Meet Dave (20th Century Fox)
The Family Fun Eddie Murphy
When Eddie Murphy made Dreamgirls he was everybodys favorite, then he made Norbit and people shunned him like the plague. This has been the essence of Murphys career up one moment and down the next. But now he is down and people are enjoying seeing him squirm. It has become a favorite pastime to bludgeon and disparage everything he does. This can be the only explanation for the fact critics have descended on Meet Dave and chopped it into bits and pieces.
In truth Meet Dave is a pleasant, entertaining, family friendly film. Murphy is as funny and enjoyable as he has ever been. The coarse humor that has marked his roles of late is nowhere to be found, and his warmth shines through as brightly as it did in Doctor Doolittle.
In this movie Murphy plays the Captain of a spaceship from the planet Nil. This is a place where the inhabitants are very small. Their size allows them to fit inside a spaceship made to look like a human being. They operate this human looking machine from inside.
The Captain and his crew are searching for a small object that can drain the water from the earths surface. The spaceship can then take it home and refurbish their planet. The object has been found by a young boy named Josh (Austyn Myers). He doesnt know what it is; only that it fell from the sky and he wants to keep it.
The spaceship (also played by Murphy) learns to walk among the humans and picks up their habits and language. As he is heading to Joshs house he is hit by a car, coincidentally driven by Joshs mother, Gina (Elizabeth Banks). She immediately offers her apologies and invites him to her home. The spaceship adopts the name Dave and goes with her.
The rest of the movie deals with the Captain and his crew learning about the earth and its inhabitants. Of course Dave also teaches Josh a thing or two about the importance of being who you are.
The performances in the movie are great fun with Murphy being the star of the show. He has two good female co-stars; Elizabeth Banks is sweet and simple as Gina, and Gabrielle Union is sexy and funny as the Captains assistant on the spaceship.
The movie is rated PG for very mild profanity and some slightly off-color situations.
People may not expect a family friendly comedy from Murphy these days but that is exactly what they get with Meet Dave. It is one of those movies that is much better than you expect it to be. The laughs are there and so is the warmth.
You might be surprised how much you enjoy meeting Eddie Murphy in Meet Dave. So take a chance and introduce him to your family at the local theater.
I scored Meet Dave a sci fi 6 out of 10.
