Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 2009
Aliens in the Attic
Buy Aliens in the Attic now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Aliens in the Attic' is a 2009 American comic science fiction film directed by John Schultz and written by Mark Burton and Adam F. Goldberg, based on an original story conceived by Burton. Starring Carter Jenkins, Austin Butler, Ashley Tisdale, Gillian Vigman, Andy Richter, Doris Roberts, Robert Hoffman, Kevin Nealon, Tim Meadows, Josh Peck, J. K. Simmons, Kari Wahlgren and Thomas Haden Church, the plot revolves around the children in the Pearson family defending their vacation home against a group of aliens, who are planning an invasion of Earth until one of the aliens betrays them and joins the Pearson children in battle.
Produced by Regency Enterprises and Dune Entertainment, 'Aliens in the Attic' was released theatrically by 20th Century Fox on July 31, 2009 in the United States. The film received mixed reviews from film critics and failed at the box office, earning merely $57.9 million on a $45 million budget.
Plot
Stuart Pearson and his wife Nina live in Chicago with their children, consisting of 7-year-old Hannah, 17-year-old Bethany - who goes on secret outings with her boyfriend Ricky Dillman - and 15-year-old techno-geek Tom. After arguing with Tom over the former hacking into his school's website to change his grades, Stuart takes the entire family to a holiday home. Joining them is Nathan "Nate" Pearson, his 14-year-old showoff son Jake, identical 12-year-old gaming nerd twins Art and Lee, and Nana Rose. Ricky also arrives unexpectedly and talks his way into staying overnight by claiming his car has broken down, in order to spend time with Bethany.
As the family settles in, a storm swirls around the house, resulting in four glowing pods crashing into the satellite dish on the roof. Upon being sent upstairs to fix it, Ricky tells Tom that he lied about his car breaking down and reveals he is actually in college and four years older than Bethany. Upon finding the satellite dish broken beyond repair, Tom and Ricky encounter a crew of little aliens - consisting of Skip, the nasty, tough commander; Tazer, a muscle-bound soldier armed to the teeth; Razor, a female soldier; and Sparks, the four-armed engineer and the only non-threatening member. The aliens shoot Ricky with a mind control plug, which enables them to control him via remote. Called "Zirkonians", the aliens plan to take over Earth and make Ricky attack the boys, who escape with Hannah and the twins' help. Tazer shoots them with more mind control plugs, but they fall off as the devices don't work on kids.
The group calls 911, but sheriff Doug Armstrong doesn't believe them and scolds them while the aliens cut the phone wire. The kids decide to protect the adults by keeping the aliens' existence a secret and repel the aliens' first attack from the attic, before obtaining Ricky's controller and making him battle the aliens. As the kids orchestrate a scheme to get the adults out of the house and ambush the aliens as they try to reach the basement via the air vents, gentle and non-violent Sparks ends up becoming separated from the group and inside Hannah's room, where the latter befriends him and he reveals that he wants to return to his family.
Sparks helps the kids by creating weapons for them and reveals his teammates are after an enlarging machine buried under the house's basement that will allow them to invade Earth. After the aliens mind-control Nana, the kids obtain her controller and she defeats Ricky in the style of a fighting game. The aliens capture Jake and Sparks - whom the kids need to complete their mission - while Bethany discovers the aliens' existence.
While rescuing Jake in the basement, Ricky insults Tom and the others and breaks up with Bethany before the children battle the aliens and rescue Sparks. Skip uses the enlarging machine, causing him to grow 30 feet tall and call the Zirkonian invasion ships, prompting the kids to mind-control Skip into sending him and a grown Tazer back to the machine as Sparks has controlled it to shrink. Tazer and Razor flee while Skip is sucked into the damaged machine, which explodes. Sparks calls off the invasion and returns home after bidding farewell to the kids. Having grown closer towards each other the whole time, the kids resume their vacation and enjoy a day of fishing together with their parents, while Skip, having survived the explosion yet shrunk to an even smaller size than before, reappears bent on revenge, only for a crow to snatch him away.
In a mid-credits scene, Bethany and Tom get their revenge on Ricky by making him look like a fool in front of his new girlfriend using the mind control remote; Bethany gleefully comments that "she is so keeping this" after she and Tom make Ricky land on his testicles on the stair rail.
Cast
* Carter Jenkins as Thomas "Tom" Pearson
* Austin Butler as Jake Pearson
* Ashley Tisdale as Bethany Pearson
* Ashley Boettcher as Hannah Pearson
* Robert Hoffman as Richard "Ricky" Dillman
* Henri Young as Art Pearson
* Regan Young as Lee Pearson
* Kevin Nealon as Stuart "Stu" Pearson
* Gillian Vigman as Nina Pearson
* Andy Richter as Nate Pearson
* Doris Roberts as Nana Rose Pearson
* Tim Meadows as Sheriff Doug Armstrong
* Malese Jow as Julie
* Megan Parker as Brooke
* Maggie VandenBerghe as Annie Filkins
Voice cast
* Josh Peck as Sparks* J. K. Simmons as Skip
* Thomas Haden Church as Tazer
* Kari Wahlgren as Razor
Production
Development
In March 2006, 20th Century Fox announced that they picked up Mark Burton and Adam F. Goldberg's script for the film, then titled 'They Came from Upstairs'. Marc Resteghini was hired to oversee the film for Fox with Kara Francis Smith for Regency Enterprises. Barry Josephson was confirmed as the main producer for the film while Thor Freudenthal was initially hired to direct the film, but was later replaced by John Schultz. Pre-production on the film began in March 2007.In January 2008, Ashley Tisdale was cast in the film as Bethany Pearson; Robert Hoffman, Carter Jenkins and Austin Butler were later cast as well. Doris Roberts signed onto the film in February 2008.[https://www.variety.com/article/VR1117980882.html?categoryid=28&cs=1&query=they+came+from+upstairs Doris Roberts Signs On 'They Came from Upstairs'.] Variety.com. MTV later confirmed that Josh Peck joined the cast as the voice of the alien Sparks.[http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/04/29/josh-peck-heads-out-of-this-world-for-ashley-tisdales-sci-fi-flick-upstairs/ Josh Peck Heads Out Of This World For Ashley Tisdale's Sci-Fi Flick 'Upstairs'] MTV.com. Retrieved March 4, 2009. Tisdale recorded a song titled "Switch" for the film, which was also included in her second album, 'Guilty Pleasure'. The original motion picture soundtrack was released on August 18, 2009.[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002HL2AQ2 Aliens in the Attic: Soundtrack]. Amazon.com.
Filming
Principal photography began at the end of January 2008 in Auckland, New Zealand. Auckland-based production company New Upstairs Productions stated that filming would run for 3040 days from January 28 to April 18, 2008 with no filming in weekends. The film was shot in a rambling old villa transported from Remuera to a farm in North Auckland. The main set was an old manor and the crew spent $700,000 restoring the house. Principal photography ended in mid-March 2008, though Tisdale, Butler and Jenkins returned to the set for reshoots in April 2009.[http://www.ashleytisdale.com/news/2009/04/27/new-photo-set-aliens-attic Back to 'Aliens in the Attic' Set]. Ashleytisdale.com. Retrieved on 2009-07-14.Release
'Aliens in the Attic' was originally scheduled to be released in January 2009, but was pushed back to July 31, 2009.Vena, Jocelyn.[http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1597768/20081023/story.jhtml Ashley Tisdale Hones Alien-Fighting Skills In 'They Came From Upstairs']. 'MTV.com'. Retrieved on 2009-08-15. The United Kingdom release also coincided with a charity auction for Save the Children which teamed up with eBay and 20th Century Fox where various celebrities, including several actors from the film, sold items from their attics to raise money for the charity.[http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/whats_happening/media_office/latest_news/17578_pr.html Celebrities Raid Their Attics For The Children's Society Auction] , 'Save The Children' website, accessed August 17, 2009
Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 3, 2009.Reception
Critical response
Reviews of 'Aliens in the Attic' were mixed; the film holds a 34% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 74 reviews with an average critical score of 4.60/10, with the consensus stating: "Inoffensive and kid-friendly, this mundane family comedy is light on imagination." On Metacritic, the film has an average score 42 out of 100 based on 10 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.'Entertainment Weekly' described the film as "a pointless and harmless family adventure that doesn't mentally assault the 12-and-over set and looks like a lot of fun", while 'San Francisco Chronicle' called it unoriginal and crowd pleasing. 'Variety' stated the film would appeal primarily to a more narrow demographic of tweens and preteens and despite Tisdale's presence, its difficult to imagine many ticket buyers between the ages of 12 and 18 while 'The New York Times' described Jenkins and Butler as the actors with more personality and Hoffman as the actor who provides the films occasional funny moments and stated that even though she is credited as one of the main characters, Tisdale spends most of the film off-screen.
The 'Los Angeles Times' called the film "an enjoyable kid-friendly film but not an out-of-this-world classic" and also mentioned the film belonged to Hoffman, and Kirk Honeycutt of 'The Hollywood Reporter' said director John Schultz "played everything for laughs and earns a more than a few but tech effects deliver a fair number of those laughs" and described the film as an "amusing family comedy". 'Radio Times' gave the film a three out of five stars rating, saying that the film is "a thrilling children's yarn with enough pop-culture references to hold grown-ups' interest".
'The Dove Foundation' praised the film, saying it is "one of those movies that you find to be better than anticipated" and also said the film draws on realism in family dynamics.[http://www.dove.org/reviewmasterframe.asp?SearchType=Source&Keyword=Theater&Unique_ID=7947 Aliens in the Attic Movie Review] . 'The Dove Foundation'. Lara Martin of 'Digital Spy' described the film as a "kid-friendly mix of 'Men in Black' crossed with 'Gremlins' with a healthy dose of 'Home Alone'-style violence" and also mentioned that one of the biggest disappointments in the movie is the lack of screen time given to Tisdale, billed as one of the leading actors, who "gets a promising start as she rebels against her parents and struts around in her bikini, but she's quickly relegated to background fodder purely there to provide excess opportunities for the alien-controlled Ricky to shine" and concluded saying it seems "a bizarre and sad waste of her obvious comedic talent".[http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/a169769/aliens-in-the-attic.html Aliens in the Attic Movie Review]. Digital Spy. 'The Miami Herald' gave the film a mixed review, describing it as a "children's movie mix of live-action and animation, it has a few positive messages, a few laughs and a few comic throwdowns".[http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/AP/story/1166142.html?storylink=pd Aliens in the Attic Movie Review]. The Miami Herald.
Box office
'Aliens in the Attic' grossed $8 million its opening weekend while playing in 3,108 theaters, ranking No. 5 at the North American box office.[https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=aliensintheattic.htm Box Office Mojo]. Aliens in the Attic. The film ended its theatrical run on November 22, 2009, having grossed $$25,200,412 domestically and $32,680,644 overseas for a worldwide total of $57,881,056.Accolades
* '2009 Teen Choice Awards'** Movie Star: Female Ashley Tisdale (Nomination)
* '2010 Young Artist Awards'
** Young Ensemble Cast: Megan Parker, Henri Young, Regan Young, Austin Robert Butler, Carter Jenkins (Nomination)
Video game
A video game is based on the movie of the same name that was released on August 4, 2009, in North America, followed by an international release on August 6, 2009. The game developers were Revistronic for the Wii,PlayStation 2, and Microsoft Windows platforms and Engine Software for the Nintendo DS, published by Playlogic. The game features follow the storyline of the movie and it was available for Wii, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS Nintendo 3ds, and Microsoft Windows. The game also offers players two different gameplay perspectives depending upon which video game platform players choose. The game allows the player to play as Tom, Hannah, Jake, Art, Lee, Bethany or Sparks, Skip, Tazer and Razor across 15 missions.
References
Buy Aliens in the Attic now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 2009