Subject: MARS ATTACKS! (1996)

From: [email-masked] (D&S Associates)
Date: 30 Dec 1996 14:42:37 GMT

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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