlock Theater'
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
By Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel
Published on Thursday, Aug 06, 2009
Discarded Fox ideas for an ad campaign for the kiddie feature Aliens in the Attic:
''Aliens in the Attic: At least it's not I Love You Beth Cooper!''
''Aliens in the Attic: Cheaper than G-Force 3-D.''
Or ''Aliens in the Attic: See it or we'll make a Chipmunks sequel!'' Sadly, those were not to be for this movie, which wasn't previewed for critics. A children's movie mix of live-action and animation, it has a few positive messages, a few laughs and a few comic throwdowns, one involving Doris Roberts of Everybody Loves Raymond going all Crouching Tiger on an alien-controlled frat boy.
Hilarious? No. But will you hate your kids for begging to see it? Nooooo. Can't say that about G-Force.
An extended family gathers in a big Victorian rental home in the country. There's Tom, the ''Math-lete'' (Carter Jenkins), Jake, the alpha male (Austin Butler), Tom's dating-a-college-guy sister (Ashley Tisdale of High School Musical), baby sister Hannah (Ashley Boettcher) and The Twins (Henri and Regan Young).
They're the ones who stumble across four diminutive aliens (animated) who have landed in the attic as the vanguard of a Zirconian invasion force.
The adults (Roberts, Kevin Nealon and Andy Richter among them) are out of the loop. So's the sheriff (Tim Meadows).
It's up to the kids — who can resist the alien mind-and-body control ray that turns select adults into zombie puppets to save the Earth.
Stupid movie, right? But kid-friendly, as the children work out weapons to fight with, ways to fend off the beasties (Thomas Haden Church, Josh Peck and J.K. Simmons do voices) and funny things they can do with the adults who no longer control their actions such as manipulate granny (Roberts) into a serious knockdown drag-out with Robert Hoffman, who plays the frat-boy love interest for Tisdale's character. Hoffman steals the picture, turning himself into a human marionette who wears one extreme goofy expression after another as he hurls himself into this role as if his career was on the line.
No, there's not much of a movie to steal. But parents will chuckle at kids who can't fathom how to use a rotary phone (sloooooow dialing) and who relate everything to a video game.
''This isn't X-Box, it's real! Like Wii!''
And you can't fault a movie that makes the merits of scholarship clear when you're at war with creatures that can control gravity.
''You messed with the wrong Math-lete!''
Discarded Fox ideas for an ad campaign for the kiddie feature Aliens in the Attic:
Get the full article here.
