Dropping the Ball

In “Sphere,” a massive spacecraft is discovered deep under the sea. After an investigative team is dispatched, a metallic globe is found inside, leading to wonder and terror for the crew that comes under its spell. Rated PG-13. *

Kids dig the sphere. Yep, no problem with that huge, golden, alien orb--the disco ball to beat all disco balls.

“It was neat [the way] it shined and moved around and stuff,” said Leigh Reynolds, 10, of Mission Viejo.

But that was pretty much where enthusiasm ended for “Sphere,” the latest “we are not alone” sci-fi movie to land in Earth’s theaters.

Most youngsters liked the movie’s first third, when the jumbo-sized, waterlogged spaceship is introduced, but many lost interest soon after the mysterious sphere materialized.

Until then, the film develops at a comfortable pace, preparing the audience for a human-meets-extraterrestrial confrontation. But instead of further tweaking kids with that, “Sphere” becomes increasingly frenetic and confusing for most of them.

The sphere, it turns out, is some sort of device from far, far away that can give people great--and very dangerous--powers while it manipulates their subconscious.

“I didn’t know what was happening” when, with the sphere’s help, the crew (played by Dustin Hoffman and Sharon Stone, among others) began fighting among themselves, Leigh said. “Was something making them do that?”

Martin Epps, an 11-year-old from Lake Forest, was also stumped. “Was [the sphere] a spaceship?” he wondered. “Was it a monster?”

Hard to tell. Could have been both. Whatever it was, youngsters found themselves drifting as the violence picked up. Nothing especially graphic or difficult to watch, but repetitive as the crew finds itself in one nasty jam after another.

Michael Strauss, 13, of Mission Viejo was intrigued by the early parts when the crew first takes a mini sub down to the spacecraft, buried under a thick bed of coral. Good special effects--it’s nearly a mile long and dwarfs everything and everybody that comes near it.

“When you could just see the tail, it was, like, really giant,” Michael said. “It just looked really good to me.”

As for the sphere itself, Michael wanted to see more of it.

“The way stuff moved [on its surface], it was like [molten] metal dripping,” he said. “That was the best part.”

Did he understand what the sphere’s power was?

“I didn’t know what it was doing to them,” Michael said, shaking his head. “Was there [an alien] inside of it controlling them? They did a lot of weird things.”

One scene Leigh could have done without came when a crew member (played by Queen Latifah) goes outside the team’s protective habitat and is attacked by hundreds of mutant jellyfish.

“I hated it when they wrapped all around her,” she said. “That was real yucky.”

Martin, however, thought the scene was one of the best.

“They were so hungry they wouldn’t stop,” he said, grinning.

The scene he could have missed came a bit later, when a gruesome-looking body falls unexpectedly. “That scared me.”

*

PARENTS’ PERSPECTIVE: Cindy Reynolds, Leigh’s mother, didn’t think “Sphere” was especially frightening. Nor was it interesting beyond the opening passages.

“Neither of us liked it,” she said. “So many movies leave me bored these days, [and when Leigh] gets bored too, you know it’s pretty poorly done.

“I didn’t feel bad about taking Leigh to it simply because it isn’t too creepy. But then again, there was really no reason to take her to it, either.”

Henry Coburn of Laguna Beach wouldn’t recommend “Sphere” to kids or adults. The only thing he found interesting was the role Sharon Stone played as a scientist with mental problems.

“Usually she’s the hot babe always trying to look sexy,” he said. “But not this time. She was kind of a nut, which was fun to see for a change.”