Martian Child is a 2007 comedy/drama about a writer who considers whether to adopt a hyper-imaginative 6-year-old abandoned and socially rejected boy who says he’s really from another planet.
Children in film who have quirky behaviors, from super intelligence to athletic prowess to even supernatural abilities are a dime a dozen at the movies and so it is that director Menno Meyjes‘ family drama Martian Child might end up lost in the mix. It stars John Cusack as a widowed science-fiction author, his wife having died while they were in the middle of an adoption process. Still recovering, a few years later he is paired with a young boy named Dennis (Bobby Coleman), a gangly, socially-awkward child who claims he is from mars, spending his time in a box away from the rays of the sun. It takes some time, but soon the two bond and begin to face the numerous hurdles this relationship most certainly must contain. Cusack is well cast and carries a kind of somber burden about him that works well in keeping the story not just about a boy in need of growth but a father figure as well. While it earned mixed reviews from critics, it’s a still a solid, emotional story with plenty of impactful moments.
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