Problematic but watchable

Rating: Null/10 (25 April 2004)

First let's start with the problems:
1. The biggest problem starts right out of the box in that I, and I feel most, will have a hard time believing that the alien queen somehow managed to lay (or carry on board and plant) two eggs when a) she never left the hanger and b) how could she carry or lay eggs when all she does is fight Ripley and get sucked out of the cargo door? So, the whole premise of the movie is flawed from the start.
But let's say that you can swallow all of that, that you can believe that by some incredible act of the alien gods, the queen was able to somehow get not one, but two alien eggs on board. If you can do that, you still have to get past the poor special effects, namely the creature.
2. The second main problem is that the creature changes sizes depending on if they are using the puppet creature or the CGI creature. The puppet creature is huge while the CGI creature is much smaller (I've seen thicker legs on a 9 year old boy!) and sometimes resembles a green jello mold. There is a scene in particular where the CGI creature is on the ceiling in a corridor and looks not only TINY but appears to made out of pee-green jello. Note I wrote "pee" and not "pea".
3. There were obviously two versions of the creature other than puppet and CGI. I say that because initially, the creature was supposed to spring from an oxen, not a dog. However, they changed it for final release to have the creature burst from a pet rottweiler. This may account for the varying sizes of the creature, but it still adds to the confusion and unbelievability.
Overall, the movie is watchable. With so many lame movies, especially lame sci-fi movies, coming out of Hollywood, this one doesn't look so bad.

However, I still prefer the Ridley Scott philosophy of "if you can't make the shot believable, find another shot". The director of this let-down, should have followed that sage advice. It's ironic that in the late 1970's they could make a flawless classic like "Alien" with incredibly believable special effects, then crank out a lame sequel like Alien 3 in the late 1990's. You'd think that the effects would have gotten even better...