Of all this summer movie season's surprises, the most pleasant may be the fact that "Like Mike" is not nearly as horrible as the ads make it appear.

Stress the "not nearly as horrible" part. That doesn't mean the film is good, mind you — if anything, it's an incredibly slight comedy that earns points because it's clean and has a good message. It's just not terribly funny.

Also, it relies too heavily on the supposed charms of its star, rapper Lil Bow Wow, who's better when taken in smaller doses rather than in large ones.

He stars here as Calvin Cambridge, a 14-year-old orphan who fancies himself quite a basketball player. However, he's also "height-challenged" — he's so short that bigger kids can easily block his shots.

That's about to change. Calvin gets a pair of hand-me-down sneakers that he believes may have belonged to "a famous basketball player when he was a kid . . . the tall, bald one," or Michael Jordan.

While recovering the shoes — after the resident bully has thrown them over some telephone wires — Calvin is struck by lightning, and the next thing you know, his ballplaying abilities increase dramatically.

He even shows up Tracey Reynolds (Morris Chestnut), the underachieving star player for the Los Angeles Knights, during a halftime promotion. So the team's opportunistic general manager (Eugene Levy) signs Calvin to a one-day contract to pump up attendance.

To the surprise of everyone, the Knights coach (Robert Forster) puts the teen in a game, which they win. And as he becomes a star, Calvin finds that he'd rather have parents — though the greedy group-home director (Crispin Glover) is doing everything to prevent that.

The plot is all too predictable, though director John Schultz tries to punch it up with camera and editing tricks. (Note to Schultz: Speeding up the action doesn't make it funnier.)

To be fair to Lil Bow Wow, he's not insufferable, and he and Chestnut have a believable on-screen friendship. His acting leaves something to be desired, though.

"Like Mike" is rated PG for slapstick violence (some of it vehicular), some mildly vulgar humor (a flatulence gag or two) and a handful of mild profanities. Running time: 95 minutes.

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E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com