Disney’s new movie Mars Needs Moms suffers from a classic mistake: focusing too much on one aspect of a production — and in this case it’s the visuals. The result is an unbalanced mess that looks terrific but doesn’t have enough substance to leave the audience with anything more to “ooh” and “ah” at other than all the pretty colors. As we all know from that one really really hot girl/guy in high school who’s now overweight and working a dead-end job looks can only go so far.
Adapted from the children’s novel by Berkeley Breathed and directed by Simon Wells Mars Needs Moms follows Milo (acted by Seth Green voiced by Seth Robert Dusky) as he chases after his mother who’s been stolen by Martians just a few hours after he told her he’d be better off without her. Once he arrives on Mars (by sneaking on the ship) he meets Gribble (Dan Fogler) who informs him of his problem: the Martians are ruled by a ruthless queen-like Supervisor (Mindy Sterling) who’s decided that the hatchlings (babies who sprout from the ground like vegetables) must be divided: all males are thrown away into the dump and the females are raised by “nanny-bots” — robots programmed by the “discipline” energy of good moms like Milo’s from Earth. Milo and Gribble buddy-up and with the help of a rebel Martian named Ki (Elisabeth Harnois) the three of them venture to save Milo’s mom before it’s too late.
And venture on they do. Coming from producer Robert Zemeckis and utilizing the same motion-capture technology as The Polar Express A Christmas Carol and Beowulf Mars Needs Moms rushes forward embracing its visually stunning universe without taking a moment to stop and breathe. The characters never have a chance to do anything significant that would make the audience think they’re substantial or important — especially Gribble whom the filmmakers really really want us to care for. On top of that it relies on a plot line that we’ve all seen before and instead of diving into the parts that made it interesting (like the question of why men were thrown in the garbage and not women) it skims safely along the surface doing its best to avoid anything deeper than basic themes.
But that may be a little too picky. After all the movie is just supposed to be a fun little child’s tale right? In that vein it succeeds. We feel like we’re on an amusement park ride thanks to Ki’s vibrant ’60s flower-power paintings and the adventures on the Red Planet’s surface. Even the moments that aren’t super fast-paced present environments that are beautiful. Plus Fogler’s performance as Gribble (as Jack Black-esque as it was) gives us some fun enjoyable moments and one-liners that kids will no doubt love.
Yet at the same time Mars Needs Moms’ visuals aren’t all glorious. In fact some hurt the plot because frankly the humans aren’t animated very well. There’s no life in their eyes. Simple movements like walking look awkward and too often characters facial expressions don’t match the urgency found in their voices. Instead the animation just turns all the characters into weird cartoony versions of themselves that look so “almost human” they appear fake. And as always it’s difficult to care for fake people.
Children will definitely enjoy Mars Needs Moms but from a filmmaking standpoint Wells really missed an opportunity to deliver something other than neat visuals and one-liners.
