“Aliens in the Attic” is an attempt to capture the same sense of venturesome adolescent spirit in tandem with a similar dynamic of teamwork and codes of comedy, but lo and behold, there is a key element missing in this motion picture, that of an intelligent script and a keen sense of emotional depth related to growing up. Are today's youngsters so shallow that they should embrace this witless action comedy, despite its clever usage of contemporary gaming devices for a battle royal with aliens?Tommy (Carter Jenkins) is a confused 15-year-old brainiac who is tired of being labeled as a loser at school, thus he purposefully lowers his grades in the hope of becoming “cool.” Being different is always a problem, isn't it!? Tommy's father, not having any of it, believes that some family time in a massive Michigan holiday lake house will solve all the problems. So the children's table gets larger as Tommy's cousins Jake (Austin Robert Butler) and twins Art and Lee join him along with his older sister, Bethany (Ashley Tisdale from “High School Musical”), and his youngest sibling, Hannah. Bethany's stud muffin and obnoxious 20-something boyfriend Ricky (Robert Hoffman) also cajoles his way into the vacation house.
Wouldn't you know it, as Tommy is trying to fix the satellite dish, he discovers that the attic has already been invaded by four knee-high aliens who are a cross between gremlins and prawns. Their plan encompasses that of world domination and enslaving the human race. You wonder to yourself if there could ever be any aliens out there in the movie world who just want to borrow some eggs from their intergalactic neighbors. As you can guess, the little monsters are equipped with some advanced tools, including several mind control joysticks that only work on adults. The kids will have to attempt to stop the aliens from reaching the basement, where an unidentifiable object is located that will broadcast the domination code to all the other creepy crawlies waiting in the depths of the atmosphere.
How a handful of kids can stop these sophisticated aliens is a question we are advised not to inquire within the logic of this film. All we know is that the children can't ask for the parents' help since they are susceptible to mind control and that being a paintball pro and a master at Xbox are useful skills. When the twins get their hands on one of the mind control joysticks, using their grandmother (Doris Roberts from “Everybody Loves Raymond”) against Bethany's boyfriend, who is controlled by the aliens, we are subjected to watching a disturbingly riotous ninja showdown between a young man and an octogenarian woman. Well, the film does prove that there is nothing to be ashamed about in living in the digital gaming age.
The child actors in this film try their best in performing that gleeful zest of achieving the mission at hand and thus reaching “PG” emancipation and fulfillment; however, some of the dialogue is so bland and obviously used solely for functional purposes to move along the plot that most of the pleasures of juvenile humor of the kid adventure genre dissolve in midair. The uninspired directing of John Schultz, which forsakes the most important element -- dwelling on the identity and self-esteem issues of the young cast -- is also another factor that makes this film a shallow laugh-along adventure flick without any chances of becoming a classic.
Of course for kids who are about to start school, this will still be a delightful gobble-and- consumption opportunity before the academic year kicks off. And after all, the young actors all look pretty and well groomed -- whatever happened to the adorable fat kids of the '80s? -- and are well meaning. But the person who really steals the show is Hoffman, who performs impeccable slapstick humor via a rich array of acrobatics throughout most of the film since he's tossed from one corner to the other with a mind control joystick. Who would have known that the most memorable person in a kid movie would be an adult?
