Saw John Carter (OF MARS) at the matinee showing yesterday. I wanted to wait a bit and let everything sink in before I talked about it. Granted I’m biased, A Princess of Mars was one of the first books I ever read and loved so I didn’t want to come off all fanboy gushy. Seriously, the only thing I don’t like about it is the title and how badly the movie has been marketed. Yes, it’s chock full of crazy action and freaky aliens but at it’s heart it’s a love story - exactly the sort of thing Disney should have been playing up when they couldn’t figure out why women weren’t interested after seeing their shitty trailers.
It’s been so long since I read it that I don’t know exactly what did or didn’t get adapted exactly. I do know that a few elements from later books got included and that it made for a much more cohesive movie. There were a few missteps here or there with how some of the secondary characters acted, but that seems more to do with the studio trying to shoehorn in as many tropes as possible to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Whatever nitpicks I may have had were blown away by this film being exactly what my 11 year old self imagined when I read the books.
I’ve read a few reviews that complained about the movie’s length and how 10 to 20 minutes of talking scenes could have been trimmed out. Maybe, but I had no problem with that at all. Even when there’s lots of dialogue, 1) it’s usually relevant in some way, either to explaining the world or for developing the characters, or 2) there’s something amazing on screen to look at. The CGI is top notch. The green Martians are so well done and just a joy to watch. The baby ones are completely adorable. The air ships are stunning and seem truly alien but at the same time kind of clunky and low tech. And Woola, the eight-legged lizard dog… Woola FTW!
Good review Ben. Kitsch could have definitely been a little bit more charismatic but the flick still works due to amazing special effects and some really fun and exciting action. Sad thing is that this flick was made for $250 million and won’t make any of it back. Not a must-see by any means but still a good one to check out for the fun of it. Check out my review when you get the chance.
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