... director David Seltzer has kept it low-key, sweet and personal -- it's like a nice "Afterschool Special."

Lucas is as irresistible as its slight, brilliant, bespectacled 14-year-old hero (Corey Haim).

Having carefully and sensitively drawn an interesting character and put him in an interesting place, the filmmakers start painting with their fingers and ultimately provide a very familiar picture.

The kids in Lucas are remarkably normal, like people you'd have seen rooting around in the locker next to yours in high school.