John Carter Review

Posted 12 years ago by myetvmedia

8/10

John Carter is somewhat of an oddity; it is by many accounts the greatest piece of pulp fiction and the most influential work of science fiction in existence. Princess of Mars was published in 1917. You might be asking yourself “how in the hell has something that popular taken so long in its path to a Hollywood adaptation?” There isn’t really one definitive and satisfying answer to that question – just a lot of little ones worthy of a disappointing sigh. The story, Princess of Mars has been shopped around Hollywood for as long as films have featured color. That’s a damn long time and those reasons run the gamut between: “too expensive”, “too long”, “too difficult”, “too many visual effects”, “too violent”. Really any fan of the original novel (that is of course if they are still living) is crying out “Too long to wait for the movie!”. It’s here, finally. Ninety-five years after its first publication the film has arrived and chances are your dear old Great Granddad who read Princess of Mars, as a boy is a little too dead to see it. 

But I digress, chances are you are not a fan of the novel; chances are you didn’t even know there was a novel. I’m going to do my best to impress upon you my feelings towards this film – that is based on a story very dear to me. For those looking for a straight up film review, don’t bother. Critics have been downright poisonous towards this film and with the downright dumbest of reasons. No it’s not the same story featured in Princess of Mars, rather its a highly abbreviated version chock full of Disney crowd pleasers and franchise opportunity. It’s a spectacle for sure, and a damn good one. After all is that not what “going to the movies” is all about? Shutting up for two hours while some pretty visuals mesmerize you?

Critics have blasted Andrew Stanton (the director) for tackling a live action project (he has directed Pixar films) and of all the ham-fisted criticism this is probably the worst. Stanton’s ‘John Carter’ features about as much prowess as far as physical acting goes asAvatar, and no one seemed to give a shit how hammy that film was when it was released. These films are about 90 percent visual storytelling and visual effects and 10 percent human drama. I don’t mean visual effects like explosions or werewolf heads, I mean suspending your disbelief to the point that you can accept such a fantastical world full of such strange creatures. 


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