Sundance 2023: 'Aliens Abducted My Parents...' is an engaging family-friendly experience

PARK CITY, Utah (KUTV) — Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out
3 out of 5 Stars
Director: Jake Van Wagoner
Writer: Austin Everett
Starring: Emma Tremblay, Jacob Buster, Will Forte, Elizabeth Mitchell, Kenneth Cummins, Matt Biedel
Category: Kids
Genre: Sci-Fi, Comedy
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SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) – Sundance Synopsis: Teenage aspiring journalist Itsy is miserable when her family moves to the small town of Pebble Falls. Among the new challenges — a fixer-upper house and unfriendly high schoolers, to name a few — Itsy meets Calvin, her strange, space-obsessed neighbor and classmate. Itsy befriends Calvin in hopes of writing an exposé on the oddball for a summer internship back in New York City, but she soon discovers that the amateur astronaut has an out-of-this-world secret. Calvin believes his parents were abducted by aliens, and it’s his mission to find and join them in outer space. As they endeavor to uncover the truth, the pair of outsiders foster a surprising and heartwarming friendship.

Review: “Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out” is one of three films in the Kids category of Sundance’s 2023 programming. Restraint is not a virtue that many young filmmakers looking to make their mark have discovered. It takes patience, I suppose. I’m still too impetuous and angry to know.

“Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out” is predominantly the sort of film that the title implies. It’s a bit silly and the tone is generally lighthearted in the same way that would make it perfectly appropriate for KBYU, Disney+, or the Kids section of Netflix. On the surface it’s built from all the traditional coming-of-age tropes that you’d expect. Itsy is the new girl in town. She amiable, even if she agrees to exploit the story of her classmate Calvin who believes that his parents where abducted by aliens to land a journalism internship in New York City. Of course, Itsy, a decent person at heart, will eventually have to try and justify her lack of moral judgement to herself and Calvin before the film ends.

And that’s about as deep as most of these types of films would go. Thankfully, Austin Everett’s screenplay adds another layer to the story that is willing to acknowledge that being essentially abandoned by his parents has messed Calvin up in a way that has and will continue to impact the way he interacts with the world. He’s comfortable in his own skin, but his beliefs make him an outcast. No one wants to be the person to tell him that it is highly unlikely that his parents were abducted by anyone or anything. It’s far easier to simply humor him from a distance. Itsy is put in a position where she has to figure out if it is better or cruel to delay the inevitable disappointment that awaits Calvin. That’s interesting to me.