If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Absolutely Brilliant!

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Welcome to the Space Show by all means not a bad family movie, but it definitely is not a great one either. I am sure it can be very appealing to kids who have the patience to sit through it without being bored with its lack of action for the most part, and it sure will amaze any parents who watch it for its interesting depiction of the alien civilization.The premise of the movie is a standard one. Some kids go on holidays alone on a rural area and meet an alien dog, who agrees to take them on a trip through space. During the trip, the kids must adjust and even work hard in order to overcome setbacks which delay the trip and their eventual return home. It has indeed its share of showing how little children need to work together, use their skills, make mistakes and learn from them, as means to open their minds to a whole new world that lies beyond their simple lives. It has adventure, comedy, sparks of drama and mystery, and even has a very action-based finale with a cosmic threat that arose because of their presence. On paper, it looks fine to follow through.Of course, being a movie for the family eventually means that a lot of things make no sense or even feel off. For example, in the beginning of the film the parents leave their kids to go alone for several days in the middle of an unpopulated and uncivilized area. Their ages are simply way too small to accept that. I mean, what kind of a parent would let his kids go camping without adult supervision? All the mothers in my village wouldn't let us get to the swamp next to us without experienced hunters or fishermen as guides and trainers and these ones just LET THEM GO ALONE??? Even if they are to learn new things, who is going to teach them or help them if something goes wrong? This is the wilderness for Pete's sake; it is not the back alley of your neighborhood. Hell, even most back alleys are dangerous. And as you imagine, something did go wrong and they go jettisoned in the far corners of space.As for what follows, it is still not exactly mind-boggling either. The kids go to several alien worlds and interact with whatever creatures and environments exist there. It all looks spectacular but doesn't take more than three seconds to realize that the aliens, despite claiming to be a far more advanced civilization than Earth's, are still practically nothing more than 21st century capitalists themselves. They have fast food identical to ours, kindergartens identical to ours, mechanics, mailmen, merchants, television, MONEY (heh proof of how they are not civilized at all), and generally despite the fancy alien exterior this is nothing but a typical urban society. They could have gotten on the city near their home and it would make no difference. This again doesn't help you to enjoy the movie as nothing more than a mediocre road movie, where the dull sceneries simply have more colors and polygons than usual.As for the plot itself, the kids pretty much need to earn money in order to find a way home, thus they need to work in areas their skills work best. Is it me or does this translates to CHILD LABOR? Which is kinda… immoral? Or is it OK for the so called advanced aliens to create workers from the age of five? And seriously, it is all about money and wealth? And hold on a second, one of the kids has an Earth plant which to them is a most rare and addictive drug. And they actually make money by selling drugs to bystanders??? OK, this is simply crossing the line.So this movie is practically about a group of kids, taken by a stranger to a city, where they need to work for money and sell drugs, all means to learn about the magical and advanced world that exists out there… YEAH RIGHT! The could have done the same in any ghetto for all I care. Or China. This is definitely not Walt Disney material. This is something along the lines of teaching the child audience the basics of capitalism. And since the pampered kids won't get it and the videogame0addicted ones will already know it, this movie is nothing but vanilla in a fancy wrapper. It looks gorgeous with those really cool production values of its, plus the kid voice actors really did a great job to pass as natural. Other than that… nothing. This is not a magical setting to make your innocent mind go traveling to fairylands. It is almost vicious! Maybe it can be seen as camouflaged hard realism and a sign of the times we are living in, where ideals went under and it is all about that printed piece of paper called money. That still doesn't feel like it should be a family movie. Why not some sort of teen adventure, where the themes would fit better? I sure wouldn't want any kids to watch this and get funny ideas about making money.The finale of the movie is otherwise trashing even that weird feeling it was going for. Out of nowhere space villains appear and try to create some sort of universal change and there is a battle to be fought or something. WHERE DOES THAT FIT IN ALL THE REST? Once again I fail to see what that has to do with the whole idea behind the movie, other than proving again how even the aliens are just capitalists with green skin and four arms. In all, I wasn't thrilled with this movie. Not only its themes were not-for-children in a children movie, but its plot was also unimaginative and ended expectable.

Came for the title, stayed for the epic journey.The mixed reviews over the film and length are disappointing, this is fantastic. Voice acting, animation, pace, characters, and plot are all well-orchestrated.Merging story-lines in the beginning is fun, the student-teacher is very believable, and the childhood errors and interactions hit the mark as well. Strong tones of equal empowerment of genders and admirable work-ethic, however there's a few old fashion characters. This is a journey of finding yourself.I don't want to give away any spoilers but...Easily the most underrated animated movie I've seen in a long time.

Version I saw: (subtitled) UK DVD release (projected) Actors: 6/10 Plot/script: 6/10 Photography/visual style: 7/10 Music/score: 6/10 Overall: 7/10 Welcome to the Space Show is a Japanese anime movie. Although (despite what some ignorant people will tell you) there are many such works which are targeted at an adult audience, with deep characterization, complex themes and the like, WttSS is most definitely a kids' film. It evokes Japanese classics like My Neighbour Totoro and Galaxy Express 999, as well as American fare such as ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Wars and The Goonies. You may note that these are all from the 70s and 80s, and indeed, it does seem to represent a bygone era of innocence, when cinematic kids were not wise-cracking and genre savvy. All this was presented with a bold, colourful visual style that comes from the most modern computer graphics. I found this really rather charming.Unfortunately, the film has problems with pacing. It moves very slowly for large chunks, which might be okay, but there are also confusing rushes of plot and exposition, as well as frenetic action scenes that seem a bit out of place. The whole finale is a big action scene that goes on FAR too long, reminding me painfully of Katsuhiro Otomo's disappointing steampunk anime film Steamboy.I have my doubts that kids would have much patience for this, and may end up bored and restless despite the colour, life and good characters with whom they can identify. For my part, I found it good, but it could have been so much better.

For the most part, I really like films like this because the self discovery issues. Five young kids go to camp at a school house in order to get away from adults for a week. But instead of doing the same old stuff kids do, they discover a hurt what looks like a dog. However he is an alien sent on a mission to protect a plant which has not been alive for over five billion years.In the mix are three bounty hunters who must get their hands on the plant at all costs to bring back to their employer. Since the kids find out the dog they saved is an alien, they all get a wish to explore the farthest reaches away from adults as possible. So - they go to the moon where on the dark side is a grand city embedded within the surface. This leads a series of events for which all six venture across galaxies to hunt down the dreaded poachers.In the chase, one of the kids are kidnapped, and it is up to the other four kids to save her. Pochi, the alien dog uses all of his resources in order to find what is known as The Space Show. A stage event for all aliens to see where Ami the youngest of the five is being held captive. During this event, Pochi learns of who was the architect behind the stage show and why. Now all must try and save Ami in order for the kids to get back to earth in time to meet their parents at the week's end.All in all, it was a grandiose scale of a movie. With fantastic CGI sets of such calibre, that watching was a treat in itself for strange lands, strange cities, and strange aliens. I especially loved the fact that each child had issues to work along the way, like knowing what's right, and what's wrong. To make decisions that could get them into trouble later on, but deciding that doing the right thing was far a better cost than to leave someone behind. They got to do an honest days work among aliens, instead of sluffing off for a week. They learnt to get along in better ways strengthening their friendships. Plus they learnt how to endure hardships, and obstacles, which they fended off with early naive skills. Kids do bounce back in many ways, and that is to say this movie held a lot of hope to those who do not have it. To some others who just watched it for detail, it is sad to see such narrow views about story lines. I thought this one had every element of the human condition.This wasn't about SPFX, it was about what is right, and wrong. What is good, and bad. Kids have a sense of being that no other can understand, and it is too childish to say it had no maturity. Yes it is a movie for kids, about kids. Nothing more. Yes the SPFX were fantastic, but what was important through the grand scale environment, was the kids had to save a friend. Dealing with problems at home, in school, with time off, or finding a rabbit.My view is the movie held all aspects of being human in an inhumane world. I give it ten of ten stars. Extremely recommended to those aged 9 and above. For the little ones who believes in heroes, not computers.