In theaters

THE GAME PLAN. Directed by Andy Fickman, written by Nichole Millard and Kathryn Price, 110 minutes, rated PG.

Somebody should put Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a remake of “The Miracle Worker” because when it comes to a working actor whose personality can override even the dreariest of cinematic drivel, he’s right near the top.

And that’s no joke.

Have you seen the man’s vitae lately? He isn’t exactly dipping from the same pot as the Clooneys and Pitts, the Mortensens and Bales, the Crowes and Owens. Instead, The Rock’s pot is a bit more shallow, and yet each time he’s handed a piece of dreck, as he is in Andy Fickman’s “The Game Plan,” he manages to wring something better from it than you might expect.

For Hollywood and for audiences, that quality is the stuff of gold.

From Nichole Millard and Kathryn Price’s script, “The Game Plan” finds Johnson (“Gridiron Gang,” “Walking Tall,” “Doom”) again tackling a canned movie and turning it into something that defies the odds stacked against it. Everything in this film we’ve seen before and yet the movie buoyantly rides the rails of formula as if it’s just happy to be up there on the screen, much like Johnson himself.

Since the plot is given only passing consideration in the movie, we’ll follow suit here: Johnson is Joe “The King” Kingman, star quarterback for a fake Boston football team who is having the time of his life living large and worshiping Elvis when into his life comes an 8-year-old girl claiming to be his daughter from a previous marriage.

Her name is Peyton (Madison Pettis), she’s as cute as Joe is big, and what she brings to the movie is just what you expect – a softening of Joe’s ego, a purpose to his life that he didn’t know he needed, and plenty of comedic bumbling on Joe’s part, not to mention a romantic interest in the form of Peyton’s ballerina teacher (Roselyn Sanchez). Blah, blah, blah.

What Johnson has in movies are the very qualities that made him a wrestling superstar in WWE. He works hard, sure, and he’s taking none of this movie star business lightly, but the real key to his success is his personality (hugely likable), his talent (don’t bet against it), and his ability to adapt from the action genre to the comedy genre with apparent ease.

That takes more skill than most will admit, and even though every one of his previous movies has been a rehash, he still has managed to make most of them work, just as he does here.

Grade: B-

On DVD

Leading the charge of this week’s new releases is the DVD and Blu-ray release of Michael Arias’ “Tekkonkinkreet,” a richly conceived anime fantasy pic based on Taiyo Matsumoto’s popular Japanese manga.

Driven by its superb techno soundtrack, which thrums with energy, here is a film liberated by its imagination. Somehow it escaped being tweaked to serve the masses, likely because nobody in Hollywood could get a handle on it – and that’s a good thing.

The film uses traditional 2-D animation layered over more technically advanced 3-D animation, and the results, typical for anime, are stunning. The story follows the orphans Black and White, two flying street urchins from Treasure Town who take on the Yakuza in ways that lead to triumph and tragedy. What ensues is emotional and intense, a story that sometimes is dizzying to discern, but which nevertheless is a feast to watch.

Also on DVD is “Everybody Loves Raymond: Ninth Season,” which is the show’s final season. As such, the episodes feel as if they have something to prove – the humor is amplified – with Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, Peter Boyle, Doris Roberts and Brad Garrett sparring amid the heated comedy.

Highlights include the episodes “The Faux Pas,” “Tasteless Frank” and especially “Angry Sex,” in which a fight between Debra and Marie leaves Ray quite happy yet exhausted by the time Debra takes her frustrations out on him. Clever writing ignites the cast’s easy chemistry, which is underscored in the well-done series finale.

One of the better recent horror movies is Mikael Hafstrom’s “1408,” which eschews today’s penchant for torture porn and gets back to the basics. In this case, that means shrieking ghosts reliving their deaths by leaping from hotel windows, scratchy sounds coming from behind bleeding walls, and a sense of claustrophobia that nibbles away at the screen like one of the rats in “Ratatouille.”

From Stephen King’s 2002 short story, the film stars John Cusack as Mike Enslin, a trash writer of kitschy guide books that seek out presumably haunted locales for those interested in visiting them. Though Enslin himself doesn’t believe in ghosts, he changes his tune soon enough after a stay at New York City’s dusty Dolphin Hotel, where 56 people died tragic deaths over the years in Room 1408 and where the manager (Samuel L. Jackson) tells him he won’t live to see the next hour.

Enslin scoffs at the idea. Besides, if there is a satanic hellfire burning in that room – and he seriously doubts it – it’s nothing he can’t handle. Those who believe he’s wrong should raise up their Bibles now and turn up their Christian rock.

Grades: “Tekkonkinkreet”: B+; “Raymond”: B+; “1408”: B

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays, Fridays and weekends in Lifestyle, as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.