Meet Dave Parent Guide
Parent Movie Review
During his career, Eddie Murphy has played—among other things—a dragon, a nutty professor, an R & B performer, an animal doctor and a talking donkey. Now he’s starring as a complex alien spaceship disguised as a human being.
Commanded by a miniature captain (also played by Eddie Murphy) and a tiny crew, the spaceship does a face-plant on Liberty Island in New York harbor. Their mission is to recover one of their probes that accidentally fell into the hands of a child (Austyn Myers).
But maneuvering the adult-sized ship through the streets of New York in search of their orb proves to be a challenge for the diminutive aliens. In order to fit in, they begin mimicking the actions of the city dwellers. However, the crew gets a close up encounter with mankind when a speeding New Yorker unintentionally runs over Dave (the name of the spaceship) with her car.
Quick to apologize, Gina (Elizabeth Banks) invites the stranger into her apartment and immediately unloads on him the sad state of her life. For the crew, who hales from a planet where feelings and passions are limited, it’s a scramble to make sense of the vast array of human emotions to which they are exposed.
p>But for earthling audiences, this alien-out-of-his-orbit storyline is anything but emotionally engaging. Comedic timing, like Dave’s attempts at walking, is stilted and awkward. Too many of the lines seem to be delivered in a sound booth separate from the rest of the cast. Dave’s glassy-eyed stare and his exaggerated attempts to imitate people’s behavior also makes it hard to warm up to the spaced-out rocket. Although bathroom jokes and laser blasts remain moderately minimal, the film lacks any real belly laughs or even any minor chuckles—making Dave one alien you won’t want to roll out the welcome mat for. Starring Eddie Murphy, Elizabeth Banks, Gabrielle Union. Running time: 90 minutes. Theatrical release July 10, 2008. Updated April 30, 2009About author
Meet Dave
Rating & Content Info
Why is Meet Dave rated PG? Meet Dave is rated PG by the MPAA for bawdy and suggestive humor, action and some language.
Unbeknownst to the humans, the aliens intend to raid Earth in order to save their own planet. Mutiny among the crewmembers results in Dave blasting his way out of a police holding cell, blowing up a cruiser and coming under attack from Homeland Security. A man is hit by a car and later is struck on the head with a bottle. When two crooks attempt to rob a convenience store, one of them is tossed against the wall and the other has his gun destroyed. Kids bully a smaller boy on several occasions. A man kicks a cat across the room. Bathroom jokes include a man passing both money and undigested hotdogs. A brief scene of male buttock nudity is seen. A negative homosexual stereotype is shown, along with infrequent sexual comments. Several terms of Deity are also used.
Page last updated April 30, 2009
Meet Dave Parents' Guide
Films often feature attractive, single mothers desperately in need of companionship and love. How realistic are these women’s attempts to secure a man? Does Gina’s compassion overshadow her good sense in this film?
What do the aliens learn about human emotions? What feelings are better controlled and which are better expressed?
Home Video
The most recent home video release of Meet Dave movie is November 24, 2008. Here are some details…
Release Date: 25 November 2008
Meet Dave on this DVD release, which throws a gag reel and some crew confessions into the introduction. The movie is presented in full screen and widescreen, with audio tracks in 5.1 Dolby Surround (English, Spanish and French) and subtitles in English and Spanish.
Meet Dave is also being released on Blu-ray. This format is authored in BD-Java with AVC (MPEG 4) compression on a single-layer 25 GB disc. Bonus extras include the gag reel and crew confessions available on the DVD disc, plus crew profiles, an alternate ending, deleted scenes, a making-of featurette, and some clips from Fox Movie Channel Presents (Life After Film School With Director Brian Robbins, Making A Scene and World Premiere). The movie is presented in widescreen format with 5.1 DTS HD Lossless Audio (English) and 5.1 Dolby Digital audio (Spanish and French) and subtitles in English and Spanish.
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According to the ship’s database, the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, is a mainstay of American culture. Other quirky space adventures that follow the arrival of aliens include The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe and the animated Space Jam.