Aliens in the Attic (PG, 2009)

The six Pearson cousins are vacationing together in a rented lake house when Jake (Austin Butler) and Tom (Carter Jenkins) make a far-out discovery: There are four freaky Zirconian aliens in the attic, and they have pretty scary plans for humanity. Since the extra-terrestrials use a device that can control adults but not kids, the young Pearsons unite to save their parents -- and the rest of the world -- from the little green aliens.

Since the aliens are funnier than they are frightening, the film's cartoonish nature should thrill even younger adventure-seekers. The two dads, played by comedic vets Kevin Nealon and Andy Richter, don't have much to do, although Nana (Doris Roberts) gets to star in a rather hilarious, Matrix-style fight against Bethany's (Ashley Tisdale) alien-operated boyfriend, Ricky (Robert Hoffman).

Ultimately, this is the classic formula of band-of-heroic-kids versus  dangerous antagonists. In this case, one of the aliens (voiced by Josh Peck) is sympathetic to humans, so he helps the kids, too. While younger audiences will hoot and root for the Pearson clan, parents will snicker at the sight of children completely unfamiliar with a rotary phone and grown-ups so out of the loop that they'll think a descending alien force is a meteor shower. Consider this a Gremlins-lite for the X-box generation.