Paul

Prepare your anal probe and get all your geek references ready to go on a trip with Paul!

This time I tried coloring IN the lines.

Paul is very fun, and very funny. It's cute, but with a lot of swearing.

The movie starts out with Graeme(Simon Pegg) and Clive(Nick Frost) visiting from England to go to the San Diego ComicCon. They have a ton of fun, then decide to roadtrip across America to see all the Alien and UFO spots. It's not long before they have a close encounter(sorry) with Paul(voiced by Seth Rogen), a grey alien trying to get home, and decide to help him on his journey. They get into antics, and meet a staunch Christian girl(Kristen Wiig), while running from a federal agent(Jason Bateman) trying to bring Paul back in.

If you haven't already noticed, the cast completely targeted to the 20's-30's geek/nerd demographic. They finally have Simon Pegg and Nick Frost together again, Jason Bateman and Jefferey Tambor from Arrested Development, Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader from SNL, Seth Rogen from every other movie, and even Sci-fi heavyweights like Steven Spielberg and Sigourney Weaver.

And if that doesn't tell you what kind of movie this is, the hundreds of references and inside jokes from other sci-fi films(or any adventure film from your childhood including a killer Jaws reference) will. This would actually make a great drinking game. Seriously, this movie was custom made for sci-fi nerds who grew up in the eighties. And it all works pretty well. The cast are all amazing and incredibly funny, and all the references are clever in a silly way.

Paul is a roadtrip story that reminds me of Bubble Boy more than anything else. It has a round protagonist trying to get from point A to point B, meeting a number of crazy characters along the way who all want to get a hold of him and somehow wind up at the huge finale. The story is fairly straight forward, but it was a fun ride with some nice little twists in the road.

Paul's cgi works pretty well and his animations are all pretty believable. Yes, it's Seth Rogen being Seth Rogen, and if you don't like Seth Rogen this probably won't change your mind, but he fits in an ironic sort of way in that you wouldn't expect an alien that looks like that to have a voice like this.

Overall it's a jolly science fiction romp that panders the hell out of itself to fans alike. I wouldn't say it's as genre bending as Pegg and Frost's other movies Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuss, and I wouldn't call it the new Ghostbusters, but it's a fun sci-fi movie that's good for at least 2 or 3 showings. Recommended for sci-fi nerds and lovers of an R rated comedy.