The kids and I climbed into my bed to have an afternoon screening of our Netflix'd DVD for Planet 51. The movie starts with a movie-within-a-movie of a scary horror "alien" flic, which was a little initimidating for my 5-year-olds. Once we realized there was nothing to fear, we sat back and relaxed. Definitely over my twins' heads, this movie still had them laughing and rooting for the astronaut Chuck's sidekick robot, Rover. Rover, who was as close to a fetch-happy puppy as a robot could get, was enchanting and adorable.  As I thought to myself how much it resembled Wall-E, my daughter mentioned the same thing out loud.  You can't help but love a people or alien-pleasing robot, right?

With many moments that were intended for an audience of adults (the flag planting of the astronaut, for example) it kept my attention as well as the kids'.  Although I thought that this movie would be a dead-end, non repeated DVD, as soon as it was over Jack was asking to see it again.

Now it is a little gun-heavy.  This isn't my favorite feature of any movie.  But nobody ever bled or even got hurt by any weapon which really helped my anxiety in having to explain that potential life cycle to my kids. The overall theme of these alien creatures living in the '50s, the emergence of the hippies (who's idea of a poster was "make like, not war", and the close-mindedness of the military (one with a helmet enscribed with "corn to mill") was remeniscent of those wonderful coming to age movies... with a twist.  And the movie posed a nice way of introducing a very important message I have always had for my kids: just because a movie or book depicts a certain race, gender, species a certain way, doesn't mean that you have to believe it.  Take the time to keep an open mind and learn for yourself what type of creature you are encountering.  Not that I'd suggest my chld stick their hand out and pet a lion anytime soon... But I think you catch my drift.

This is definitely not a movie for kids to watch by themselves, I would highly recommend you take the time to sit and watch it with them, as there are some intense moments that you don't want them having to decipher themselves.