Martian Child is a 2007 comedy-drama film about a writer, David Gordon (John Cusack) who adopts a strange young boy, Dennis (Bobby Coleman) who believes he is from Mars.
SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Harlee (Amanda Peet), David Gordon (John Cusack) and Dennis (Bobby Coleman)
David Gordon has recently lost his wife Mary and is looking to adopt a young boy named Dennis who believes he is from Mars. After adopting the boy from Sophie (Sophie Okonedo), he manages to bring Dennis out of the Amazon box in which he stays to hide from the sun by giving him an SPF 45 sunblock and a pair of sunglasses.
Slowly and with a lot of patience, David teaches the boy how to be an “earthling” and earns Dennis’ love in the process with the help of his sister Liz (played by Cusack’s real life sister Joan Cusack). Initially, David has had a hard time of teaching his newly adopted son to become a real “earthling”. But as the movie progresses, David manages to understand Dennis better and Dennis is able to open himself more. In the end, David realizes that Dennis’ worst nightmare is his parents leaving him when he was way too young and Dennis is afraid David will leave him.
Though the film tries very hard at implementing emotional elements into it, it doesn’t really work. Somehow, it’s not really that bad — a little bit touching together with some mediocre acting.
My ratings: 6 out of 10.
Popularity: 1%
