MARS ATTACKS!
A film review by Craig Good
Copyright 1996 Craig Good
WARNING: There are NO spoilers in this review. I wouldn't do that to you.
Tim Burton has clout. That's obvious because he was allowed to make "Mars Attacks", a hilarious, no-punches-pulled comedy spectacle. I'm glad that Burton now has that kind of clout, and that technology has pretty well caught up with his vision.
>From the opening images I was hooked. These are flying saucers the way flying saucers are *supposed* to look. And there are the right number of them -- finally! ILM has delivered both Martians and effects big time: I mean both quality and quantity. The animation of the Martians is, in many places, the finest character animation ILM has ever done. And Burton has delivered a fun set of characters in the form of an all-star cast.
Nobody is spared. Everybody is lampooned. From the opportunistic President, mugged to a fare-thee-well by a gleeful Jack Nicholson, to the Newage (rhymes with sewage) pyramid-and-crystal bimbo burbled by Anette Bening, to the hawkish general emoted by Rod Steiger, everybody gets a jab.
I don't want to go into any detail here, but I do want you to go see the movie. There are images (and sounds, thanks to Randy Thom's design work) which I confidently predict you will not forget. Heavens, *I* nearly forgot Danny Elfman's inspired, theremin-rich score. And some gags that work on a truly grand scale. Oh -- and gags you won't believe they took *that* far. In short, it delivers everything the bloated and ultimately lame "Independence Day" should have, plus a lot of belly laughs in the process.
--Craig
good@pixar.com
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