Written by and starring comic duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as avid English sci-fi fans Graeme and Clive. ‘Paul’ sees the two friends on the trip of a lifetime. Their plans include attending Comic Con in San Diego before embarking on a road trip in an RV across the UFO heartland: the Western United States.

Everything is going smoothly until one night just outside of Area 51 they encounter an escaped alien: Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen). Graeme and Clive eventually decide to help Paul reach his rendezvous with the mother ship that will take him back to his home planet.

It is not long before they accidently kidnap Ruth (Kristen Wiig) and are pursued by Federal Agents Zoil (Arrested Developments Jason Bateman), Haggard (Bill Hader) and O’Reilly (Joe Lo Truglio) and Ruth’s fanatically devout gun- toting father Moses (John Carroll Lynch).

This is great fun. Paul is not your typical alien, he drinks, he smokes, he swears. He can also read minds, heal and even make himself invisible for short periods. His main Achilles heel is that he is a terrible driver due to his short stature and this is how he meets Graeme and Clive.

I particularly enjoyed the scenes where creationist Ruth has her core beliefs turned upside down. There are also plenty of visual gags as they attempt to smuggle Paul across small town America and the desert wilderness. The CGI coupled with the actors interaction is so convincing that you soon forget that Paul is a special effect!

The chase across America is handled well and there is plenty of action and drama as well as comedy. The film references ‘Jaws’, ‘Star Wars’, ‘E.T.’, ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’, ‘Star Trek’, ‘Aliens’ and ‘Total Recall’ among many others. This is all fun stuff although it does get a little wearing as the script seems intent on getting as many famous lines from other sci-fi films in as possible.

Paul can also be a little hit and miss at times. The overall effect is pleasing and fans of Frost and Pegg will not be disappointed. It’s not quite up to ‘Shawn of the Dead’ or ‘Hot Fuzz’ standards but it’s worth a viewing nonetheless.

The DVD Extras include the usual ‘making of ‘documentary, gag reel, galleries, storyboards, movie posters and an unrated extended movie version.