This film is based on
The Stupids
series of children's books by Harry Allard and James Marshall, which are about a family that takes things very, very literally. In this film, the Stupids attempt to discover what happens to the garbage that disappears from their lawn every week (they think it has been stolen) and accidentally save the world. The father, Stanley (
Tom Arnold
), goes undercover posing as a tree and unknowingly stumbles into an international arms-smuggling scheme. He believes that the garbage theft is perpetrated by his old enemy from the Post Office, "Sender" (Christopher Lee). His absence worries his equally befuddled children, who go looking for him. Meanwhile he is chased by both the weapons smugglers and beings from outer space. Directed by John Landis, known for his hit films
Trading Places
and
The Blues Brothers
.