Alien from L.A.

She is the title character,
but never dressed like this.

Alien from L.A.
The Cannon Group
February 26, 1988
Sci-Fi, Comedy
DVD
C+

Another unexpected movie I sat through for this blog (#6 for those keeping track), this is likably cheesy and it's not surprising to find out that it got the MST3K treatment five years later.  Ireland is cast against type as a frumpy, squeaky-voiced nerd who's rejected by everyone, until she goes to "Africa" (that's as specific as the movie gets) because her father, who left a decade ago, fell down a bottomless pit.  She falls down the same hole but reaches the bottom, where "Atlantis" is.  (Not underwater like you always thought.)  There she is frequently kidnapped and rescued, including by a guy named Charmin'.  She and her father escape in a balloon, or was it all just a dream?  The movie can't make up its mind if it's influenced by Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, or Jules Verne, but it's getting the "based on a book" tag anyway.  (The sequel is in fact called Journey to the Center of the Earth, and her father is named Arnold Saknussemm after Arne Saknussemm.)  Did I mention that Deep Roy (later of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) plays a clown-made-up mob boss named Mambino?  Did I mention that the actress playing Ireland's aunt can't decide on an accent, and some but not all of the Atlanteans sound Australian?  Did I mention that my favorite line is the villainess's to her driver, "Take me to the outskirts of the city"?  (OK, that's more specific than Africa, but still.)

I have probably made this movie sound more fun than it is, and to be honest I was actually hoping for more cheese, especially given its era.  Still, it's a pleasant time-waster.  Albert Pyun directed, eight years before he was responsible (both writing and direction) for the very unpleasant Adrenalin: Fear the Rush.