Visitors Review

ritajohn (2012-05-26 04:47)

Excellent 3D film really fun for kids and adults

Finally, Disney makes a film with excellent 3D graphics and moralvalues! The reason for all the negative reviews is that this film'sreal message is that a mother and father should raise a family.I am a married (gasp) dad who went to see this movie with a 10 yr. oldand a 6 yr. old, both boys. They loved this film, as well as I. We didwatch it in Imax 3D, in an empty theater. I was no fan of the moviePolar Express, but now their depiction of humans is much better, andsome of the scenes are breathtaking in their depth and beauty. It wasso realistic we were getting mild motion sickness at some parts, but ina good way.If you are a fan of science fiction, or of excellent graphics, go watchthis movie with your kids. There is no bad language, and the verysubtle drug references are very funny if you've been there at any pointin your life. This movie deserves a much higher rating than is shown bythese leftist reviewers. It is interesting that Disney showing a moralmessage would be so controversial. We live in very unusual times. Maketoday great!

thesar-2 (2012-05-25 18:54)

(Why) Disney Needs Pixar

I usually don't base any of my reviews or thoughts on box officereceipts and in the case of 'Mars Needs Moms' (1/10 Stars), just out ofcuriosity, I checked them after I finished watching it.By the power of Grayskull, I am THRILLED the $150-million-dollarbudgeted film made only $21m in the US and only $39m total worldwide.Finally, justice. Finally, I can say Americans, er, Earthlings ingeneral, showed their disapproval for not just a poorly made film, butfor thee worst animated film in history.There are so many things wrong with this movie, I seriously don't knowif I could list all of them. For starters, the animation was awful,inept and lazy. It played out like the worst video game or like acheaply produced 22-minute Disney teach young kids what shapes are whatand how to love flowers.Worse, (jumping ahead) in the last part of the credits, they showed usin very small boxes (yes, they were so proud of their failure, theyneeded to show us not once, but FOUR times) how they made the animation"come to life."This is one of those movie experiences that my jaw was locked open forpretty much the entire film. I was so in shock in how bad it was, Icouldn't close my snapper. I even tried my best to get past theart-student-drop-out animation to see if the story was enough to gobeyond that.Obviously, not. What we have is a Mars abduction of a mother and herstow-away son in an extremely dangerous and sometimes brutal adventurewhere I was disappointed it was only slapped with a PG. (I'm guessingthe mostly wrong MPAA saw all the cutesy toddler secondary charactersand said, "Ahhhh, well, they meant well for little kids.")The dialogue was atrocious, the references were outdated and the"moral" was misconstrued. See? Get past the laugh-out-loud terriblegraphics and you're left with much less. Heck, the only thing I thinkthey got right was another offensive aspect: Dan Fogler's character had3 very noticeable and disgusting chins.This movie was pathetic, disturbing, heartless, soulless, anabomination and pretty much an insult to real-creative artists who wantto actually make art vs. allowing a computer do the "thinking." (Oh,and by the way, even the computer got the movements, angles and camerapanning wrong.)Lest you ignore my warnings up to this point, and you make it to theend of the film…get ready for one of the most unbearable, uncomfortableand gross-out climaxes in cinema history. Remember that demonic dancingbaby internet "sensation" of a decade ago? Remember how it would creepout even the most evil psychopaths? Well, now multiply that by morethan 2 dozen.And after all these rants, my greatest regret in seeing this was that Ialready made my Bottom Ten of 2011 list a month ago. I saw this onemonth too late to label it as #1 worst of 2011 because it clearly was.Hell, it'll go down as one of the decade's worst and possibly beyond.

Brian Orndorf (2012-05-25 06:50)

Energetic and inspired (sans Fogler), the picture concludes on a high note, providing the intergalactic goods with spirit, only one critical miscasting away from true satisfaction.

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat (2012-05-25 00:10)

A flat, uninvolving, and annoying sci-fi and 3D animated film

Simon Abrams (2012-05-24 12:35)

The film's production values are almost enough to make the film's monumental shortcomings worth overlooking. But only almost.

David Fear (2012-05-24 01:45)

After years of animators riding the post-Pixar renaissance and filmgoers feasting on the fruits of their labor, we may have finally hit a collective moment of big-screen-toon fatigue.

bizzy_boo_hammy_hamster (2012-05-23 08:40)

noise, noise, noise

I can tell you why this movie bombed, because it was misunderstood.When I went to go see this movie, I was expecting it to be a bitrisqué, but it wasn't, not at all. In the trailer they said Mars needs Moms and thus thinking they mightwant to mate with humans to continue a certain mars species. But no, itwas about the Martians needing the mothers to take care of the babiesthat they are able to make themselves.But clearly, this isn't the main problem. The problem is the noise. Allthe movie is, is noise. It's like the soundtrack is just screaming andyelling and gibberish spoken by both the humans and aliens. I can say the animation was pretty good, but Disney has done muchbetter in 2009's "A Christmas Carol". The creatures were to painful tolook at. They weren't disgusting, no, but they were just weird. Too,weird for a kids movie.I do not recommend this movie, all it is, is noise and weird designs.Nothing special, nothing special at all.

David Aldridge (2012-05-22 20:16)

Mars may need moms, but does Earth need this movie?

Martin Roberts (2012-05-22 09:01)

Most kids (and any accompanying parents) will find this to be of a noticeably lower standard than many of the other children's films that have been released recently.

(2012-05-21 23:36)

Mars Needs Moms......

It's really a shame that critics gave this movie negative reviews. I agree with the majority here that Mars Needs Moms is a worthwhile family film, that-in my opinion-every family should share together. Heck, I even recommend it be purchased as it's definitely worth every penny. It's a brilliantly humorous touching tale.The story is about a young boy named Milo who finds out just how much he needs his mom when she is kidnapped by a group of aliens from Mars. Attempting to save her when she is abducted, Milo ends up coming along for the ride. Reaching Mars and being nabbed by the aliens, he gets some help from an unlikely friend named Gribble. Gribble and Milo make friends and set out on a crazy mission to save Milo's mom. While I feel the critics got it all wrong with this movie, I do feel that some movies just aren't meant to be released in theaters no matter how good they are. Let's face it, if it isn't a high profile CGI movie(like Toy Story, Shrek or Ice Age)--most movies of this type are doomed to fail. At least, with releasing it on DVD, it can be a moderate success if not a great success. I expect Mars Needs Moms to be of the latter, given time.Don't listen to the critics, though. Listen to the ones that really matter...the people. We all know a good thing when we see it and Mars Needs Moms is an astounding film.

herurubin (2012-05-19 17:59)

less creepy than polar express

at several points in the film I forgot the characters were 3d animatedas I watched, unlike previous "realistic" animated movies like Beowulfor Polar express I thought the characters were not intrusive or creepy,actually Gribble was very expressive and likable and Joan Cusack lookedlike Joan CusackThis is a movie for kids? i rented this because I like 3d animation andas a grown man I didn't mind a darker story line ,details of aheartless matriarchal society, firing squads, your mom getting explodedat sunrise - I can get behind a little dark stuff in a kids movie (likeBambi's mother) but this just seemed gratuitous.maybe they should have just gone full tilt and made an aniamtion foradults like Beowulf or Avatar

(2012-05-19 14:15)

Great Movie!!

This review is from: Mars Needs Moms (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo) (Blu-ray) I LOVE this movie!! It has a wonderful message while being fun and entertaining enough for the kids! It was shipped in a very prompt manner and was in great shape when it arrived. Not to mention that I got a GREAT price (compared to the local store) once again here on Amazon.com!!! Thanks :)

(2012-05-19 05:52)

Horrible title, but great film

The essential message of this film is something I've long held: a well-adjusted society requires families, moms and dads who raise children. Since this film could be understood on a number of levels, I found this Disney film was a welcome departure from the somewhat left-leaning feature length cartoons which have come out in the past. The animation was excellent, the voice acting was great, and, while the plot had some flaws, it was an enjoyable film.

Josh Bell (2012-05-18 10:58)

More dreary than fun.

Tom Keogh (2012-05-17 10:17)

What's missing, especially in an era when we've invested so much hope for extraterrestrial life by sending real probes to the real Mars, is a sense of wonder.

(2012-05-17 05:05)

Hidden message of family

This review is from: Mars Needs Moms (DVD) I found this to be a great learning experience for some of our ungrateful youth. Lessons in respect and honor.

Sukhdev Sandhu (2012-05-15 12:46)

The story canters along at a merry pace and doesn't outstay its welcome.

(2012-05-15 01:10)

Nice message about moms, but not very funny or well-developed

This kids' film has the very definition of a "high concept" plot: Mars is inhabited by aliens who live underground and need the parenting skills of Earth moms to help raise their newly hatched young. In the first 20 minutes, the audience never has to ask, "Why are those aliens monitoring these kids and their moms?" or "Why are we watching Milo and his mom argue over broccoli?" The answer is all there in the title. We know that Milo's going to be unappreciative of him mom, she's going to be space-napped, and he's going to learn the hard way that he has an incredible mother. The movie isn't really raising any intellectual questions. It's actually much better if you don't think about any of the science or the biology or the social workings of the Martians, because they only make broad cartoon sense. But what the movie does do is point a spotlight at the importance of loving homes and nurturing parents.The film was made by ImageMovers Digital, Robert Zemeckis' film studio, so the animation of the humans is all leaning toward the realistic side, with less of the plastic "uncanny valley" look of the characters from The Polar Express. They used performance capture suits for the principle actors, so every single move that Milo makes was done first by Seth Green. For the most part, Milo looks natural, but occasionally parts of the adult actor who played him show through--I could swear the character has a five o'clock shadow at one point. The Martians are divided into gender castes with the females ruling with supreme technology and the males living the tribal life in the garbage heaps, and the girls have fish-like faces and horse-like legs while the boys are more like monkeys--seeing them as a whole is like watching the lemurs from Madagascar. The designs work fine, and there are a few really nice settings, like Gribble's high-tech fort made of garbage and the underground glowing caves.It's not really a funny movie. There are a couple of laughs, particularly from Milo's dead-on realistic facial expressions when he's in danger, but the main source of comedy is supposed to be Gribble, Dan Fogler's technologically savvy man-child of a character, and he just doesn't deliver. Partly because he doesn't have the best lines to work with, but some of the failed humor also comes from the line delivery, which keeps Gribble in more annoying than amusing territory. Ki, the friendly alien, has a few funny lines since she learned her English from a sitcom based on the 1960's flower power era.There are a few bring-on-the-Kleenex moments when Milo is trying to save his mom and realizes just how much she loves him, and also when Gribble tells his own mom-related backstory. These are so overwhelmingly touching, it's almost enough to make viewers overlook the big plot holes.* The important scenes with Milo and his mother might have had an even greater impact we'd known these two a little better. Milo and Mom get barely any introduction before they're whisked away to Mars, so they audience isn't given a good reason to root for them--they're just the only people we happen to be following.

Luke Y. Thompson (2012-05-13 03:00)

Mars Needs Moms is visually inventive and occasionally emotionally potent, but feels overly padded in its attempt to stretch such a short story to feature length.

(2012-05-12 10:51)

Mars needs Momns

This review is from: Mars Needs Moms (DVD) I'm not crazy about this story line but my little man (2 yrs old) loves it. He watches it almost every day - when we aren't watching Woody & Buzz.