Mars Needs Moms

A boy sees his mother kidnapped by aliens and stows away aboard the spaceship to follow and rescue her. Producer Robert Zemeckis’ latest motion-capture production supposedly stars Seth Green as the boy, but the character doesn’t look like Green and the voice is by one Seth Robert Dusky. The comic sidekick looks and sounds more like the credited Dan Fogler, and Mom is clearly voiced by Joan Cusack. Anyhow, the movie is harmless kiddie entertainment with a nice cozy family message, adapted by Wendy Wells and director Simon Wells from Berkeley Breathed’s children’s book. It’s unobjectionable enough for undemanding kids, especially in 3-D, but Zemeckis’ “mo-cap” projects seem to be getting weaker dramatically even as the technology gets better and better (The Polar Express is still the best).