MARTIAN CHILD
He's Adorable, But Not Your Favorite Martian
PopcornReel.com Movie Review: "Martian Child"
By Omar P.L. Moore/November 2, 2007
Bobby Coleman as Dennis and John Cusack as David in "Martian Child",
directed by Menno Meyes. The film opened across North America today.
(Photos: New Line Cinema)
Menno Meyjes directs "Martian Child", which opened across the
U.S. and Canada today, a drama that is cute, funny and lightly enchanting in
some areas, yet weak and empty in others. John Cusack plays an author
again (he did so in this past summer's "1408") -- this time he's David Gordon, a
science-fiction novelist who has to write a book for a publisher. He has
lost his wife and had always desired to have children with her. (Mr.
Cusack will be seen on the big screen next month playing a widower again in
"Grace Is Gone".) David wants to adopt and he is keen to welcome Dennis, a
reclusive and mysterious child (Bobby Coleman) into the fold. Dennis has a
ghostly pallid complexion, which may key the audience in to the notion that
Dennis may or may not be from planet Earth.
"Martian Child" has some of the cliches that you might expect from films which
explore extra-terrestrial subject matter, but goes some ways to avoid a few of
them. Mr. Meyjes doesn't need to "phone home" or have Dennis morph into a
character with gigantic eyeballs and scaly features; he creates subtle visual
effects that lend an air of magic and (pun intended) stardom to the proceedings.
Sophie Okonedo, the supporting actress Oscar nominee for "Hotel Rwanda", and
memorable in "Dirty Pretty Things", stars as a day-care worker who shepherds
Dennis into David's world. She has tried everything to get him to emerge
from the box he inhabits, let alone play with the other kids, but to no avail.
Mr. Cusack with Sophie Okonedo, who plays Sophie, in "Martian Child".
Seth Bass and Jonathan Tollins wrote the screenplay, which they adapted from
David Gerrold's novel of the same name. The script has some nice lines of
dialogue, but perhaps needed more shaping in terms of pace, structure and
development. There are scenes where Dennis is wandering around near
David's house and discovering and learning, and these scenes needed expansion.
Such quieter moments would have made the film more interesting, and a tighter
focus on the relationship between Mr. Cusack and Mr. Coleman would have made
"Martian Child" a much better film overall. Instead, characters dart in
and out of the film, and they are distracting. On another note, some
scenes with Mr. Cusack and young Mr. Coleman are terrific, yet some others are
almost tiresome. It is as if, in some of these moments, the two are tired
of each other. Sometimes their relationship has the feel of the two adult
combatants in Robert Benton's film "Kramer Vs. Kramer", and on other occasions
like the Little Rascals. And the screenplay doesn't seem to know what to
do with Amanda Peet's Harlee character -- is she a friend, a very close friend,
or a love interest of David's? Neither Ms. Peet nor Mr. Cusack doesn't
seem to know either, and there's a scene to illustrate this, which ends with the
dialogue from David, "are you okay?", and words to that effect.
Again, there may be too many characters in the film -- Oliver Peet's Jeff
character is as unnecessary as Ms. Peet's Harlee is to the story -- and moments
like the melodramatic ending could have worked better in another setting.
Still, for all its flaws and predictabilities, "Martian Child" has the good
performance of Joan Cusack, the real-life sister of Mr. Cusack. She plays
Liz, David's sister, and Ms. Cusack is always entertaining here, the source of
most of the film's laughter. Alas she isn't on screen for very long.
Mr. Cusack and Ms. Cusack are not surprisingly good together on screen and it is
great seeing Mr. Cusack play the straight man to Ms. Cusack's court jester.
However, when the film gets serious, it is good in moments -- and a wrong kind
of serious in others. Maybe editors Bruce Green and Valdis Oskarsdottir,
two very good editors, may have to own up to the disjointed nature of this film.
But at least there's good news for ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) fans: "Mr.
Blue Sky" makes its presence felt, so at least you will be able to sing and tap
your feet in the aisles if you aren't tearing up from the film's sentimentality.
"Martian Child" is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for
thematic elements and mild language. The film's duration is one hour and
48 minutes.
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