Christoph and Wolfgang Lauenstein’s feature* debut stars a school kid with some strange new friends.

“Luis and the Aliens” introduces a neglected boy to life from other planets, gets him in hot water with authority figures and then teaches him some life lessons.

As the biggest name by far in the voice cast, one might expect Will Forte to be playing the eponymous* Luis. As it happens, he’s oddly cast as just one of the trio of aliens who visit Luis Sonntag (voiced by Callum Maloney).

Luis is the son of an absent-minded* scientist who’s obsessed with* proving that evil aliens have designs on Earth. Luis’ mother died long ago, so the kid is forced to be the adult in the house, cooking and tidying up while dad looks through his telescope.

Dad is right about mean aliens, but those aren’t the first ones Luis encounters: He meets a trio of generically blobby E.T.s (one of whom looks suspiciously like the “Toy Story” space-critter) who call themselves “woopies.” They’ve come to our planet, naturally, because as they monitored our broadcasts they saw something they really want on an infomercial*.

The woopies — Mog and Nag and Wabo — can shape-shift at will if given a piece of someone’s hair as a DNA sample. This is less convenient* than it might seem, since they’re a lot better at looking like someone than acting like him or her: When trying to impersonate* the generically uptight couple across the street from Luis, their goofiness* leads to predictable misunderstandings and excuses.

At the suggestion of a stern-looking stranger called Ms. Diekendaker (Lea Thompson), Luis’ principal is tempted to send him off to a school for troubled kids if an interview with Mr. Sonntag doesn’t go perfectly. So Luis has one of his new pals clone dad for the meeting.

We also learn about the other aliens in scenes that will be too scary for more sensitive kids. On that species’ home planet, we’re told, there’s “no substance more precious than a lonely child’s tears.” (SD-Agencies)