Aliens in the Attic 1-Disc Box Set DVD

Aliens in the Attic is the 2009 family adventure film about three sets of cousins on a summer vacation in a Michigan lake house, who discover that the attic of the rented place is hiding a small invasion force of aliens scouting Earth. The kids end up taking on the alien threat themselves while keeping the adults oblivious, in classic family-comedy fashion.

The format is the appeal: a feature-length adventure built around the kids-versus-aliens premise, with the human grown-ups in the background and the kids taking the lead on every plan, every gag, and every escalating set piece. The mind-control device that lets the aliens puppeteer adults is the gift that keeps giving for the script, and the special effects keep the small alien designs friendly enough for the youngest viewers without losing the threat. The pace is brisk and family-coded throughout.

For late-2000s family-feature filmmaking, this was a confident swing at the kids-against-an-invasion subgenre, sitting in the lineage of family adventure films that send small heroes against bigger threats. Suited for fans of family-friendly sci-fi adventures, viewers who like their summer-vacation movies with extra strangeness, and anyone with affection for the lineage of attic-monster and home-invasion family comedies.

This collection brings the complete feature into one place on disc, with the original film, full effects sequences, and the kind of presentation a family adventure deserves. For longtime fans and any new viewer who wants to spend a rainy afternoon with the cousins and their unwelcome attic guests, owning the film on disc means revisiting the lake house, the attic, and the small alien squadron whenever the mood strikes, on a quiet evening or a vacation-week movie marathon.