Tellur Aliens

Movie review by Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media
Tellur Aliens Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 7+

Kids protect planet from evil in dull, poorly made tale.

NR 2016 67 minutes
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Parents say

age 7+

Based on 2 reviews

Kids say

age 3+

Based on 1 review

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Tellur Aliens is a low-quality short animated feature about students on the planet Telluria trying to save their world from an evil destroyer. The plot is jumpy, seemingly stitched together from pieces that might have been created as television episodes. Cartoon violence can be a bit scary, but only for the youngest viewers. Aliens battle using laser swords and other techie weapons. Large ants try to capture the students. Singulord wants to destroy Telluria by shutting down its core.

Community Reviews

Marlous
Marlous Adult
August 21, 2019
age 6+

Awful, disjointed tale with stilted animation and terrible dubbing

Don’t bother with this when there is so much better stuff to watch out there. Dubbed dialogue has odd phrasing and emphasis, story is extremely stilted, none of the characters likeable and there is an instance of a being that hypnotises perceived threats that suddenly dials up the age by three years for sheer creep factor. Boring for kids, unwatchable for adults. AVOID.
Mitchell M.
Mitchell M. Adult
March 13, 2018
age 7+

Great movie to look at!

I watched this with my brother, we are seniors and loved it! The animation is a joy to see, brilliant colors, highly-detailed, imaginative. Also the characters were very creative. I felt the story line was dark and disjointed but with the main characters being so likeable I was able to relax- (-; The whole experience would work for a serial show.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
See all 2 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In TELLUR ALIENS, three Tellurian students use their individual skills to help save their planet from destruction by the gloomy Singulord, a rock-like monster with a Darth Vader voice and a yen to bring darkness wherever he goes. Vic, a failing robotics student, Zag, a tech genius, and Ellie, a galactic language interpreter, alternate hot pursuit of Singulord with taking exams and playing video games. They are chased by giant robots, giant ants, and other bad guys. They also explore scary caves and fall down enormous holes in the ground, all supposedly in the name of preventing Singulord from taking their planet's core, except when they just want to have adventures. There are frequent blackouts, presumably designed to showcase commercials when shown on television.

Is It Any Good?

This isn't the worst cartoon out there, but nothing here -- not the conception, the script, the animation -- hasn't been done before elsewhere at a much higher level of quality. The message is generic: Don't give up on your dreams. The English dialogue feels alien itself, just shy of normal idiomatic speech, and the actors, whose accents are good, repeatedly put the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLAbles. This endeavor seems to have started as a television idea with a final product that looks like disjointed episodes stitched together to create the illusion of a feature film. Cartoon violence and forces of evil in this stilted animated tale may frighten the youngest audiences, but the tendency for Tellur Aliens to endlessly explain everything that has already happened and then foretell everything that is about to happen makes young kids the only audience this won't bore to death.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what makes an animated film good. Some computer-animated movies and television shows are seamless and lifelike, but Tellur Aliens isn't. How might that add or detract from the viewing experience?

  • How does this compare to other alien movies you've seen?

  • Do you believe aliens are real? Why or why not?

Movie Details

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