Hyper Sapien: People from Another Star

Three aliens–two girls who look like they've been dragged through a bush backwards and a three-eyed, three-limbed, petrol-drinking fur-ball with dubious looking facial folds and orifices—try to prove to their people that mankind is ready for extraterrestrial contact by stowing aboard a craft to Earth and taking off for the wilds of Wyoming, where they are befriended by rancher's son 'Dirt'.

Although this fairly unremarkable family friendly sci-fi adventure is predictable, saccharine sweet and extremely cheesy, its story about wide-eyed innocents exploring Earth about as twee as one could imagine, the whole thing is simply far too good-natured for me to really dislike it. The special effects are fairly impressive (with kudos going to the creators and puppeteers of three-eyed beastie Kirbi), the direction from Peter R. Hunt is more than adequate, and its potentially nauseating wholesome characters are surprisingly appealing, ageing star Keenan Wynn giving a particularly winning performance as Dirt's wise old grandfather (the actor's final performance).

N.B. Actress Rosie Marcel, who plays Hyper Sapien's gap-toothed alien moppet Tavy, currently stars as feline-faced surgeon Jacqueline "Jac" Naylor in popular BBC medical drama Holby City. She now sports much sleeker hair.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

Now, I can happily say that I did NOT rent this movie. This horrible film was on a Sci-Fi channel late one night, and I laughed so hard for so long watching it!

The acting is bad. The special effects are real bad. The hair is the worst. The girls' hair changes colour every scene ("due to the Earth's sun"), it's bigger than Dolly Parton's hair on a bad hair day after she's been in the wind for 36 hours; and their father/spaceguy leader who's looking for them could very well be the newest "before" picture in a Grecian 5 commercial.

This movie is sick - there's no other way to put it. Rent it simply for a good laugh.

Film is typical for it's time period. It contains some decent character interactions which could have used a lot more work. Someone really dumped hard on this film and it's budget and it shows. Look past the awkwardness of everyone involved in this project and you might be able to ad lib into the story and it'll seem less awkward. It seems that the story had a lot of directions it wanted to go in and a lot of things it wanted to try to put into the film to create the time period and circumstances. I simply don't think it flows smoothly. Not sure if it was a screen play written from scratch, where the points got thrown in or if it was written from a longer story and we see someone trying to pull the highlights out of the bigger story. I think I am looking at this more critically now after watching it again off a disk set purchased then when I was young and it first came out. If memory serves me correctly, I enjoyed it a lot more before I knew a lot more. Now I see lots of little problems in the film that most likely could not be corrected during the editing. Maybe should have rated this a point or two higher; but, all things considered from decades of experience, just can't go that high. As another person says, I like the young love story and how it turns out.

I bought this on laser disc years ago, and it has always been a favorite of mine. Many friends who watched it with me agreed. Anyone with just one romantic bone in their body will enjoy the girl boy interplay, especially if you like science fiction (as I do). The unusual pet they bring with them adds greatly to the story. The two 'alien' girls are cute, the effects are quite good and Keenan Wynn, in his 174th movie, his last role, plays a very likeable and understanding, openminded grandfather. I found it to be great fun and when I realized today that someone really tried to badmouth it badly, thought I had to give that a counter. It is not a cerebral piece, but most movies aren't. I am happy that I found it because I have never seen any advertising for it, which I found somewhat surprising. Also, it is something that kids can enjoy with its wholesomeness.

If you remember Talia Shire from the Rocky franchise or from The Godfather, you might be surprised that she has been very active as an executive producer, including this early effort in science fiction romance. Its also Keenan Wynn's last film and reminds viewers that he was a capable actor. This is a watchable movie, interspersed with pieces of plot that go nowhere (why is there a U. S. Senator wedged into the story and why is there an alleged assassination plot against her?) and an animatronic alien creature named Kirby who is both a plot device and comic relief. The editing choices also are peculiar and the other acting performances are mediocre. Still, its pleasant and, in the end, mildly suspenseful.