Some friendships end with a fight. Others end with a slammed door or a move to another city. And then there is Petey’s: his best friend simply vanished one day, without so much as a goodbye, and the friend happened to be an alien. That is the premise of Allen, the new sci-fi family comedy that arrives on Netflix today, Thursday, November 12.
From Bluey’s backyard to a live-action one
The biggest headline is who made it. Allen is the live-action feature debut of Ludo Studio, the Australian outfit whose animated series Bluey has won Emmy and BAFTA recognition and turned a family of cartoon heelers into a global comfort watch. For a studio built on small, warm, very funny moments between parents and kids, stepping into live action with a full-length feature is a genuine leap, and it is one of the more interesting bets on Netflix’s slate this month.
The film is created by Daley Pearson, one of Ludo’s founding forces, who directs alongside Jeffrey Walker. Rather than chasing the Brisbane-backyard formula of Bluey directly, they have moved it sideways: the setting is still Queensland, the humour is still rooted in ordinary people, but the visitor in the garden now comes from somewhere a lot further away than next door.
The story: a friend who came back
T.J. Power plays Petey, a Queensland man who never really got over losing his childhood companion. Twenty years ago, Allen the alien disappeared from his life. Petey grew up, but a part of him stayed stuck at the moment his best mate left without explanation.
Then Allen comes back. That should be the happy ending, but it is actually where the trouble starts, because Allen has not returned empty-handed. He is carrying a secret big enough to end the world. The film’s comedy comes from that collision: an adult who has spent two decades nursing an old hurt, suddenly having to decide whether he can trust the friend who caused it, while the stakes are, quite literally, planetary.
Josh Helman and Charlotte Nicdao round out the main cast. Nicdao will be familiar to many viewers from Mythic Quest, where her comic timing carried plenty of the show’s best scenes.
Why it has people thinking of E.T. and Paul
When the trailer arrived, a lot of viewers reached for the same two comparisons: Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and the road-trip comedy Paul. It is easy to see why. Both films are about humans who form a deep bond with a stranded visitor, and both mix wonder with jokes. Allen seems to sit somewhere in between, with the childhood-friendship ache of the first and the grown-up, slightly chaotic comedy of the second.
What could make it stand out is the angle. Most alien-friend stories end with a goodbye. This one starts after the goodbye, and asks what happens when the friend you lost turns up again as if no time had passed. That is a surprisingly relatable idea, alien or not. Plenty of us have a friendship from childhood that ended without closure.
A family film that adults may enjoy too
Ludo’s reputation rests on making things that children love and parents secretly love even more. If Allen carries over even part of that double-layered writing, it could become the kind of film families put on together on a weekend evening, with kids enjoying the alien antics and adults quietly recognising themselves in Petey.
It also arrives at a good moment. November on Netflix is crowded with Christmas romances and heavy dramas, and a bright, offbeat sci-fi comedy from the people behind one of the world’s most-loved cartoons is a nice change of pace.
Should you watch?
If you like gentle science fiction, Australian humour or stories about old friendships, Allen is an easy one to add to your list. The real question is whether Ludo Studio’s magic travels from animation to live action. As of today, everyone can find out for themselves.