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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 2, 2007

MARTIAN CHILD **

Martians have landed, or at least one Martian. Instead of slimy and tentacled as in 'The War of the Worlds,' this Martian is cuddly, adorable and just troubled enough that John Cusack can't help but want to kiss away his psychological boo-boos and play dad to him.

To borrow a line from Mr. Potter, the richest and meanest man in town in 'It's a Wonderful Life,' 'Martian Child' is sentimental hogwash.

But hogwash redeemed to an extent by the soothing, compassionate father-son dynamic Cusack strikes with his favorite Martian, 10-year-old Bobby Coleman.

Coleman plays Dennis, an orphan whose abandonment issues have traumatized him to the point he's convinced he's a Martian on an information-gathering mission to Earth. The kid spends his days inside a giant cardboard box to shield himself from harmful solar rays.

Enter science fiction writer and former child misfit David Gordon (Cusack), a widower who's talking with the overseers of Dennis' group home as he mulls whether to follow through on the dream he and his late wife had to adopt a child.

With all the plot contrivances in place, David and Dennis naturally form an immediate connection. They stumble through awkward growing pains. They share tender moments. They act out in anger.

And they lure the audience to an inevitably sappy climax.

Cusack and Coleman are on screen together most of the movie, and the fact that they don't completely overstay their welcome amid the maudlin action says a lot for the restraint they bring to the characters.

David and Dennis are surrounded by a predictable passel of supporters and obstacles. The star's real-life sister, Joan Cusack, plays his sibling, who henpecks him about the hardships of parenting, while Amanda Peet co-stars as an old friend gradually morphing into a potential new love for David.

Maintaining his usual likably aloof persona, Cusack cracks the door open a bit on some genuine human warmth.

Speaking in whispers for much of the time, Coleman gets a bit creepy, as if he's impersonating Haley Joel Osment in 'The Sixth Sense.' But his innate cuteness always shows through to offset Dennis' strangeness.

108 minutes (PG; mild profanity)

David Germain,

The Associated Pres

BEE MOVIE **

Following 'Antz,' 'A Bug's Life,' 'Flushed Away' and this summer's 'Ratatouille,' 'Bee Movie' is yet another animated flick with a starry cast in which a creature that ordinarily would seem pesky is rendered as not just harmless but even lovable and idiosyncratically human.

There is zero life left in this concept, even if it does spring this time from the fertile mind and absurd sensibility of Jerry Seinfeld.

The comic co-wrote, co-produced and stars in this colorful jaunt as a bee named Barry, who dares to leave the tradition and rigidity of New Hive City for the vast unknown of the outside world.

'Bee Movie' is flooded with Seinfeld's sense of humor - his trademark observations on the ridiculous minutiae of our daily lives. That should keep his fans, and adults in general, relatively entertained. There are some cute lines here and there but because 'Bee Movie' is also for kids - who have never been the target audience for 'Seinfeld' - bee puns all too often prevail.

Barry, a recent college graduate, could go work for the Honex Corp. alongside his nebbishy best friend, Adam (Matthew Broderick), making honey as bees have for millions of years.

Instead of settling into a cubicle, Barry boldly goes on a flight with the tough-guy pollen jocks, the only ones allowed outside the hive, who collect nectar and pollinate flowers.

He meets and falls for a kindhearted florist named Vanessa (Renee Zellweger), who spares him from being squished on the coffee table by her meathead boyfriend (voiceover veteran Patrick Warburton).

Vanessa befriends him and then she helps him sue the entire human race after a trip to the grocery store provides the shocking revelation that people are stealing the bees' honey, putting it in jars and selling it.

There is an actual trial with jurors and TV news coverage and Barry taking notes on a tiny legal pad. And this is where the movie takes an irretrievably silly turn, even for Seinfeld's peculiar universe.

90 minutes (PG; mild suggestive humor)

Christy Lemire,

The Associated Press

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