GALAXY QUEST

Directed by Dean Parisot. Starring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman

NOT QUITE in the same league of awfulness as Mission To Mars, but comparable in terms of intellect and originality, Galaxy Quest is a daft and pretty feeble space-exploration caper, redeemed only by its lightness of tone and general tongue-in-cheek aura. As its title hints, the movie is something of a Star Trek spoof - which might sound eminently worthy, were it not for the fact that it misses the funnybone a lot more often than it hits. Approach it without any tinge of seriousness, and you may have a laugh or three - but don't expect another Mars Attacks!, or anything close.

Plotwise, it sounds a deal more promising than it actually is - the cast of a cult telly sci-fi series (entitled Galaxy Quest) are abducted by aliens for the purpose of saving the universe. Which brings us to the biggest problem: they are led by the intrinsically irritating Tim Allen, who gets more annoying every time he opens his mouth, although Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman do the best they can in pretty unchallenging roles.

A society of alien nerds, who have based their whole civilisation on the Quest show, beg our heroes to save them from a mutli-tentacled inter-galactic pirate, beam them up to the mothership and make Allen the general in the space war said enemy has engaged them in. It's all about as serious as it sounds, and undeniably good-natured, but moments of genuine hilarity are few and far between - it's a one-joke movie, and the joke wears fairly thin by the halfway point.

There isn't exactly a whole lot to deconstruct here, but take this ridiculous entity on its own terms and it's reasonable enough entertainment.