John Carter DVD

Every now and then comes a film that attracts so much negative publicity, that bad buzz preempts bad reviews as the industry inadvertently manufactures contest for the world to train their guns on a particular movie, and fire at will. 'Gigli' was one of those films, not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but by no means as bad as some people made it out be. 'John Carter of Mars' is another; saddled with a long production schedule, re-shoots and studio fumbling: 'Disney' changed the title from the exciting 'John Carter of Mars'--some piffle about Mars being too sci-fi and sci-fi being a marketing turn off, to the altogether bland and nondescript 'John Carter' (because we'll all come in droves to watch that, apparently).

As it stands, 'John Carter' is one of the biggest box office flops of all time, losing most of its $240 million budget. But is it a bad movie? Not at all. 'John Carter', based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs 1917 novel 'A Princess of Mars', sees disillusioned American civil war veteran John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) transported to the planet of Barsoom (i.e. Mars). Mysteriously gifted the strength of ten men and able to leap long distances in a single bound, he's taken in by Green Martian tribe; The Tharks, becomes embroiled in another civil war between the human Red and White Martians, falls for Red princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) and embarks upon the adventure of a lifetime. Sound familiar? It should, because Burroughs book inspired everything from 'Superman' to 'Star Wars', and yet despite this fact, director Andrew Stanton ('Wall-E', 'Finding Nemo') still creates a vibrant and relevant world that parallels the strife Carter thought he'd escaped from on Earth. The allusions to the conflict between European settlers (i.e. white Martians) and Native Americans (i.e. red Martians) are self-evident, and accurately reflect both the time in which the novel was written and problems that persist to this day.

The cast are all on top form; Kitsch and Collins, who first worked together in 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine', make a good on screen couple whilst Mark Strong lends some gravitas to shadowy puppet master Matai Shang. The tusked, four handed Tharks are brilliantly realized CG creations, Willem Dafoe and Samantha Morton's voice work comes highly recommended, Morton in particular creates a fully realized, sympathetic character in Sola. The film successfully counterbalances its sometimes convoluted, interplanetary romance elements with a welcome dose of humor e.g. Thark leader Tars Tarkas (Dafoe) continuously referring to John Carter, who hails from the state of Virginia, as "Virginia".

'John Carter of Mars' is an entertaining throwback to classic sci-fi adventures like 'Flash Gordon' and 'Forbidden Planet', nothing like the train wreck they're making it out to be: A good movie, definitely worth watching.