The aliens weren't meant to be the protagonists, but they're the lesser of two evils in this interplanetary contest. A retitled version of this movie (perhaps if it were redistributed on the aliens' planet, Zirconia) would be "Losers in the House."
A computer geek with teen angst, who hacks school computers to change his grades (a rip off of War Games) is our main "hero" in a family of annoying people. His older sister whines a lot, his parents are clueless zeroes, his cousins are snotty brats, and his uncle is a half-wit slime. Here's an example of how dysfunctional these people are: Uncle nearly runs over his niece (Geek's younger sister, the only likable person in the family) while driving like a deranged lunatic. Clueless Dad sees it happen, and just makes a sarcastic remark; how cute: Ha. Ha. If somebody almost killed my daughter, I'd smash his face. Finally, drama queen Older Sis has a loudmouth, conniving jerk of a boyfriend. (Pray these two don't marry--can you picture their children? Ugh.) They all go to rented cottage for a fishing trip, where their close encounter is about to begin.
So this motley bunch is all that stands between us and whatever the aliens are up to. The movie improves slightly when the Zirconians finally show up; the plot is sort of a mixture of ET, Home Alone, and Men in Black. The aliens are more pleasant and interesting characters than their Earthling counterparts. The littlest alien and the youngest sister Hannah are nice enough, and the remote control bit is funny (but overused).
Fast forward through the first 20 minutes or so; the movie has a few good moments after the terrible start.
A computer geek with teen angst, who hacks school computers to change his grades (a rip off of War Games) is our main "hero" in a family of annoying people. His older sister whines a lot, his parents are clueless zeroes, his cousins are snotty brats, and his uncle is a half-wit slime. Here's an example of how dysfunctional these people are: Uncle nearly runs over his niece (Geek's younger sister, the only likable person in the family) while driving like a deranged lunatic. Clueless Dad sees it happen, and just makes a sarcastic remark; how cute: Ha. Ha. If somebody almost killed my daughter, I'd smash his face. Finally, drama queen Older Sis has a loudmouth, conniving jerk of a boyfriend. (Pray these two don't marry--can you picture their children? Ugh.) They all go to rented cottage for a fishing trip, where their close encounter is about to begin.
So this motley bunch is all that stands between us and whatever the aliens are up to. The movie improves slightly when the Zirconians finally show up; the plot is sort of a mixture of ET, Home Alone, and Men in Black. The aliens are more pleasant and interesting characters than their Earthling counterparts. The littlest alien and the youngest sister Hannah are nice enough, and the remote control bit is funny (but overused).
Fast forward through the first 20 minutes or so; the movie has a few good moments after the terrible start.