Animation usually sticks to formula. Illumination knows this better than anyone. They built an empire on yellow blurps and family-friendly chaos. “Despicable Me,” “Minions,” “The Lorax.” Safe bets. Big budgets. Loud music.
But space is different.
And next year? They’re launching something weirdly sweet.
Not Alone. It hits theaters on April 16, 2016… wait. No. 2017? No. April 16, 2027. A long way off.
The new teaser sets a specific vibe. Quiet. A little sad, maybe? They paired visuals with David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” Not your typical opening salvo.
Joe is our lead. He’s a rocket mechanic. Introverted type. Works in shadows. His coworker, Fran, is an astro-botanist. She didn’t just build a rocket; she engineered one from plants. The first of its kind.
Then aliens show up. Not to conquer. To hide.
Chaos follows. Obviously.
Who are the stars? Well, not in the cinematic sense. The voices belong to heavy hitters. Timothée Chalamet plays Joe. Selena Gomez handles Fran. There’s a whole supporting cast stacked deep—Brett Goldstein, Rob Brydon Jamie Demetriou even Lamorne Morris.
It’s a rom-com. In space. Animated.
Does it make sense? Hardly. Do we care? Less.
Usually sci-fi means explosions. Lasers. Xenomorph teeth dripping slime. We’ve seen it. We’re bored.
Not Alone offers something else. A French animated team is at the helm—Eric Guillon Claire Dodgson Jonathan Del Val. They know Illumination inside out. Guillon designed the original “Minions.” Del Val co-directed their last hits. This feels like a shift.
A soft pivot toward European charm. Bright colors. Witty humor. No laser battles required.
The plot boils down to this:
- Joe and Fran work together to launch Fran’s plant-rocket.
- Sparks fly. Between them, not just the machinery. Neither knows how to flirt.
- Three tiny, unruly aliens—Dunk, Welly Shirm—crash land in Joe’s house.
- They’re fleeing a bumbling space cop named Zandro.
- They see the rocket. It looks like a ticket home.
So they stay. The relationship gets complicated. The romance gets harder.
Richard Curtis executive produced the thing. You know his name? Love actually? Four weddings? This checks every box on his list.
Chris Meledandri sits behind the desk as producer. He’s been here since day one. He trusts this direction.
Should we?
The style looks crisp. The humor seems dry. The concept is… odd. But good odd.
Maybe that’s what the genre needs. Something gentle. Something about awkward love instead of saving the galaxy.
Joe isn’t trying to be a hero. Fran just wants to launch her work. They’re stuck in a house with three noisy stowaways.
Zandro is chasing them. Zealously. Ineptly.
Will they launch? Will they date?
Who knows. The rocket is made of plants, after all.
