It's almost spring, it still feels like winter and here comes "Project Hail Mary," a big ol' popcorn movie that comes slathered in extra buttery topping and plays like it's the middle of summer.

The sci-fi adventure concerns no less than the fate of the world, and yet it centers on a friendship between a man and his alien sidekick. It's a little bit "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," a little bit "Mac and Me" and a little bit "Apollo 13," all whipped together to please any audience member with a pulse. Sometimes you can feel those levers being pulled a little too heavily, but one would have to go out of their way to not enjoy this film.

"Project Hail Mary" stars Ryan Gosling in megawatt movie star mode as Dr. Ryland Grace, an unassuming middle school science teacher who gets called in to lead a mission to outer space to save humankind. He's not trained for any such assignment but that's exactly what makes him just the man for the job, movie logic working overtime.

Grace awakens to find himself on a spacecraft hurtling through the cosmos, no idea of who he is or how he got there. In flashback, we see him approached and recruited by Eva Stratt ("Anatomy of a Fall" Oscar nominee Sandra Hüller, lending an important sense of gravitas to the project), a high-ranking government official who followed some of Grace's early research, and wants him for a mission to save Earth. If it fails, she estimates a quarter of the human population will die within 30 years, and that's best-case scenario.

So here's our hero, alone in space — his fellow crewmembers Yáo Li-Jie (Ken Leung) and Olesya Ilyukhina (Milana Vayntrub) didn't last long — trying to figure out his mission. Eventually, the details start coming back to him, which is around the time he makes the acquaintance of an alien life-form, a small creature who looks like a spider made of rocks whom Grace dubs, aptly enough, "Rocky."

Rocky is a friendly being, and through some various feats of science, Grace outfits him with the English-speaking voice of James Ortiz. (In an amusing bit, Grace is trying out voices for his new pal, and he's briefly voiced by a certain three-time Oscar winning actress.)

Rocky is sensitive and smart and he strikes up an oddball friendship with Grace, and Grace returns the favor by teaching him about life back on Earth, including the wonders of beaches, trees and the "Rocky" movies. Rocky comes to understand Grace's mission, and is eager to help him get back to Earth and save humanity; what Rocky doesn't know is Grace is on a suicide mission, and there is no going home.

"Project Hail Mary" transforms itself into a buddy comedy between Grace and Rocky, and it's a testament to the sturdiness of Drew Goddard's screenplay, which is based on Andy Weir's 2021 novel, that this is additive to the plot, not a distraction.

Gosling, already supermaxxing in movie star mode and carrying large stretches of the movie all by himself, "Cast Away"-style, makes you feel the weight of the friendship, and Ortiz — who is also Rocky's puppeteer — helps bring the little creature fully to life. Their friendship is emblematic of the humor and heart at the center of "Project Hail Mary."

Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller ("The Lego Movie," the "21 Jump Street" movies) deftly balance the film's sci-fi mechanics and its blockbuster aesthetic, and their sensibilities are well-suited toward delivering a down-the-middle crowd pleaser.

It doesn't reach the high highs of "Gravity" or "Arrival," interplanetary blockbusters from the last 15 years which, in addition to being rollicking thrill machines, were also heady exercises in existentialism. (They also had much shorter run times.) "Project Hail Mary" stays closer to Earth, but still manages to achieve liftoff. Take the ride.

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'PROJECT HAIL MARY'

Grade: B+

MPA rating: PG-13 (for some thematic material and suggestive references)

Running time: 2:36

How to watch: In theaters March 20

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