Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out

Yes of course it was the title that stirred my curiosity. And I'm so glad it did! I enjoyed this film (yes I'm British) from beginning to end. Well, not quite. At the start I was determined not to like the daughter (Emma Tremblay); but by the end I realised she had to start off like that, the result of a good script and sensitive direction.

And that goes for all the characters. They come across as real, and have a good character arc. The film does well to keep what it needs to until near the end. I doubt you'll guess the truth about Calvin (the very talented and handsome Jacob Buster)!

No spectacular special FX, a script like this doesn't need them.

This seems to be an overlooked little gem, and deserves to be better known. Enjoy it as that!

Saw this back at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

Okay I get it, this is a children movie. Children movies are meant to be entertaining for young viewers to sit back and be in awe with something funny, fast paced and highly enjoyable. I understand. But "Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out" is one of the worst children films that I have seen.

The film suffers from a lack of charm as the characters, setting, and environment doesn't offer much to make the story creative or interesting in the slightest. The main story feels like it would work perfectly for Television either on Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon but the way it was written and it's direction doesn't make things better and very sloppy. Many of the performances were not good and the actors were trying their best but they seem to really struggle on trying their best. Most of the humor felt stale and the dialogue moments were really poor and felt forced as if the film was trying it's hardest to be in the TikTok eras. The special effects and costumes were poor as if they looked like something you would seeing from the early 2000s, the soundtrack was annoying, and the direction was all over the place.

Most of the characters were really uninteresting and if I had seen this a child, I may have been invested with them. I saw this online and I allowed my young siblings to see it since they enjoy watching science fiction stories. While he did enjoy some moments, he didn't seem to be able to fully grasp the film and did almost fall asleep halfway. That's really saying something. At the end, this is mainly for children and I understand this isn't a film for my demographic. I am sure many children might enjoy this film as there are characters and scenes they would like. But honestly, this was really really bad.

Rating: F.

If you've seen The Room (or The Disaster Artist), you'll understand why this movie is funny. It resembles a real movie just enough to be taken seriously, which adds to the humor of it. I watched it late at night with the whole family. We didn't know what we were getting into and just kept watching like it was a slow moving car accident happening on the front lawn. We turned into the Mystery Science theater audience. I was at times groaning in pain it was so bad but couldn't stop watching, and by the end... omg. I was reminded of the Furlings in episode 200 of Stargate SG1. I recommend watching with friends when you're too tired to think critically.

"Aliens Abducted My Parents and I Feel Kinda Left Out" is a disappointing and poorly written kids movie that fails to deliver on all fronts. The story is predictable and lacks depth, with characters that are one-dimensional and uninteresting. The humor falls flat; not funny enough for adults but tried way too hard to be TikTok relevant for kids to grasp. The dialogue is stilted and unrealistic, adding to the overall sense of disconnection. The pacing is sluggish and fails to build any real tension or suspense. This movie is a forgettable and unsatisfying that is best left un-watched. Save your and your kids time.

I thought it was good. The acting, even from the lesser characters, was excellent - possibly partly the director having the skill to get good performances? Anyway, the direction was smooth and totally unclunky. You hardly noticed it, which is how it should be. You felt in safe hands the whole way, not having to worry when the next jarring misjudgement was coming.

The two leads were eye-poppingly perfect, not just in the main body of a scene, but also in the little side glances, the momentary expressions, that create realism.

The little brother was very good and believable, as were the parents - true-to-life, funny, loving and there when it counted. The nasty girl at school, and the lost father and mother, also couldn't be faulted.

Some moments could have been, and in some other films would have been, poorly done and disappointing, but here it was all carried through with clear-sighted aplomb. There were no bum notes.

Highly recommended.