Low-rent comedy that probably made a better impression on its release in the early 90's alongside a spate of similarly timed Eco-romps that included the creatures themselves to a large extent ("Honey I Shrunk... ", "Ferngully", etc). In 2007 however, it just looks tired, when people such as Tim Burton are capable of handling these things with far more subtlety.The satire is misjudged here because the wellspring itself is from other movies rather than anything close to real-life. If this is an attack on American values then it adheres strictly to movie convention, because I refuse to believe that EVERY family over there contains the requisite sex-object daughter and pothead son.This takes aim at small screen morality on a bigger budget, and it's very rare that TV is a microcosm, so almost all of the jabs feel watered down when filtered through an entertainment medium. If you want cockroaches arriving on earth without feeling the need to have a 'social conscience', then check out "Men in Black" - it's far wittier and doesn't find itself resorting to lame 'drag' gags that pad out the story...

In the wilds of Brazil, as yet more rainforests are being cut down to make way for burger bars and other such makers of food which doesn't taste as nice as the little cardboard boxes it comes in, an unknown species of giant bug finds a children's 'Learn to Read' book which contains pictures of the 'ordinary' family. In no time, the outsized mantids are disguised as a human family and are on a mission to cause a nuclear disaster which will wipe out humanity.Though this film does have serious things to say about ecology, it is also a black comedy about the seedier side of families and married life. It captures hilariously such subjects as teenage rebellion, credit card shop-a-holics, sexless marriages and even political topics like the paranoia surrounding 'reds under the beds'. Alright, so some of the subjects tend to verge on the tasteless (and I don't think date rape is really something to laugh about), it's still a very entertaining sci-fi/comedy.

MEET THE APPLEGATES is a comedy horror movie and I guess on that level it works very well as a bunch of giant praying mantis disguise themselves as an all American family and live in middle America while planning to sabotage a nuclear power plant in order to save their jungle environment So far so good as far as the premise goes but you quickly find yourself asking the question as to what the film is trying to say . Is it an anti racist parable or a satire on present day dysfunctional American family life ? Surely if the movie has a green conscience it should appeal to children but within 20 minutes we've already seen an attempted rape while more and more bad language and adult situations like adultery and drug taking are introduced into the story and long before the movie ends you notice that there's a very uneven feel between scenes which makes for a very strange movie Okay I'll be generous and take it as entertainment in which case MEET THE APPLEGATES just about succeeds if that's what it's intended as . I wasn't exactly falling out of my chair but there are some amusing moments while the climax featuring a couple of giant bugs in a fist fight did bring a perplexed smile to my face

Second film from cult director Michael Lehmann follows exploits of a beetle family that migrates to Ohio under the guise of Disneyeana leftovers. While there, each family member falls under the spell of human idiocy which jeopardizes their plan to create another Chernobyl. Very witty throughout, and the ecological message doesn't become preachy (remember when there were more films that dealt with deforestation like "Ferngully"?). Stockard Channing in particular is a hoot. Ending is definitely a bit on the soft side, but this is still a very good film...