whapakk.

Planet 51: Shrekish splash and Shrekish character skins.

Yeah, at first glance, with all the little green “alien” creatures and being a 3D-animated film, you’d think that Planet 51’s a Shrek clone. It looks a bit like that, yes, but after watching the film you’d probably begin to appreciate the movie for its own appeal. I have a soft spot for animated films, 3D and the more traditional ones, because I came from that industry, and this one I felt appreciative of the technical execution: the photography was great, the treatment was always vibrant, and the details, while they look rounded off to the next (more basic) organic shape, were solid and consistent throughout the movie.

I like how finesse is apparent throughout the movie.

Planet 51 carries a story for the younger audience, summed up like so: Planet 51’s green creatures get quite a scare when a human astronaut lands there – they think he’s out to invade the planet, and in defense he says he’s just exploring, but gets chased by the Shrekish army of little green creatures anyway. That’s the gist of it which isn’t much, but yeah, it’s for kids.

Beef patties that float ain't weird around these parts.

Come to think of it, Planet 51’s more like Planet Namek of Dragonball lore than a Planet Shrek. Just a thought.

Yeah, claim the land for your country, sure, yeah, okay.

Planet 51 was created by Ilion Animation Studios, a seven-year old Madrid-based animation outfit who assigned some 250 artists, program developers, high-tech engineers, and other professionals to work on the movie. Quite a lot, but come to think of it, back from the two animation studios I had stints at, the total headcount of people working on a full-length film (or even single episodes of animated TV series) weren’t far from that number. (Just so you guys would know how many specialists are required to complete such a project.)

We're the 51st planet? On whose list?

In addition, a virtual world free-to-play game is available for download here; soon, locally, Smart subscribers will get to enjoy an exclusive privilege to purchase in-game virtual money through SMS. In addition, free gaming codes will be made available to select Smart Bro users for free virtual tokens, also through the partnership between Zed Worldwide and Smart Communications. How’s that for integrated entertainment?

Planet 51 will start showing in the Philippines on Wednesday, December 2, 2009. Would I watch it again? Perhaps, because I’m assuming my kid brother would enjoy watching fat little green creatures bounce around and scream in fear of an astronaut who’s lost his way.