MARS ATTACKS!
Copyright 1996 D & S Associates
Director Tim Burton, who brought us such celluloid treasures as "Beetlejuice" and "Edward Scissorhands", now stepa into the extravaganza spotlight with his science fiction spoof, "Mars Attacks!"
Starring just about everyone in Hollywood from Jack Nicholson to Natalie Portman, "Mars Attacks!" is base on the Topps trading card series of the same name from the early 60's.
Burton, using the card series for his basic story, pays homage to the grade B alien invasion films of the 50's, but, with a major difference - a $70 million budget lavishly spent on the truly spectacular special F/X!
ROBIN:
While "Mars Attacks!" is not the out-and-out hoot that I had high hopes for, it IS a high calibre homage, by Burton, to those campy sci-fi alien invasion classics we grew to love in the 50's and after.
(I watched a marvelously bad example of the genre, recently, call "Robot Monster". It is so jaw-dropping bad that I found it impossible not to watch. I understand and embrace the decades-long affection we have for this kind of film and why Burton would want to do such a project.)
"Mars Attacks!" does capture the campiness of the originals pretty well. The quality of the cast is many notches above thos in the films "Mars Attacks!" spoofs, but, they get down and dirty, anayway, and have a hell of a good time with their roles - particulary Annette Bening as the ditzy, new-age, 12-stepper, Barbara Land, who believes in the ggodness of Martian-kind, and Jim Brown as an ex-boxer-turned-Las-Vegas-casino-greeter, who goes one-on-one with a Martian leader, and WINS!
Glenn Close give an amusing, but brief, turn as the First Lady. Everyone else appears to be there for the fun of it.
But, the real star of of "Mars Attacks!", and the thing that dulls the camp edge Burton strives for, are the collection of absolutely fabulous special F/X. They are so seamless and eye-popping outstanding that the rest of the film takes a back seat. The homage that Burton intended is lost on the razzle dazzle of the effects. The studio, to say the least, overdid it by giving Burton way too much money. I would rather he had a smaller budget and used that brilliant imagination that has brought Burton so far.
Prior to the appearance of the Martians, the movie builds slowly for the first 30 minutes. But, once the bug-eyed, big-brained, little green men arrive on screen, you can expect a wild and wooly rollercoaster ride that lasts right up to the end.
The evil aliens are great and their presence represents some of the best melding of live action and animation to date.
This may not be the best or funniest effort by Burton. It is his biggest, and a lot of fun, too.
"Mars Attacks!" isn't great, but good, and I give it a B.
LAURA:
"Mars Attacks" is a big goofy spoof of 1950's B Sci-fi movies given the megabudget treatment by quirky, childlike director Tim Burton ("Ed Wood", "Batman", "Edward Scissorhands"). Burton also handily manages to skewer some of this past summer's blockbuster films such as "Independence Day" and "Twister" and wastes no time doing it - when a couple of farmers think they smell barbeque, the approaching glow on the horizon turns out to be a stampeding herd of cattle fully ablaze!
It looks like everyone in Hollywood wanted to be part of the fun. "Mars Attacks" stars Jack Nicholson in dual roles of the President of the United States and a sleazy Las Vegas hotel developer, Glenn Close as the Nancy Reganish first lady, Annette Bening as a new age flake, Pierce Brosnan as a clueless scientist, Danny DeVito as an obnoxious gambler, Martin Short as the on-the-make President's press secretary, Sarah Jessica Parker as a ditzy talk show host, Michael J. Fox as her journalist boyfriend, Rod Steiger as a Dr. Strangelovish general, Lukas Haas as a doughnut shop worker (and savior of the human race), Sylvia Sidney as his grandmother, Natalie Portman as the President's daughter, Jim Brown as an ex pro fighter, Pam Grier as his ex-wife, Lisa Marie as a Martian woman and Tom Jones as himself. This isn't a film about great acting, it's more a chance to watch a huge cast having a great time, but there are a few standouts. Annette Bening is particularly amusing as the new age wacko who believes the Martians are coming to save earth. Pierce Brosnan is perfect as the alien life specialist - he does a terrific parody of his own image. Glenn Close has perfect timing in her second comedy outing of the season.
Technically, "Mars Attacks" is first rate, boasting top notch special effects (the Martians were entirely computer generated). Tim Burton's regular scorer, Danny Elfman, offers suitably retro music. Costume designer Colleen Atwood produces eye-popping outfits and production designer Wynn Thomas provides the perfect locales for the action to take place.
Screenwriter Jonathon Gems has written a script that keeps things moving along at a brisk pace accented by weird bursts of humor (a Martian ship zaps the Washington Monument and then nudges it in several directions in order to get it to land on a boy scout troop) and a truly bizarrely satisfying method of defeating the Martians (let's just say that it involves yodelling).
This is a good bit of fun, but I wonder if it was sound filmmaking judgement. Tim Burton was able to run free in a $70 million dollar playground which had another $30 million of marketting dollars thrown at it, but I suspect "Mars Attacks" will draw mostly the core cult audience of "Ed Wood".
B
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