John Carter is, at its core, a copy and paste remake of several movies. Take a large glob of Avatar. Add in a dressing of Batman Begins. Finally, season it with Diego. Although this movie was enjoyable, it faked its imagination—the one thing it going for it with the director and screenwriter of WALL-E on the case. Add in some lackluster dialogue, and John Carter is pretty much a window dressing. Pretty on the outside. Nothing on the inside.
The window dressing, I must admit, is quite fancy. The animation that created the aliens and the cities on Mars is extremely well done. Putting in strange animations—like the dog—only add to the glamor. It even helps move the storyline forward at times. Just like with Avatar, the scenes between aliens and humans provides for plenty of intrigue.
At the heart of John Carter, however, is a major problem. The main idea is that a human on Mars will have super-human power because of the gravitational change and skeletal structure. Although the idea has merit, it is horribly executed. An earthling may be able to jump a few more feet and throw further. As the movie progresses, however, the awkwardness that John Carter initially experiences is all but forgotten— replaced by an absurd exaggeration of his abilities.
The decision to place this movie in the second half of the 1800s is questionable. I know they had to do it to avoid the whole idea of space exploration and human's realization that there actually isn't life on Mars. When the movie began, this aspect was intriguing. How would they explain that Mars doesn't have life when we send our probes only 100 years later? Well, my question was never answered. On this front, John Carter decided to take a rain check.
John Carter is enjoyable. If you have a kid who wants to go, they will enjoy it. Just don't expect much behind the curtains. You will get a storyline that you have seen before. You will have actors that cannot handle the job they have been given. You will have an idea that could have been great, but fell horribly short. We are still waiting for the first decent children's flick of 2012.
reillyreviews.wordpress.com
The window dressing, I must admit, is quite fancy. The animation that created the aliens and the cities on Mars is extremely well done. Putting in strange animations—like the dog—only add to the glamor. It even helps move the storyline forward at times. Just like with Avatar, the scenes between aliens and humans provides for plenty of intrigue.
At the heart of John Carter, however, is a major problem. The main idea is that a human on Mars will have super-human power because of the gravitational change and skeletal structure. Although the idea has merit, it is horribly executed. An earthling may be able to jump a few more feet and throw further. As the movie progresses, however, the awkwardness that John Carter initially experiences is all but forgotten— replaced by an absurd exaggeration of his abilities.
The decision to place this movie in the second half of the 1800s is questionable. I know they had to do it to avoid the whole idea of space exploration and human's realization that there actually isn't life on Mars. When the movie began, this aspect was intriguing. How would they explain that Mars doesn't have life when we send our probes only 100 years later? Well, my question was never answered. On this front, John Carter decided to take a rain check.
John Carter is enjoyable. If you have a kid who wants to go, they will enjoy it. Just don't expect much behind the curtains. You will get a storyline that you have seen before. You will have actors that cannot handle the job they have been given. You will have an idea that could have been great, but fell horribly short. We are still waiting for the first decent children's flick of 2012.
reillyreviews.wordpress.com