Luis and the Aliens

Story

Eleven-year-old Luis (voiced by Callum Maloney) is a lonely and neglected boy, whose ‘crackpot’ father, Armin (voiced by Dermot Magennis), is too busy searching for intelligent life in space to pay attention to him. When three mischievous little aliens, Wabo, Mog, and Nag, (voiced by Dermot Magennis, Ian Coppinger, and Paul Tylak, respectively) crash land in his yard searching for an item they saw on an infomercial, Luis offers to help them find it and get them back to their mother ship. In return, the aliens help Luis trick his principal (voiced by Simon Toal) and the creepy child-protection lady (voiced by Aileen Mythen) into letting him stay with his father. All is not what it seems however, and aliens may already be living amongst them.

Themes

Child neglect and loneliness; forced separation of child from parent; death of a parent; alien and science fiction themes; bullying

Violence

There is some violence in this movie including:

Aliens slap and punch each other on numerous occasions in a slapstick and comical manner – this occurs after almost every disagreement or problem that arises in the story
Luis is bullied by three older boys, and he lunges at them in order to fight – they restrain him
Luis’s father punches and kicks his neighbour in the stomach multiple times to prove he is an alien – this is comical
A freeze ray gun is brandished at both aliens and children numerous times throughout the film. Its effects are temporary and no serious consequences are shown from using it.
There is car chase between the adults and the children, and the female antagonist rear-ends the children’s car, running her own of the road – nobody is hurt in either vehicle.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

One of the male aliens frequently flirts with both female aliens and people – these jokes will most likely be missed by children, but may subtly contribute to an objectifying attitude toward female characters
There are a number of somewhat crude jokes and visual gags on the part of the main aliens (most of which would be missed by children), including: An alien disguised as a female looks down his shirt to confirm there are breasts; an alien looks down the pants of a sleeping adult male to confirm he is male; a subtle reference to wanting to touch a female characters breasts (“lovely dovelies”).
The aliens worry that they will be ‘probed’ by the humans if they are found

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Luis’s father suggests that his neighbour may be a drinker

Nudity and sexual activity

Nothing of concern

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

Cola
Converse
Smartphones – While unbranded, they are clearly iPhones

Coarse language

Luis and the Aliens has some mild coarse language, including ‘freak', 'dweeb', 'jerk', 'loser', 'butthead', 'nerd boy', 'idiot' and 'shut up'.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Luis and the Aliens is an American redub of a German animated children’s comedy that is likely to entertain younger children. However scary scenes, including physical transformations, may be distressing for children under 5, and the constant threat to Luis of separation from his father may also be disturbing for young children, so parental guidance is recommended for the 5 to 7 age group. Older children and adult viewers are likely to find the film slow and predictable, lacking the quality storytelling that can make children’s films enjoyable for all ages.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

getting to know someone before you judge them
treating everyone fairly and with respect
standing up to bullies

Parents may also wish to discuss:

neglect of children and the real role of child-protection agencies
joyriding (particularly by children)
the real-life dangers of drinking dishwashing liquid, which is consumed by an alien who comically burps out bubbles for the remainder of the film
the dangers of riding a bike without a helmet, and riding it on the road
the safety precautions children need to take when using ovens and stoves