My Favorite Martian

The Martian, who is in human form plus antennae, can't leave the Earth because his spaceship has broken down.

Walston turns up again in this film, again as a Martian but only peripherally this time; a hang around Martian, only serving to bring on vague feelings of nostalgia, yearnings for the simpler days of very expensive black and white, valve driven televisions and gentlemanly behaviour.

There's little of the charm of the TV series in this film version.

Walston's part is taken by Christopher Lloyd (the madcap scientist in the Back To The Future films) and the Bill Bixby part is played by the nearly always good Jeff Daniels (Dumb And Dumber).

Christopher Lloyd's hyperactive portrayal of Uncle Martin is the problem with My Favorite Martian, a performance more reminiscent of a Looney Tunes character rather than the well mannered, concerned spaceman we were treated with years ago. It must be supposed that every other character in the film measured and toned itself against this new manic Uncle Martin.

If there's any truth in that old adage delivered to children about not pulling faces in case the wind changes then Lloyd is in grave danger.

And so must be Jeff Daniels (I wonder if he drinks Jack?) My Favorite Martian wasn't entertaining, even if you weren't around in the sixties.Subtlety is appreciated even by children.

In fact almost no one at all will enjoy My Favorite Martian unless perhaps a minority of minors, but who's going to bother to take them?

There are a couple of entertaining moments, one involving a fat arse and a 1962 Plymouth Valiant, the other to do with a particularly loathsome digital monster, but that's all.

Then there's Elizabeth Hurley, delivering her usual English version of a big haired American bimbo. Her attempts at acting have of late becomes even more frantic and embarrassing.

Check out this effort along with the ones in Ed TV and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me to see what I mean.

And My Favorite Martian manages even to be more offensive. At one stage Hurley has been tied to a chair in a room. The obnoxious baddie called E. Coleye (get it) played by Wallace Shawn locks himself into the room with her to do what? It wasn't funny. It wasn't mentioned again.

Then there's the digital character Zoot, the Martian's space suit who develops a thing about washing machines. He was just plain boring even if he was well wrung. Like the rest of My Favorite Martian.