Review of My Favorite Martian (1999) by Steven G — 23 Aug 2010

Though the film completely takes advantage of its easily pleased target audience, the film actually manages to deliver (for female audiences, you get a shot of Jeff Daniels' butt). The special effects are pretty cool for a Disney comedy.

Lloyd gives a great performance as Martin the Martian and so does the voice actor for Zoot, his space suit. Daniels does pretty well, but at times, I feel that either his acting is lifeless or they should have placed more emotion into his role.

Sometimes I can't tell which; maybe it's both. That, in essence, is the main thing wrong with this film: it has a mediocre script (at best) and relies too heavily on embarassing (and sometimes just plain freaky) situations to get a chuckle.

Plus the whole hospital scene is too reminiscent of ET, and the ending is utterly predictable. Nevertheless, those with low expectations and a mind to please their eager children will find solace in this movie, for it's solid, if flawed, entertainment.