- A crew of miniature aliens operate a spaceship that has a human form. While trying to save their planet, the aliens encounter a new problem, as their ship becomes smitten with an Earth woman.
- A spaceship shaped like a human lands face first on Liberty Island. Its crew (of tiny, intelligent, and unemotional beings) is looking for an orb sent from its planet to extract the oceans' salt, which will ruin Earth. The orb is in the possession of Josh, the fifth-grade son of a single mom whose car strikes the ambulatory alien spaceship and cripples its power supply. The crew has 48 hours to recover the orb, throw it in the Atlantic, and leave Earth. Over the course of two days, the ship's crew experiences chaos and emotion in New York. Do Earth's giants - Josh and his mom - have anything to teach these brainy aliens? Meanwhile, mutiny is afoot and the cops are closing in.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>
- A glowing blue orb flies through space and hits a satellite when entering Earth. A young boy named Josh Morrison (Austyn Lind Myers) was in his New York City apartment staring through his telescope when he noticed the object heading towards him. He hid under his bed quickly as the object bounced around his room and landed in his fishbowl. His mother, Gina Morrison (Elizabeth Banks) thought that some punks were playing outside, and a baseball broke through the bedroom window. She believes that Josh was hiding under the bed to avoid being hit by the baseball.
Josh told Gina that it wasn't the baseball that almost hit him and told that the orb did, but Gina didn't believe him and told him it was only his imagination. When Gina leaves his room, Josh stared in awe as the orb quickly absorbed all of the water inside his fishbowl in one sitting, so he decided to share it to his school presentation.
Approximately three months later, a mysterious fireball heads towards Earth and crash lands near the Liberty Island statue. When the smoke clears, it is revealed to be a spaceship that resembles a human (Eddie Murphy), controlled by 100 tiny humanoid aliens. Its Captain (Eddie Murphy) pilots the spaceship from the command deck located in its head, with the help of his second-in-command Number 2 (Ed Helms), and researcher Number 3 (Gabrielle Union). The spaceship looks very human and displays numerous superpowers (like self-healing and self-repairing abilities), but the aliens don't know how to make the "ship" act like a human (the actions of the spaceship appear uncoordinated, and the effort to smile is creepy). A superstitious cop named Dooley (Scott Caan) and his partner Knox (Mike O'Malley) investigate the crash site and desperately search for the alien. The spaceship is hit unexpectedly by a car when its shields are down and is damaged. As such, it has power only for the next 48 hours and they are searching for the Orb. The aliens only know the last known location of the Orb and it is accurate to within 10,000 square meters.
The aliens need to save their planet, Nil, from an energy crisis. They need salt, which they plan to take by draining the Earth's oceans using the metal ball, so they have to recover the ball. Without the salt, the home planet will die within one generation, hence returning home without completing the mission is not an option. Number 3 warns that draining the oceans would kills the human species, but Number 2 considers them inferior and not worth their consideration.
After the spaceship is hit by Josh's single mother while driving, the Captain decides to befriend Gina and Josh, as the aliens found traces on the Orb in the vicinity of their home. He tells them his name is Dave, based on a quick scan of common Earth names. At Gina's home the crew see their missing ball in a photograph taken at the science presentation. After having breakfast with Gina, "Dave" goes to Josh's school where he pretends to be a substitute teacher and eventually is able to talk to Josh alone. Josh tells him that the ball was taken from him by a bully. With Josh's help, Dave takes the metal ball back from the bully.
The Captain (via Dave) spends some time with Josh and Gina and realizes that humans are more advanced than they originally thought. The crew observes humans displaying feelings and love, such as witnessing Gina's painting or a homeless man offering to share his blanket with Dave when he sleeps in a doorway. The Captain decides to cancel the plan to drain the oceans because it would destroy life on Earth. The police track Dave down using the impression of his face found in the dirt at the crash site and they arrest him. After spending so much time on Earth, most of the crew begin to exhibit new "feelings", adopting Earth's culture, mannerisms and general laid-back attitude.
Believing that the Captain and the rest of the crew's changing behavior is ruining their mission, Number 2 takes command of the "ship" and imprisons the Captain. Under Number 2's command, Dave breaks out of the police station and another attempt is made to arrest him. Number 3, who has become infatuated with the Captain, becomes jealous of Gina. She first cooperates in the command change but later agrees with the Captain's view on humans. Both are caught by Number 2 and they are expelled from the spaceship. In the meantime, Number 17 (Kevin Hart), a young, fun-loving alien, jumps out of the "ship" while drunk from the alcohol Dave has imbibed. The Captain apologizes to Number 3 for ignoring her. He admits that he too loves her and wants to be with her. Back at the police station, Dooley discovers Number 17 in his coffee and interrogates him to find out where Dave is going.
Number 2 takes Dave to the harbor, where he tries to throw the metal orb into the ocean, but is stopped by the Captain and Number 3, both of whom managed to gain reentry back onto the ship. They convince the rest of the crew that the real Captain is in charge again. Reinstated, he orders Number 2 to be stuck in the ship's "butt" forever.
The metal orb meanwhile slips out of Dave's hand and rolls into the ocean. The Captain attempts to retrieve the orb but is told that they only have enough power to either retrieve it or return home. The Captain decides to save the Earth and the rest of the crew agrees. The ball, thrown in the ocean by Number 2, is retrieved. Dave powers down while Dooley and his partner catch up and point their guns at him. With no power, Dave's shields are disabled, leaving the crew defenseless. Josh tries to tell the police officers that Dave is harmless but is ignored. He then grabs Dooley's taser which he uses on Dave, recharging him.
The Captain and Number 3 reveal themselves to the police officers who stand down. The Captain says goodbye to Josh and Gina saying he now understands love. Number 17 is then returned to Dave by Dooley. About to fly away, a team from the FBI arrives and throws a net over Dave. While the FBI agents wrestle the body down, "Dave's" crew evacuates to one of the ship's "lifeboat" shoes, activate the engines, detaches the shoe and heads home to Nil, leaving behind the ship (and Number 2 indirectly). While in the lifeboat, the Captain asks for Number 3's hand in marriage. She accepts and they kiss.
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