Martian Child (2007)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Menno Meyjes

Writers (WGA):

Seth Bass (screenplay) &
Jonathan Tolins (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

2 November 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family

Tagline:

The story of a man becoming a father...and a boy becoming a son.

Plot:

A science-fiction writer, recently widowed, considers whether to adopt a hyper-imaginative 6-year-old abandoned and socially rejected boy who says he's really from Mars.

Plot Keywords:

Mars | Friend | Best Friend | Writer | Sunlight

Awards:

2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. July 12	6:00 AM	HBO
Wed. July 15	8:30 AM	HBO

Cast

John Cusack	...	David Gordon
Bobby Coleman	...	Dennis / The Martian Child
Amanda Peet	...	Harlee
Sophie Okonedo	...	Sophie
Joan Cusack	...	Liz
Oliver Platt	...	Jeff
Bud	...	Somewhere / Flomar
Richard Schiff	...	Mr. Lefkowitz
Taya Calicetto	...	Esther
David Kaye	...	Andy
Braxton Bonneville	...	Nicholas
Samuel Charles	...	Jonas
Zak Ludwig	...	Young David
Samuel Patrick Chu	...	Boy at Group Home
Ryan Morrissette	...	Boy at Group Home

MPAA:

Rated PG ror thematic elements and mild language (theatrical); for thematic elements. (video)

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Germany:6 | Canada:G (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Quebec) | South Africa:PG | USA:PG (certificate #42287) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | South Korea:All | USA:PG | Malaysia:U | Finland:K-7 | Singapore:PG | Argentina:Atp | Taiwan:GP | Australia:M | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | New Zealand:PG | Netherlands:6

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

When buying boxes of Lucky Charms for Dennis at the grocery store, David puts ten boxes of Lucky Charms into his cart.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When David receives the letter from child services, the envelope not only has six digits in the zip code instead of five, the state is listed as "CS", which does not exist.

Quotes:

Dennis: [sharply points at a photo of David] Beware! I almost disney-graded you.
David: Disintegrate me? Why would you do that?

Movie Connections:

References The Omen (1976)

Soundtrack:

Don't Be Shy

This film is adorable.

I work in a cinema so I'm in the perfect job not to miss any film releases including minor ones like this film. I call this film a "minor" release because it was not advertised much, just a trailer here and there but it's the type of film that make me happy to work at a cinema otherwise i would have miss out on this little treasure of a film. The story is simple , a lonely widower, also a sci-fi best selling author , adopt a child who lives in a world of his own were he convinced himself that he's a Martian who was sent to earth to study the human race. The child's rather strange, he hates the sun and doesn't smile often. At first the writer he's not sure if he's up to the task to bring up a child with such big issues but little by little he realized that he was the perfect match for the boy. In a world were we have countless film about fart jokes and people getting tortured to death , I found "Martian Child" to be a breath of fresh air. It's a sweet film without being corny. The acting is great all around.John Cusack his wonderful as always but its the young Bobby Coleman who plays Dennis the young boy who's the real star of this film he is great but also likable and god knows how this sort of character could have turned out in the wrong child actor's hands. Joan Cusack bring much of the comic moments in this film and it's nice to see her with her real life brother , I love that woman , she always add something to any film she's in. The most interesting aspect of this film is seeing the character of Dennis progression throughout the film , from a troubled boy to a happy kid , it was really well done. Somme people might found this film "overly sentimental" but I believe it's because we live in a cynical world and a film like Martian child stand out more in a time when we are not used to see a film that doesn't show violence or gross out humor. The main purpose of the film is to introduced us to two character , make us love them and see them grow together and it does a more then decent job at that. I would recommend this film to anyone who has enough of a open mind to accept a film that just wants to grab hold of our heart for 1 hour and 45 minutes. I think this film is a nice little gem and I don't care about all the critics that found it just too sentimental.For the full duration of the film I was interested by the characters and at the end I was happy for them and thats all I ask for a film , that the character are involving.