A teen named Mike is not satisfied with his life here on Earth. He feels as if he isn’t even human. He is just too different. So, of course, he thinks that maybe he is actually from another planet. After trying to send a message to outer space, some alien creatures do end up responding. Some of them are not so friendly.
Growing up, I had not seen this one and I was excited at first to check out something I had not even heard of. After watching it, boy oh boy this movie is bad….and gross.
The Plot
The worst thing about Can of Worms is that even though it is creative, it is still boring and not very entertaining. This has to be one of the weirdest things that Disney has ever produced.
There are plenty of films that introduce awkward characters that feel ostracized and like they don’t belong. You would hope that the writers make these characters likable. Instead, we get a whiny, over-the-top lead among other unlikeable characters throughout. There isn’t enough here that explains why Mike thinks he’s an alien. He just seems like a normal teenager with normal teenage problems.
As far as the plot goes, the movie takes a while to get going. The poor pacing doesn’t help the mediocre story. After what seems like an hour, Mike sends a message to space and weird alien creatures respond and make their appearance.
Look at this picture above. Look at how gross it is. This alien as well as a few other ones who appear are insanely annoying, insanely unfunny, and head scratchingly tonally off. The beginning of the movie is slow and nothing remotely exciting happens. When these creatures appear it feels as if we are in two totally different movies.
I will give credit that the aliens are all creatively gross. It is just a shame that they don’t do anything interesting. You could tell a lot of work went into the designs and maybe they would work in a better movie. It is almost like someone saw The Garbage Pail Kids Movie and said, “Yes, let us do that again”. Movie icon Malcolm Mcdowell voices an alien who looks like a dog. Wondering why he would do a movie like this was one of the most fascinating things about the film.
The alien creatures need help when an evil alien who likes to collect rare creatures comes to Earth. The climax jas to do with Mike and his friends fighting off the evil alien in order to save these gross creatures we just met. It isn’t really interesting and we aren’t given enough time to care about this rescue mission.
What might be the biggest insult is we never get the answer to the movie’s biggest question. Is Mike an alien? We never know. The movie forgets about what started the plot in the first place. This isn’t an easy movie to review because with how bored I was watching it, I was still fascinated with how something like this could have even been made.
Overview
Can of Worms is a gross weird movie that is lacking fun, a good script, and decent acting. The creatures have interesting designs but it isn’t enough to sit through this. It is not as bad as You Lucky Dog but not by much. Disney has produced many odd things but they usually have some sort of charm about them. This is a can that definitely should have stayed shut.
