And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird

The low-budget, independent family film, "And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird" — a cumbersome and unappealing title if ever there was one — is an odd cross between "Ghost" and "E.T.," by wayof "Short Circuit." And, as you might expect, it's strictly for small fry.

Having segued from the wife of one inventor (Rick Moranis in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids") to the widow of another, a very blond Marcia Strassman gets top billing here as Sarah Carson, the mother of two sons, Josh and Max (Joshua Miller and Edan Gross), who have inherited their father's skills.

After their automatic garbage-can caddy wins the $1,000 top prize at a local junior inventor's fair, the boys use the money to finish up their seven-month dream project — a little robot named Newman that walks, talks and does household chores. (Made from a vacuum cleaner and television parts, Newman resembles a junky version of R2D2.)

But when Josh uses a Ouija Board at a Halloween party, it summons the spirit of his late father Matthew, which promptly inhabits the robot (voiced by a wisecracking Alan Thicke). As the robot is modified, it develops its own personality and voice, but Matthew can override all that whenever he wants to communicate with his family.

The premise is bizarre, to say the least, and the treatment by writer-director Tony Cookson is juvenile, though innocuous. The jokes are corny and the sentimentality is thick, but, to his credit, Cookson never resorts to easy, vulgar gags.

Some parents may not like the idea of a Ouija Board as a light comic device — being used here to summon a spirit from heaven, eventually sending it back as well.

But the film's more serious problem is that it overflows with stale plot devices and just isn't funny enough to allow the audience to overlook them. If we were laughing we might forgive the idiotic portrayal of a silly TV reporter who badgers her boss so she can do a story on the robot, then breaks into Sarah's home late one night and surreptitiously shoots footage through a window. Then there are the villains, obnoxious, overbearing cartoon bullies straight out of TV sitcom-land.

Much better are Miller and Gross, whose unaffected performances are the film's greatest asset.

Still, young children may be able to overlook the film's flaws, and parents will appreciate its positive messages about forgiveness and family togetherness.

"And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird" is rated PG for comic violence.