While "The Puppet Masters" is generally an entertaining movie with a good pace going for it, the simple fact is that it's much too belated an official adaptation of the Robert A. Heinlein novel. We've seen other, similar stories since, including of course "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (although the Heinlein novel actually preceded the Jack Finney book of "Body Snatchers"). The presentation is definitely competent if not inspired. The creatures themselves are fairly cool, and visuals (specifically, the hive interior) are solid, and the script (credited to Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, and David S. Goyer) is fairly intelligent, but the direction (by Stuart Orme) is nondescript. The music is generic stuff, as well.It's an alien invasion tale of starfish shaped slugs that land on Earth, attach themselves to the backs of humans, and control their actions. It doesn't take long for an infection (which starts in rural Iowa) to spread and spread. The man in charge of handling the crisis is Andrew Nivens (an amusing Donald Sutherland, who performs with wit and style), who heads up a covert agency that is an offshoot of the C.I.A. and which deals with "scientific intelligence". Also involved is Andrews' special agent son Sam (Eric Thal) and a scientist (the irresistibly cute Julie Warner) who specializes in theorizing about alien anatomy, believe it or not!The story isn't a bad one but just isn't that meaty; I'm told that, as is so often the case, that the book is a superior work of fiction. The filmmakers do their best to keep us interested in the characters, putting each of them in peril. The stars do good work (this wouldn't work as well were it not for Sutherland), and are well supported by a rich variety of top character actors and familiar faces: Keith David, Will Patton, Richard Belzer, Tom Mason, Yaphet Kotto, Gerry Bamman, Sam Anderson, Marshall Bell, Benjamin Mouton, Andrew Robinson, and Dale Dye (some of them, however, get no more than a few lines).Never boring but never that exciting, either, this does fall victim to the "more than one ending" cliché but does have its good moments too. Best recommended to undemanding fans of the genre.Six out of 10.

This adaptation of a Robert A. Heinlein novel puts things right into gear when Eric Thal, Julie Warner and the ever-competent Donald Shutterland rush off to Ambrose, Iowa to investigate a registered UFO landing. However, collective-minded alien parasites have already begun to take over, turning humans into puppets to do their bidding. Writing trio Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio & David S. Goyer manage to tie things up fashionably, but also overworked themselves providing just about everything. Being a mixture of sci-fi, horror, thriller, action and drama, it's safe to say the wholesome feels a bit disjoint at places. The animatronic slug-like parasites by Roy Arbogast & Co. are a fine creation and get plenty of screen-time. Ambitious entertainment.

I have never read the novel this was movie was based on, or any of his other works for that matter, so I have nothing to compare this film to. I also haven't seen Invasion of the Body Snatchers (shame on me). With that said, I have one question: Why the HELL wouldn't you just invent some sort of kevlar armor that attaches to the back and neck in a comfortable fashion? You would think at least the armed forces dudes would have thought about it.. I mean c'mon boys. Anyway, I thought this was entertaining enough for a boring Tuesday afternoon. I've wanted to see this since when it was released and I was much younger and I'm glad I finally have. Fun concept.

It really makes no sense how this film could not have worked. Working off a script based on a Robert A. Heinlein novel, with the venerable Donald Sutherland in one of the lead roles, and with alien invasion the subject matter, this should have been at least a seven star Science Fiction film. As Sci-Fi goes, the superior ones focus more on futuristic and/or scientific concepts, with action and/or special effects adding to the spectacle. That is why films like the Star Wars saga really aren't Sci-Fi, but action/adventure first (and in the case of Star Wars, fantasy) and science fiction second at best. This film does delve into the biology and culture of the aliens, but just barely. Mostly it focuses on hokey special effects and a few watered-down action scenes to fill up screen time. The aliens themselves are quite realistic and original, a plus for the film. The chemistry between Donald Sutherland as the leader of a secret government agency and his son, played by Eric Thal (an unknown at the time) is actually quite good. In addition, Julie Warner actually does well as the scientist working for Sutherland and of course plays the romantic interest for Sutherland's son. While not a superior actress, she performs adequately, although her talents are more suited to television, as it appears this movie was. While most will think, as I did, while reading the plot synopsis of the film that it is a rip-off of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (Sutherland starred in the remake of this film in 1978), the actual book was published in 1951, prior to the original film as well as the novel written by Jack Finney. Bottom line: not a bad movie to watch when you know you will be distracted as it requires very little of your attention and there are enough action scenes to move the pace along, but science fiction and Heinlein fans will be disappointed.