Synopsis
Nine-year-old Milo (Seth Green) finds out how much he needs his mom (Joan Cusack) when she’s nabbed by Martians who plan to steal her mom-ness for their own young. In a race against time and oxygen, his quest to save her knows no bounds. And with some unexpected help, Milo just might find his way back to her — in more ways than one.
Seth Green and Dan Fogler do a fantastic job as the lead characters in this family film. Green’s ability to get the most out of his inner child and translate it to screen makes Milo one of the best characters he has played. He did so well with bringing the innocent kid to life, who makes the mistake of a lifetime with his mom by saying the wrong thing (we all have those moments with our parents), that you won’t know it’s Green unless you see his name on the box. Green did a great job of creating this kid who wanted to do the right thing, but at the same time wanted to be a kid. He also did a spectacular job with shaping his character and transforming Milo from a kid depending on his mom into a kid needing to rescue his mom. Again, just a great job by Seth Green.
Working with him is the underappreciated Dan Fogler as Gribble, who provides a perfect, if not extremely silly guide to Green’s Milo. Fogler’s ability to play a wacky, stranded human on Mars helps to relieve some of the stress that kids might feel for Milo when he’s exploring Mars trying to find his mom. When you’re dealing with a family film you always have to find a parallel character that defuses the seriousness a bit; it’s like letting air out of a tire when the tire gets way too tight. Fogler let’s the comedy loose, while at the same time bringing Gribble’s own dramatic tale to life when the time calls for it. Fogler’s Gribble is a very well-rounded character.
Actors aside, there are some issues with Mars Needs Moms. The first is the story starts off strong and then kind of dulls down when the great reveal happens. The story starts with developing Milo’s relationship with his mom (played by the wonderful Joan Cusack) quickly, so the majority of the film can concentrate on Mars, and the central plot point (why Mars needs moms). It does a great job with showing Milo’s slight rebellious side, and just a tiny bit of early teen angst, against his mom. It also shows the tough love his mom gives in return. Both Cusack and Green form this solid onscreen relationship in a short amount of time; it makes the rest of the story believable, as well as the mom/son relationship that is necessary. The movie progresses to the point where Milo literally says the wrong thing, which leads to the devastating results of his actions; his mom gets kidnapped. Once Milo makes it to Mars the movie starts reaching its first rollercoaster hill where Milo has to escape from the Martians, which leads him to Gribble. Gribble’s introduction to the story is interesting and it will keep the viewer wanting a bit more.
Once Gribble is introduced the story starts flatlining a bit. You are explained, through Gribble, the reason why Mars needs moms, but the story really doesn’t know where to go from there. It seems to lose itself in the middle and it fumbles around trying to find its way to a strong finish. You get introduced along the way to a martian named Ki (Elisabeth Harnois), who is a space hippy (for good reason). You also get a shoddy, slightly confusing, explanation of the antagonist of the film named Supervisor (Mindy Sterling) and what her ultimate purpose was to bring Mars to the point of kidnapping humans. For about 30 minutes you will try to follow where the story is going, but nothing really makes solid sense until the final portion of the film. Once you get to the end you’ll be happy with those results, as the ending really will hit home. Had the middle portion of the film developed a better connection with the beginning and end then maybe this movie would be a heck of a lot more solid than it currently is.
When you’re writing a movie it’s easy to start it out and to finish, but the real beef of the story is the journey to get from ‘Point A to Point B’, and that’s where Mars Needs Moms fails.
Still, it’s entertaining and it kept my kids glued to the television.
As for the Blu-ray portion of the film, it’s definitely one of the more impressive animated releases I’ve seen recently. Using the wonderful motion capturing technology that Robert Zemeckis has been known for these days, the animated HD footage looks fluid and less stiff than other animated films of the past. While it’s not surprising that there are really no artifacts, grain or color banding in the film, it is surprising to see the amount of details and vivid colors that accompany the Blu-ray release. I was always skeptical of how Blu-ray was going to handle animated films, but now I almost consider it cheating because it looks better on the format than it does in the theater. On top of this, the audio is darn good too as it is mastered in DTS-HD 7.1 surround. Lots of wonderful moments, rocket blasts and action make this one of the more intense audible experiences.
As for the special features, here’s what you’re getting:
Blu-ray
– Extended Opening
– Deleted Scenes
– Life on Mars
DVD
– Martian 101
– Fun with Seth
These features aren’t bad, though I’m not sure how many kids will find the Blu-ray features interesting. I think more adults will take to the extended opening and deleted scenes, but kids might be interested in Life on Mars (good featurette). The Martian 101 and Fun with Seth featurettes will a lot more entertaining for the young ones in the household. These are good features, but in comparison to other recently released Disney Blu-rays these are certainly far and few between in numbers. I will say that while this isn’t a featurette the end credits of the film give you a nice glimpse of how the motion capture was created; that was some really interesting stuff and adds a bit more to the movie.
Good features at best, though.