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Martian Child
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 26 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Drama
Written by:
David Gerrold (novel)
Jonathan Tolins
Seth Bass
Directed by: Menno Meyjes
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 2, 2007
DVD: February 12, 2008
Running Time: 108 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for thematic elements and mild language
Starring John Cusack, Bobby Coleman, Amanda Peet, Sophie Okonedo, Joan Cusack, Oliver Platt, Richard Schiff, and David Kaye
A recently widowed science-fiction writer forms an unlikely family with a close friend and a young boy he adopts that claims to be from Mars. The new couple ignores some sage parenting advice from the widower's sister and gets more than they bargained for when a series of strange occurrences lead them to believe that the child's claim may be true. (New Line Cinema)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Max
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
USA Today Claudia Puig
An occasionally schmaltzy but likable story of healing and redemption.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
And in the end, maybe the question of Dennis' origin is irrelevant. He tells David he's come to Earth to try to understand human beings, and that quest is worth a lifetime's effort -- whatever planet you call home.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Connie Ogle
Cusack, of course, is the perfect Anti-Schmaltz. His rapid-fire delivery makes everything he says sound like it's just pouring from his brain to his mouth, so that even the sappiest dialogue is rendered sincere.
Read Full Review >Variety Ronnie Scheib
Knockout performances by John Cusack and child actor Bobby Coleman help legitimize a whimsical but sententiously moralizing script.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden
Those who stick with Martian Child won't entirely avoid mush, but they will find terrific performances.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
Amanda Peet exudes her patented mix of charm, beauty, humor and smarts as the best friend who may become more than a friend.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Tasha Robinson
The film plot about the needy kid who redeems a male loner has been done to death, and on the surface, Martian Child just looks like another entry in the genre, a close follower to “About A Boy.”
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
Cusack shows that he can still play the sensitive-but-fun guy until the ladies sigh and the men take notes.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
One soggy slab of sentimental uplift, but it doesn't pretend to be anything else, and there's some honor in that.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
It's hard to say what, aside from novelty, is gained by having the boy believe he's from Mars, because the core emotion in the film comes from the simple, common premise of an adoptive father and son trying to forge a life together.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling
The problem with Martian Child is that it wants to be a story about outcasts, but Dennis doesn't come off as a cute little rebel.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Robert Wilonsky
Martian Child certainly isn't much fun, unless you were desperately awaiting K-PAX with a kid instead of Kevin Spacey.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
In drama, and just about everything else, almost is never enough. Which is why Martian Child, about the growing bond between an adult and child, never reaches us.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
Cusack makes a half-hearted attempt to connect with Coleman, but chemistry is fatally absent and small wonder: Dennis is a unsettlingly strange creature who could well be from another planet.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Martian Child wants to make us cry. It nearly made me gag. This is an exercise in shameless and inept emotional manipulation.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The movie leaves no heartstring untugged. It even has a beloved old dog, and you know what happens to beloved old dogs in movies like this. Or if you don't, I don't have the heart to tell you.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Before long, the story's conceit -- a loud-and-clear metaphor for the ways in which we all sometimes feel alien when it comes to human relationships -- just becomes wearying.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
The two characters' pasts are so sketchy here that the drama lacks any serious emotional underpinning.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Whatever glimmers of cleverness Martian Child offers, it all comes to Earth with a thud in the shamelessly manipulative climax.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
The entire cast is fully committed to this squishily sentimental tale, which is especially impressive given that it's the kind of generic dramedy you'll swear you've seen a thousand times before.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
At the end of Martian Child, we're told the movie is "inspired by actual events." But the movie isn't even fully inspired by David Gerrold's source novel that was inspired by actual events.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Toddy Burton
Only in Hollywood can a movie about alien children be boring. Even if the kid isn’t really an alien (no spoilers), there’s still opportunity galore for the wild and the weird.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
Martian Child would like to be "About a Boy (Who Thinks He's a Martian)", but, disappointingly, it doesn't even come close.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
It's off in many directions - false in its details, false in its relationships, false in its emotions - but probably the first and worst thing that needs to be said about it is that it's also overlong and dull.
Read Full Review >Premiere Aaron Hillis
Filmed in 2005, the first of two Cusack widower flicks this season (the weepier and more indie "Grace is Gone" hits theaters in December) Martian Child is also a Franken-schmaltz monster of cobbled-together Cusack movie parts.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 26 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Mike N gave it a1:
Simple and trivial, the movie is filled with moral indoctrination and general lack of imagination. Good actor performances but that doesn't make up for it.
Marcia B gave it a10:
Golly, this movie is swell!! But more importantly, anyone who makes comments about "Martian Child's" secret agenda for SRS candidates- well, those people are swell, too, and not, I repeat, NOT complete idiots. Gosh, these user comments are so worthwhile and groovy, I won't even bother seeing movies anymore; I'll just read about them here! (To the editing staff- since you are obviously too GUTLESS to post comments that even slightly chide other users for their offensive remarks, I sure hope that there was an adequate amount of sucking up in THIS comment to suit your high standards. Bunch of lemmings).
Brandon gave it a10:
Honestly, some of the user comments on here are even more absurd than the scathing reviews this beautiful movie garnered from heartless, jaded professional critics. This movie was based on a true story by David Gerrold, an average man turned hero as he adopted and rescued a lonely, troubled little boy from a hideous childhood. The martian aspect of the movie had nothing to do with the creepy insinuations made by some users; rather, it was a coping mechanism used by the real "Martian Child" as he tried to grapple with a short lifetime of abuse and neglect prior to his adoption. In the future, may I suggest even a modicum of research before posting half-baked theories that do little other than tarnish the premise of a truly honorable film?
Jordan Z. gave it a10:
This is an awsome movie and it makes so much since there are so many real live decisions that have to be made and it is so great.
Chad S. gave it a7:
You can't set your film at a planetarium without conjuring up Nicholas Ray's "Rebel Without a Cause", which in effect, rips off the extrapolative conceit that Dennis(Bobby Coleman) is a child from outer space. The "martian" boy feels uncomfortable on Mars' surface. The red planet is not his home, after all. Dennis tells his adoptive father David(John Cusack) that he might be from a different Mars. Later on, "Martian Child" returns to the planetarium, where David's epiphany results in these compassionate words of acceptance to his adoptive son, "I'm not even that smart. I can see it. It's so obvious, " as both males(one from Mars, one from Venus) face each other on the building's ledge, past the precipice of knowing. Why Bobby keeps a collection of other people's stuff in his closet suddenly becomes obvious: he doesn't want to be the only one. "Martian Child" may someday be reappraised as an important film once it's recognized that Dennis, in all likelihood, is a future candidate for SRS(sex reassignment surgery), because this martian child, this earthling with the pipsqueak voice, feels alien in his own skin, feels pretty.
Daniel B. gave it a10:
I thought this movie was AMAZING! I finally saw this movie & wanted to watch it over & over. I'm at a loss for words & wanted the story to go on & on. There is a Martian Child in all of us & learning how to deal with our insecurities is all apart of growing up & trusting people. I would love to more movies as honest as this one.
Jay H. gave it a5:
Strange film, I did not find it particularly appealing. The cast is great, but I do not think the material was very interesting. It all has a hidden meaning and moral, but after about 30 minutes it was obvious and boredom followed. If you have something to say, just say it, why bother with the silly Martian element.
