John Carter: Well Worth Seeing

John Carter was surprisingly good, I thought.

I'm a fan of planetary romances and put it on my "go-see, regardless" list, but I had little hopes of that dated a story being done well in today's movie environment. (Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom novels are 100 years old this year)

It *is* of course still a dated story, but it *was* done well. Surprise thumbs up all around!

John Carter and Dejah Thoris were not as bland as I'd feared they would be, and the supporting cast shines beautifully. The villainy gets a (much-needed) update and Disney's clearly left themselves plenty of room for sequels. (Unless the overseas box-office does amazing, though, it doesn't look like that's going to happen)

I hadn't known that Andrew Stanton (of Wall-E and Finding Nemo) was directing or that Michael Chabon (Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay) co-wrote it. The movie also features the actors who played Atia, Julius Caesar and Marc Antony from HBO's "Rome" in supporting roles, and that's almost a recommendation in itself.

It's not the sort of thing I expect to succeed well with the general public. But if you're a fan of old-fashioned hero tales, like I expect most folks around here are, go and see it.

It's a fun time.

I saw it Friday with a group of friends. Like many reviews I've seen, our group was split on whether it was good or bad or simply meh. We went to a 2D showing. Sadly The Avengers preview was messed up color channel wise so it was all pink and green with horrible contrast, rest of the trailers show were fine, including MIB 3, Brave and Mirror, Mirror.

Personally I liked it but part of me thought they could have Conan it up a bit, but I know that wasn't going to happen with a Disney production (Dejah Thoris for instance is essentially naked in the novels but for jewelry).

Interestingly enough the movie was dedicated to Steve Jobs. I wonder if he pushed for its production or it was dedicated because he was one of the largest shareholders of Disney.

If it wasn't for the insanely large budget, I too could imagine sequels.

The comic book shop I use to go to in the mid to late 80s before I moved out of that area (theater is 20 miles from where I currently live) was handing out old DC and Marvel comic books, nothing memorable, overstock with stuck on speech bubbles on the covers advertising the shop. I got the issue where Thunderbird stupidly died due to pride, a reprint of X-Men #95, Classic X-Men #3.

I absolutely loved it. I felt like a kid again.

Take this with a grain of salt though since I grew up reading Burroughs and have probably read the mars series 10 times at least.

As a fan of the series though I have to say they did a wonderful job of adapting it.

The wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Since the whole thing is based on a 200 page book told in the first-person, the on-screen story had to be expanded in places, but I think that they succeeded admirably.

The visuals really impressed me, which is usually something that I don’t really pay attention to. Everything from the set pieces, the costumes, armor, jewelry, the fliers and all the props were extremely well done. Even the CGI characters were very well done, including Woola. Unlike some movies, the CGI characters really seemed to have presence on screen.

And, most importantly for me, there was nothing in the story that took me out of the story. Nothing that disrupted my suspense of disbelief and made me say ‘wait-a-minute, that’s not how that works.’

I shall how have to read the e-book I have been putting off since I heard of this movie last year.

Went to the 2d, 2pm showing Saturday. Had a friend (several states away) planning on going with her husband later that day.

Got out, texted "As usual, the critics are idiots. Fun movie."

Seems she agreed. I don't know this is one of my top-10-all-time-faves, but it certainly was enjoyable to me. (Though I agree about the jumping onto the boat - that was probably the only bit that had me cringe, effects wise.)

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I found it to be a good solid movie. It added some to the story to make it work better, and adapt to the concept of sequels, and provided a bit more introduction. It also added a bigger villain which foreshadowed for the sequels, however I can't really imagine a reader of the series objecting to the changes to any serious degree. The special effects, dialog and action were all quite solid. This was not an all time great film, but certainly well worth watching.

When I first heard there was a ERB Mars/Barsoom story, I was all:



But then I was all:



when I found out it was a Disney production, since that meant Dejah wouldn't be in authentic Barsoomian dress.

It is just a shame that this movie was marketed very poorly....I do not know if Disney intentionally did this or whom ever, it is just a shame.

It's unlikely there will be a sequel made:

www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/business/media/ishtar-lands-on-mars.html

I'm a little confused by that article.

They say the film cost $350 million to make, but needs to gross $600 million to 'break even'? Somehow I just can't see them spending $250 to distribute and market this movie.

Something's not right with the math in Hollywood, and this ain't the first time I've noticed. But it is the most recent and the biggest difference.

As a long time ERB fan I loved the film. John Carter invented the 'F-Yeah' moment, and this film gave him plenty of them.

All I really wanted to see was John Carter alone against an army, hip deep in slain foes. I was worried that Disney would wimp out on that, but they gave me the scene I wanted. Really well done.