Review- John Carter

(Above artwork by the Great Frank Frazetta)

At the Theater- John Carter - I loved it. It's a bit corny here and there but has enough soaring action, crystal clear spectacle and subtle, "little" touches to firmly separate it from the cold, emotionless Star Wars prequels. The movie rarely feels bloated- It's one of the best constructed and filmed, massive-budgeted, SFX-heavy releases I've seen in quite some time. Hell, I enjoyed it much more than the similarly themed Avatar. Needless to say, I was immensely entertained.

Writer/Director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E, A Bug's Life, Monster's Inc.) makes his live-action debut a memorable one, visually speaking- location footage in New Mexico and Utah (often subbing for the surfaces of Mars) is absolutely beautiful. It was thrilling to see such a CGI-heavy film mixing natural scenery in with the manufactured shots- much like the excellent New Zealand location footage used in the Lord Of The Rings films established a spacious, tangible setting, it gives the proceedings a solid, authentic foundation.

Based upon Edgar Rice Burrough's "Princess Of Mars", the film feels like a nostalgic throwback to yesteryear in it's tone- expect an adventurous, stranger-in-a-strange-land story along the lines of Stargate or, oddly enough, Hidalgo. For a moment or two, I felt like a younger person...

Taylor Kitsch surprised me as the titular character- he's often likable and has presence to spare. This seems to be his year as he's the lead of the upcoming Battleship. That said, the standout of this film is the beauty of Texas-born Lynn Collins- I couldn't take my eyes off of her... the film should have stuck with the Burrough's-given story title of "Princess Of Mars". Perhaps that would have helped with the film's marketing, which was abysmal. Actors portraying humanoid characters that you may notice: Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, Mark Strong, Bryan Cranston and James Purefoy. Featuring the voices of Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, Samantha Morton and Polly Walker as non-humanoid characters. Oh yeah, and there's a damned-cool dog-thing that really grows on you.

Complaints: the film opens a bit clunky, the dialogue could have used a few tweaks and the film needed a stronger central villain.

I highly recommend it. Cynics need not apply.

8.5 out of 10