Aliens Ate My Homework Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Aliens Ate My Homework Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 16, 2019

Aliens At My Homework derives its title from a scene in which a couple of diminutive aliens, hiding out in a young boy’s backpack, literally eat his homework, a worksheet full of multiplication problems. The aliens apparently enjoy feasting on Earth's “surprisingly nutritious” paper goods, a mistake which ultimately lands the victim a trip to the principal’s office. It’s a cute moment in an otherwise mundane, low-budget film that squeezes out just enough charm and a touch of heart to maintain appearances but does little to otherwise engage the audience. The film is based on the book series by Bruce Coville, which began releasing back in the early 1990s. The film plays to humor more so than to any other element, whether the sorrow the character feels in the absence of his father or in its presentation of various action scenes between the intergalactic forces of good and evil. The kid-friendly humor includes plenty of gunk and slime and other squishy delights that don't hide the otherwise vacuous story but at least give kids a reason to smile.

Rod Allbright (Jayden Greig) is a middle school student who is growing up without a father. His dad suddenly and mysteriously disappeared three years earlier, promising Rod he would return. Rod has done his best to move on with his life. He and his best friend Mickey (Sean Quan) are inseparable, but Rod is also a magnet for bullies, notably Billy (Ty Consiglio), who routinely upends Rod's life in some form or fashion. One day, while working on his science project, a small spaceship crash-lands through his bedroom window. Out step four aliens, each about the size of an action figure: Captain Grakker (Dan Payne), Madame Pong (Tristan Risk), Tar Gibbons (Alex Zahara), and Phil (William Shatner). Rod learns that they are part of the "Galactic Patrol" and that they have come to Earth in search of B’kr, an intergalactic criminal they believe is posing as a human, right there in Rod's neighborhood. Clues lead Rod to believe that B'kr may be none other than Billy's father, and he and his cousin Elspeth (Lauren McNamara) embark on a wild adventure that might just save all of mankind and perhaps even provide Rod a clue as to his father's whereabouts.

Aliens At My Homework is sort of like a hybrid of Diary of a Wimpy Kid meets something along the lines of *batteries not included. It's a kid-centric movie with few aspirations beyond crude, silly entertainment that highlights the picture's comedic qualities and, while it doesn't brush aside any dramatic currents, it certainly reduces them in scale and importance, even the subplot involving Rod's missing father or the idea of Rod's growth and self-discovery in the world, which requires some otherworldly assistance. Still, the film never leaves the shallow end of the pool, so to speak, and plays every action and reaction safely. That's good news for parents who need not worry about any sort of difficult themes, crude language, or excess violence. Everything is played fairly close to the vest and for top comedic value first, with anything else a bonus in the larger picture.

The low production budget necessarily means some of the film's would-be more ambitious moments lack the visual dazzle that more financial clout could have added. The film does well enough in depicting scale, as actors essentially stand amongst grossly enlarged prop objects, such as books and pencils and crayons on Rod's desk at home and around various objects in his backpack, which sometimes includes a huge zipper. The sense of basic perspective is never at issue, and close-up alien makeup isn't particularly bad (though it's certainly very simple), but when the film is charged with more complex digital effects is when the illusion tends to crumble. Sadly neither the story nor the actors who shape it are good enough to overcome the visual shortcomings. Practically every scene reliant on them, including the climax, struggles to keep the attention solely on the story.

Aliens Ate My Homework Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Aliens Ate My Homework was digitally photographed, unsurprising -- and uninspiring -- as digital has become the de facto method of shooting today's B-level DTV films. It's decent enough under the constraints. It's flat and never finds anything close to precise, intimate, highly complex detailing, but it presents essential textures with enough clarity to satisfy base requirements. Terrain, trees, clothes, and faces aren't all that intricate. Some of the alien makeup work does enjoy a decent little bit of visible complexity, but nothing about this fairly flat image really stands out as above and beyond the norm, let alone rise to even the baseline. There are more than a few soft, low-res establishing/drone shots, and effects shots are often less than ideally crisp, though it's the mainline image parameters that contribute most to the presentation's modest positives. A good, neutral color palette may be the most impressive of the 1080p lot. Clothes, yellow school busses, multicolored aliens, and odds and ends around homes or inside backpacks reveal enough essential punch and pleasing saturation to carry most scenes. Background noise is fairly constant, but not particularly heavy.

Aliens Ate My Homework Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Aliens Ate My Homework features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack which may as well be a 3.0 track. Music engages throughout the stage's front end, offering richly detailed and energetic notes from score and songs alike. However, the surrounds are not always engaged and never to prominence; the opening song barely registers from the rears, but there's enough verve along the front to carry the moment. High intensity sound effects likewise remain largely the property of the front channels, including big explosions of electricity within the 17-minute mark. Even in moments when surround integration would seem to be a no-brainer -- a scene in which Rod and Mickey play with a homemade launcher -- back channel engagement is minimal as the track relies on the front to carry the bulk of the material. Fortunately the front end delivers a hearty, detailed presentation, but the lack of real, intense surround engagement is a disappointment. Dialogue is clear and center focused for the duration.

Aliens Ate My Homework Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Aliens Ate My Homework contains four featurettes. The special features must be a accessed in-film via the pop-up menu; no top menu screen is included. The release does not ship with DVD or digital copies or a slipcover.

• Not of This World: Creating Alien Life Forms (1080p, 12:56): Cast and crew discuss the likelihood that aliens exist somewhere in the cosmos and continue to discuss the human qualities the alien characters reflect, alien costumes and makeup, and William Shatner's voice work.
• Aliens Ate My Homework: From Page to Screen (1080p, 14:12): A discussion of how the main character reflects a young Bruce Coville. It also explores story and themes, character details, and more.
• On the Set with Bruce Coville (1080p, 5:48): The author of the book series on which the film is based shares some of the delights of being on the set, including meeting the characters he developed and speaking with the actors who portray them. He also discusses the crew's enthusiasm for working on the film.
• The Galactic Patrol Wants You! (1080p, 4:57): The film's aliens pitch the idea of joining forces with the Galactic Patrol.

Aliens Ate My Homework Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Modern low budget, kid-centered live action films don't come much more straightforward than this. Aliens Ate My Homework has little charm on offer, but the charm it does muster can't really mask the second-rate story, the largely rote characters, and the cut-rate visual effects. A few practical effects are fun and the younger demographic may find the movie's comically bent story enjoyable, but the film amounts to little more than grade school appropriate fodder. Universal's Blu-ray delivers passable video, audio that doesn't stretch much beyond the front three speakers, and a handful of featurettes. Pass.