The latest outing by Eddie Murphy, Meet Dave, proves to be a science-fiction comedy, one that sparkles with its brighter moments and induces yawns at its less inspired ones. Working part-Innerspace and part-Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, the film has a few good yucks, a couple of teaching points and a safe outing for families in any galaxy.

Following the exploits of the spaceship known as Dave MingChang (Eddie Murphy) and its captain, Number 1 (also Eddie Murphy), the film depicts the rescue mission of The Orb that has accidentally crash-landed on Earth during the Star Trek-inspired opening credits. With other pop-cultural sidebars about It's A Wonderful Life and Facebook, and project placement like Apple, Old Navy, and others, the movie has its fair share of adult-centered jokes without being inappropriate. It's pretty well divided into funny (first half) and poignant (second half) but it's hard to blame a formula that works. Unfortunately, for Murphy, few folks turned out to see this one in the theater; but DVD sales have a way of making a poor boxoffice day into a hit.

The Captain's ship (that is, Dave) meets Gina Morrison (Elizabeth Banks) and her son, Josh (Austin Lynd Meyers), who were the first finders of The Orb, after Gina hits the ship with her car. There are all of the normal plot developments as the aliens learn the social customs of Earth, and trip through the disasters that wait for them in their acculturation. The plot thickens as Number 2 (Ed Helms) doesn't approve of the Captain's peaceful techniques and wants to grab The Orb and desolate the planet, while Number 3 (Gabrielle Union) becomes emboldened by the customs of Earth and reveals her true feelings for the Captain.

Along the way,Dave teaches truisms like"the most powerful force in all the universe often comes from the smallest sun" and asks questions of humans like, "how do you know when you feel love?" The "alien" and those he encounters ask serious questions, even in the midst of a children's lark. In the process of his quest for The Orb,Dave alsolearns generosity and humility from the homeless man that he meets, who offers him his only blanket to stay warm, and discovers heroism at the hands of a teenager. The film also makes socio-political statements about liberation and enlightenment: the crew of the ship learns to live outside of their stoic selves, but some of them still long for the old ways, punishing those who disagree with them, and destroying anyone who stand in the way of what they want.

In the end, we can learn from Dave MingChang: to love unconditionally, to embrace challenges without fear, and to tell those who we love how much they mean to us. It's sugary sweet, with a few crunchy moments, and it stands to be the kind of light-hearted fare that families will spend their Saturday night watching. With those kinds of teaching points, what more could a family film hope for?