| Movie DescriptionOutside the theater is the town of Glipforg on Planet 51, a world populated by little green aliens who live in a society reminiscent of 1950s USA. Lem (Justin Long) is a teenaged alien who has just gotten a job at the local planetarium museum, and his family and friends are excited about it. His best friend Skiff (Seann William Scott), a geeky alien teen who works at the local comic book store, is a huge fan of the "Humaniacs" films.
When Lem gets home, he asks his next door neighbor and friend, Eckle (Freddie Benedict) about Neera (Jessica Biel), who is Lem's long-time crush. Lem's family is holding a barbecue with the neighbors. Neera is at the barbecue, but when Lem attempts to ask her out, he keeps being interrupted by Neera's hippie friend, Glar.
Meanwhile, a mysterious spacecraft pulls into orbit around Planet 51, sending out a blinking red signal. Down on the planet, under a hidden army base called "Base 9", the aliens' version of Area 51, there is a basement filled with artifacts from Earth. One artifact "wakes up" from the signal; it is a wheeled probe with artificial intelligence, named "Rover." Rover breaks out of the basement and escapes to perform its primary mission: to find the astronaut. Its secondary mission is to collect rocks. The army becomes suspicious of Rover's escape and begins to look into its activity.
Meanwhile, just as the barbecue starts, a spacecraft similar to the lunar module touches down right in Lem's backyard. A NASA Astronaut (Dwayne Johnson), Charles 'Chuck' Baker, emerges. As Chuck plants the U.S. flag, he's startled to step on an alien "rubber ducky" someone left on the ground. Everyone stares, and Chuck attempts to get back into his module - but Eckle is in his way, eager for an autograph. Chuck ends up running about, shocked at the revelation that he's on an inhabited planet. Chuck goes into hiding, while the army arrives on the scene. |
