"Planet 51" is a trite compendium of everything that's wrong with non-Pixar computer-animated feature films.

The voice actors (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Jessica Biel) mostly were chosen for their name recognition, not their mellifluousness.

Ilion Animation/Columbia Studios

Lem (voiced by Justin Long) and wayward astronaut Chuck (Dwayne Johnson) appear in "Planet 51."

Planet 51

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Rated PG for mild sci-fi action and some suggestive humor

Length: 91 minutes

Released: November 20, 2009 Nationwide

Score: 1.0

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Biel, Justin Long, Gary Oldman, Seann William Scott

Director: Jorge Blanco
Producer: Ignacio Pérez Dolset, Guy Collins
Writer: Joe Stillman
Genre: Animation, Action/Adventure
Distributor: Sony Pictures/TriStar Pictures

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The soundtrack is burdened with inferior covers of familiar rock and pop tunes. (Because the title planet is presented as an alien version of America in the 1950s, these songs include "Be-Bop-A-Lula" and "Long Tall Sally.")

The "jokes" -- presented in the nonstop fashion of a "Family Guy" episode -- seem pulled from a checklist of pop-culture references so unimaginative it could have been provided by a person plucked at random from the street (or at least a person old enough to remember the "Macarena"). Since the film has a science-fiction theme, we hear or see allusions to "The War of the Worlds," Yoda, "E.T.," "In space, no one can hear you scream," "I'll be back," "Houston, we have a problem," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and so on, sometimes one after the other. "I'm on Facebook," the movie's astronaut character shouts, for no apparent reason other than to name-drop Facebook. (The script is credited to Joe Stillman, a co-writer of the "Shrek" films, which pioneered this style; this seems to be his slash-and-burn attempt to craft something so wretched it will shame other animators into demanding better.)

The animation is beautifully fluid, but the scenes are staged as if director Jorge Blanco were afraid of new ideas. When teen alien Lem (Justin Long) sees pretty neighbor Neera (Biel), the encounter is depicted in the most obvious way possible: The action shifts to "slow motion," backed by the sound of "Unchained Melody." And yes, when the astronaut (Johnson) first emerges from his ship, we hear the theme from "2001."

The only surprise in this tale of an American astronaut who discovers that he's the alien when he lands on a white-picket- fence sitcom planet of what appear to be green Bendables is the roster of almost exclusively Spanish names in the end credits: "Planet 51" is the debut production of Ilion Animation Studios in Madrid. (OK, there's one other surprise: The co-production company is Britain's HandMade Films, which was founded by the late Beatle, George Harrison, and was known in the past for such distinctive projects as "Monty Python's Life of Brian" and "Mona Lisa.")

Although it provides less amusement than the average "SpongeBob" episode, kids may enjoy "Planet 51." Certainly, its message of tolerance is inarguable: Don't judge others as "alien" just because they're different. As the outer-space teenager says: "The universe isn't scary -- it's really amazing." But kids already know this.

The film is preceded by a pointless Oscar-bait CG animated short called "Live Music," which depicts the after-hours antics of a lovestruck electric guitar in a music store.

-- John Beifuss: 529-2394