The good folks over at 20th Century Fox sent me a copy of Aliens in the Attic to review last month, hoping my mindless drivel would help spur folks to purchase the movie when it was released.

The good news is that I did watch the movie and I did find it mildly amusing. The bad news is that it’s taken me nearly a month to write this review (but I had a really good excuse for my delay) and pretty much anyone who’s going to buy this movie probably has.

However, I won’t the risk of being irrelevant deter me from spouting off. Here’s my take on the movie.

1. The general premise: A suburban family heads to the country for some bonding time with their crazy divorced uncle and his kids and the family matriarch. They are joined by an imposing, hormonally crazed asshole 20-something boyfriend of the teenage daughter. After what appeared to be a lightning strike, the kids discover a band have aliens has arrived with plans to take over the world using mind-control implants that only work on the adults. The kids band together to defeat the aliens.

2. It was a fun, but somewhat stereotypical family movie definitely targeted toward the tween market. My kids are well below the target demographic and, after pre-screening it with another grown-up, we felt most of it was too scary for my movie-sensitive 5 YO daughter and the 2YO would get as much out of it as he would if I made him watch Project Runway.

3. Watching Kevin Nealon playing an authoritarian parent role made me feel really old. Tim Meadows as the town sheriff pretty much put the nail in the coffin.

4. The film seemed to nearly steal some moments from other alien movies. For example, the interactions between the youngest child and the “good” alien felt so much like the exchanges between Gertie and E.T., I had a palpable craving for Reese’s Pieces.

5. The best scene: the fight scene between Nana Rose (Doris Roberts) and the boyfriend Rickey (Robert Hoffman). Think John Woo meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets Street Fighter.

So, in summary, it was a cute, but definitely followed the the trite recipe for family action-ish comedy that crowds DVD shelves in entertainment centers across the country. It reminded me of Herbie the Love Bug and the Apple Bottom Gang from my childhood. Just swap Don Knotts out with Doris Roberts and the surly cowboys with some remote-control wielding aliens and you’ve got it covered.

If you’re looking for a fun, family friendly gift for a tween in your life this holiday season, I’m sure they’d enjoy it. If you’re looking for thought provoking action films, I’d stick with the 10th anniversary edition of Fight Club.