Alien Adventure (1999) User Reviews

The novelty soon wears off

[Shiva-11 · 6/10 · 19 May 2000]

Alien Adventure: A band of aliens that travels the galaxy looking for planets to conquer discovers a small blue green planet that they think will be perfect for their newest base. However, when their scouting party lands in a soon to be opened virtual theme park the begin to have second thoughts.

Besides having the biggest screens of any theatres the IMAX format also allows for excellent 3-D effects. While there have been several attempts to exploit this format most of them have consisted of paper thin plots that serve to connect the special effects sequences and showcase what is possible (Encounters in the Third Dimension however did manage to combine both aspects successfully). This feature is no different.

Adventure 3-D sequences are very well done - you feel like you are actually on a roller coaster, (they were so well done that I almost got as sick as one of the characters in the movie). Unfortunately, that's all there is- each sequence is a slightly retooled version of its predecessor.

Once you take into account the length of the film and the cost, you're better off going to Six Flags (or any other big amusement park) for the real thing - it will cost less and be more exciting.

Alien left me Ailing

[taita · 6/10 · 17 January 2001]

We made one big mistake when seeing this movie. We had just eaten! Being virgin Imax viewers in the big city we popped along to see what was on for the afternoon. Hey! There's one starting in 10 minutes, and wow its 3D!! Based on your normal movie the production quality and the graphics were excellent especially the space docking scenes. The aliens were well composed and their personalities come through even with the dialect barrier. The first 3D experience is via a simulator in a theme park. This one takes us to the arctic circle for a sleigh ride. We get tobogganed all over the place. One thing I noticed in all the 'rides' was that there was quite often another car/item directly in front of the one you are supposedly sitting in. Can someone help here, is this to enhance the sensations or to temper them a bit. It meant you tended to focus on the middle of the screen. Anyway the Arctic one was very good, the bedroom one was very well done as well, I think I stopped appreciating them after that as the food and the sensations worked their own magic on my constitution.

It was probably about 10 minutes too long. I remember thinking the aquatic scenes were not nearly as good as the earlier ones. Even so, I think everyone should have at least one session in a 3D movie and although I have nothing to compare it with, (as yet) I will recommend this one.

Animated roller-coaster ride

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 4 May 2016]

"Alien Advanture" is a 35-minute movie from almost 20 years ago which was made by Belgian animator Ben Stassen. The major problem here is the complete lack of a plot in here. I guess the animation is fine for the most part and this may even be interesting when watched in 3D on a big screen, but I still believe there is almost nothing memorable to it overall. I have seen better stuff from Stassen, but I guess we can forgive him for this mediocrity here because he must have been really young when he shot this one and if it's needed to accelerate his improvement, then it is fine I guess. Still overall, I cannot recommend the watch here. Thumbs down.

No point to this movie.

[ChuckStraub · 2/10 · 9 June 2005]

Alien Adventure is a film that consists entirely of 3D effects. There isn't any plot. The entire basis of this film is to show special effects in 3D. I saw this DVD on a regular television screen losing the 3D effects. The special effects were still nice but since I couldn't see it in 3D and that was the main purpose of the movie, there was no real point of watching it. I don't understand why they didn't combine some plot, some point to the movie, with the 3D viewing. If you can't see this in 3D, don't bother to watch it. It's a waste of time. If you are able to see it in 3D, expect to see 3D and some great special effects but nothing more.

So bad, it makes you sick!

[Satria · 1/10 · 12 July 2002]

Without a doubt, this is the worst IMAX flick ever. It's basically a nonstop-rollercoaster-ride (literally not metaphorically, though), which will either make you throw up from motion-sickness (just like one of those stupid aliens featured in this mess) or bore you to death. The sorry excuse for a plot (badly designed Aliens mistaking an amusement park consisting of badly designed rollercoaster rides for the "Earth way of life" or something to that extent) can be called unfunny at best. The animation isn't all that impressive and gets tiresome after five minutes. A must-avoid!

cute, but too short

[darrylb500 · 7/10 · 21 May 2002]

First off, as of this writing, IMAX has been around for, what, about 15 years now? I hadn't really seen a lot of IMAX features myself, due to the nearest IMAX theatre was a good half-hour drive away...I saw a couple probably the first year Houston got an IMAX theatre--back in 1988 or something--and a couple here and there over the years since then, and that was about it.

Until an IMAX theatre opened up not even 10 minutes away, depending on how the traffic was.

I immediately saw the new Phantasia movie before it hit the regular theatres and Cyber World...and then THIS movie appeared in the listings.

I had never even heard of it; this was just suddenly dropped in our laps here, with no promotion or anything...but then again, upon looking at the date in this IMDB listing, it was two years old when it appeared here in Houston.

Anyway, when the Star Wars scrolling intro appears onscreen, it appears this is going to be light-hearted fun, as some aliens are looking to settle elsewhere. They end up landing on Earth, picking a yet to be opened amusement park, which they don't even realize. The aliens looked pretty cool, and I thought it was terrific that, not only did they NOT speak English (for once), but their speech is never translated, which was brilliant, as you could pretty much guess what they were saying anyway.

Unfortunately, the rest of the movie consists of just watching their scouts down on the planet experiencing the park's roller coaster rides, which we get to see in a first-person, 3D perspective, and that's pretty much it.

Even though I was surprised that there was a box-office tally in this entry, this probably could have made more money if the whole alien angle was dropped (or at least had the movie renamed into something NOT sci-fi) and it was just advertised as to being a 3D roller coaster ride...after all, there's people out there who don't watch sci-fi movies, but like roller coasters that are going to miss out on this, which is a shame (after all, *I* was the one expecting an "alien adventure", but didn't get one!). After all, if they go on a roller coaster ride and it scares them half to death, they may never go on a roller coaster for the rest of their life...here they can just close their eyes if they feel dizzy, the sensation will go away, and they might consider a roller coaster another day.

Speaking of which, the rides were pretty cool and the graphics are pretty much what you'd expect from a computer generated movie: outstanding. But the movie's too short (35 minutes) for the overpriced eight bucks of an IMAX film (don't even TELL me new movies are $7.50: the few times I see a movie just as it's released, I see it in the early afternoon for only $4.50! There's no matinee price for the IMAX, no matter what time of day you go, so that's too much!). At least Cyber World was an hour and ten minutes or so, which is actually long by IMAX standards, and I enjoyed that one a lot better.

Hopefully the company that made this will make longer IMAX features in the future.

A wonderful effort!!!

[Boggman · 10/10 · 11 July 2005]

O.k. look.....if you are watching or thinking of watching Alien Adventure in 2-D, you are really just wasting your time. This movie is enhanced 3Xfold by viewing it in 3d--and it is simply amazing! Alien Adventure is the funnest DVD I own (and I have 100's), simply because of its amazing 3d effects.

Lights off, stereo sound cranked up, and with LCD glasses on, Alien Adventure is quite a crazy ride. Roller-coaster rides through the Arctic and Prehistoric times are simply spellbinding; as is also a GREAT trip through a child's bedroom filled with all sorts of toys, gadgets, and gizmos.

The story is not the point of Alien Adventure (although it is a simple fun tale), as it is all about showcasing the latest in computer animated and digital 3D.

A fantastic job all the way around! I can not wait for similar movies to be released!! These 3d short movies are the future of home entertainment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lousy Plot but great 3-D

[matthewbg · 9/10 · 23 August 2004]

In the finest tradition of sci-fi 3-D movies, the plot is terrible.

The 3-D effects, however, are really very good. I just bought a 3-D viewing system on line and was impressed at how well the home system worked. Of course, one loses the sheer mass of the IMAX screen, but it is pretty cool to see quality 3-D popping out of your home screen (and we just have a standard 19" color TV).

The aliens look great and the roller coaster rides are entertaining, though it would have been nice for the aliens to encounter something else at the amusement park (like a 3-D shooting gallery, for example).