Mars Attacks!

There's one guarantee in life : When you're reading 5 reviews on Mars Attacks, FOUR of them are negative ones! Why, I ask?? It's really hard for me to believe that all these movie-lovers fail to see the film like Tim Burton intended it. Mars Attacks! is a great film and - above all - a very effective parody. Burton takes the opportunity to spoof and laugh with almost every form of nowadays filth...Politics, religion, the army, television, greed in Las Vegas and God knows what else. Mars Attacks! is the purest form of cinema anarchy I've seen so far, and I really want to encourage you to see it again if you didn't like it the first time. Tim Burton is a genius. Practically all movies he did before ( and after ) Mars Attacks! prove that. Do you really believe that he would deliver a failure? Or do you think the entire brilliant cast would agree to starring in an inferior production?? They all acknowledged the genius of this movie...why can't the audience do the same?

Mars Attacks! is a very remarkable achievement for yet another reason. This very well might be only film that cost a fortune in order to look cheap! Burton probably wasted a huge budget to make the settings and the design look like they did in the typical 50's Science Fiction movies. Burton is a big fan of these movies and he saved neither money or trouble to make his satire look like those films. The direct tribute to Edward Wood in the opening credits is an obvious example of this as well, I think. Perhaps, this would be the only real thing you can accuse Tim Burton of...Mars Attacks! is a very personal project of his. I really doubt he worried much about the question whether Mars Attacks! would become a success or not. He told his tale and he clearly enjoyed doing so...Why wouldn't you enjoy watching it then?

Note: This review is dedicated to Mailen. A great regular user here on this site and I know for a fact that she adores this film as well...

I went into this with 0 expectations. I was laughing through the entire thing. Really great parody of alien invasion films and hilarious dialogue throughout. Just a really well done film overall.

Much derided at the time for it's shallowness and the way the stars seem to be having too good a time, this has aged better than the disaster movies that came out at the time. Especially now, with the way governments are failing us with the virus, a satire feels much more honest than any film showing people in a better light. Having said that, for a full blown satire, it is never quite funny or witty enough, and relies too much on stars undermining their own image.

This film takes the p*ss out of pretty much everything, is very whacky, absurd and - depending on your sense of humour - extremely funny. Don't watch if you take yourself or humankind too seriously. Quite unique, with wonderful B-movie vibe and stellar cast. Anarchic and biting wit throughout. Watch out for the nuke blow-back scene which is one of the funniest things I've ever seen on screen. Improves with repeated viewings. Recommended.

So many Oscar winners and nominees. Very entertaining with cartoonish aliens. It's one of those film's you have to watch a few times to appreciate the humour. Tim Burton never dissaponts. Some of the cast are a bit hammy. Written that way I suppose.