Zoom

An embittered former superhero once known as “Captain Zoom” (Tim Allen) is forced out of retirement to train a super-team made up of four misfit kids with undeveloped powers: two teenagers (Kevin Zegers and Kate Mara), an adolescent (Spencer Breslin) and a little girl (Ryan Newman). Adam Rifkin and David Berenbaum’s script is ostensibly based on a novel by Jason Lethcoe, but judging by the book’s synopsis on Amazon.com, not much made it to the screen; the story is muddled and slovenly, and the execution is unbelievably cheap-looking, with special effects that are miles beyond cheesy. Director Peter Hewitt grapples helplessly with the script, but there’s nothing to be done. As Allen’s co-worker, Courteney Cox tries hard but is particularly ill-served by David Tattersall’s unflattering cinematography.