Disney's The Kid

Don’t be put off by the juvenile title: Disney’s The Kid is not for tots. Slightly more mature audiences, however, will enjoy Bruce Willis’ deft turn as an all work and no play image consultant who really gets in touch with his inner child through a mystical encounter with his 8 year old self (Spencer Breslin).

Unsubtly directed by Jon Turteltaub (”While You Were Sleeping”), this midlife crisis farce is a contrivance filled confection. It feels like one of those late ’80s body switching comedies, though thankfully it’s closer in spirit to ”Big” than ”Like Father, Like Son” or ”Vice Versa.” There’s a lightness to Willis’ performance that hasn’t been seen since his ”Moonlighting ”days.

Gone is the ham handed approach he brought to ostensibly comedic roles in ”The Whole Nine Yards” and on NBC’s ”Friends,” both of which cast the actor alongside Matthew Perry (who has an unrecognizable cameo here as a longhaired software mogul). Perhaps playing off pudgy, adorably unaffected costar Breslin helped to loosen Bruce up. You don’t need a ”Sixth Sense” to see that the man is doing his best work with kids these days.