Aliens in the Attic (2009)

BOARDER PATROL Teens and tweens square off against E.T. housemates in could-be-worse family adventure Aliens in the Attic

Parents, start your minivans: Aliens in the Attic is a pointless but ultimately harmless family adventure that doesn't mentally assault the 12-and-over set. (Extra points for being 100 percent fart-joke-free). A band of scrappy space gremlins face off against a group of teen and tween cousins (including High School Musical's Ashley Tisdale) in a turf war over a Midwestern summer rental home. The E.T.s are after some kind of sci-fi device buried underneath the basement; the kids just want to make sure their clueless folks don't get tagged by the aliens' mind-control gizmos. The ensuing war of the worlds is waged with weapons as fearsome as a bubble blower, a skateboard, and a sort of anti-gravity grenade that, frankly, looks like a lot of fun. B-