(in attendance: April, Jessica, Elise, me, Jennifer (in photo), and Bernadette, Laura, Yvonne and Kim (not pictured)) and we played Trivial Pursuit, a fun board game in the old days, and now a fun virtual game created by Electronic Arts, who also provided the game for us to try.

We had a ton of fun yakking about our kids, their schools and our blogs, as we always do, and the game was a great extension of that. We split into 2 teams of 4 so that we could interact and figure out the answers together. As with the old version of the game, some questions are ridiculously easy and others you’d need a Ph.D. to get right. The geography questions are especially hard, not only because we Americans are notoriously bad at that subject, but because the game shows maps without those helpful country divisions drawn on them even. Difficult!  It’s also got a shot clock, basically insuring that the game doesn’t drag on forever. I had a great time playing Trivial Pursuit and I would highly recommend it. If your kids were old enough, it would work as a family game as well, but since my kids are young-ish, I’m going to keep it for me and mom friends.

Thanks to Elise of Elise’s Ramblings for letting us use her Wii and TV!

Photo of us courtesy of Kim’s iPhone.

*(Adam Carolla, who cares what you think?)

Well, that what I got out of it, anyway.

I’m pretty sure my kids just enjoyed a funny movie about some nice green aliens who are startled to find a blond astronaut has landed in their back yard. Lem (voiced by Justin Long), the film’s hero, is initially just as afraid of the alien invader as everyone else is, but he soon realizes that Chuck Baker (voiced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) is really a good guy and he decides to help Chuck get back to his spaceship. Along the way, there are lots of hi-jinks and a ton of references to other movies (including Alien, Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Terminator, Singing in the Rain, Wall-E, The Right Stuff, The Day The Earth Stood Still, and those are just the ones I recognized).

In my opinion, it’s a very enjoyable movie, with fun voice performances by the likes of Gary Oldman and John Cleese, as well as the cast members listed above. I highly recommend it for a family activity.

Now here is what my sons (Charlie, 10 and Oscar, 6) think about the movie.

Charlie’s review: Planet 51 is my favorite movie this year (Ponyo being second and Monsters vs. Aliens third). Planet 51 is hilariously funny and the first animated movie released by Tri-Star this year. Finally, I give this movie an 8 out of 10.

Oscar’s review: I liked it and I give it a B (A being the best). I liked the little alien dog the best and rover was funny, too.

This post marks the debut of Mom & Sons Reviews. Look for more movie and video game reviews to come!

{FULL DISCLOSURE} {My sons and I were invited as guests of Tri-Star to the pre-release screening of the film and treated to some very delicious concession stand goodies. I also attended the press junket.}