Mars Needs Moms (ImageMovers)

[Elladorine]

Yeah, that's pretty much what the reviewer in my newspaper said about it, too. He said that it's not the best, but it's not bad, and it has very emotional moments and a touching mother-son relationship. So, maybe the movie is all right. I still don't want to go see it, though. It just looks SO unappealing. The plot, the characters, the gags, the animation, etc.

Yeah, that's the overall impression I've had since I tried to sit through the first trailer. I imagine the story works but the rest of it just ruins it for me.

[LucilleBallFilms]

3rd time seeing it Sunday, the mothers in the audience always cry at the end, even my soon-to-be-mother sister.

But atleast it has originality with Ki being hip and knowing English from a 60s TV broadcast...oh wait..
<a target='_blank' href='http://img140.imageshack.us/i/scoobydoo ... jpg/'><img src='http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/5271 ... inv.th.jpg' border='0'/></a><a target='_blank' title='ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting' href='http://img844.imageshack.us/i/87639387.png/'><img src='http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/8515/87639387.png' border='0'/></a>

[Margos]

Yeah, that's pretty much what the reviewer in my newspaper said about it, too. He said that it's not the best, but it's not bad, and it has very emotional moments and a touching mother-son relationship. So, maybe the movie is all right. I still don't want to go see it, though. It just looks SO unappealing. The plot, the characters, the gags, the animation, etc.

Yeah, that's the overall impression I've had since I tried to sit through the first trailer. I imagine the story works but the rest of it just ruins it for me.

Look, don't judge a film by it's trailer! There really aren't many gags at all, and in fact, some of the "gags" in the trailer take on a completely different and not-at-all funny tone in the actual film. The characters are nowhere near as obnoxious as they seem either (espeically Ki, but Gribble as well).
As for the plot... Well, it makes more sense in context. It didn't really sound like my thing either, but it's executed so well that it didn't matter.

[4th Life of Thomasina]

Look, don't judge a film by it's trailer! There really aren't many gags at all, and in fact, some of the "gags" in the trailer take on a completely different and not-at-all funny tone in the actual film. The characters are nowhere near as obnoxious as they seem either (espeically Ki, but Gribble as well).
As for the plot... Well, it makes more sense in context. It didn't really sound like my thing either, but it's executed so well that it didn't matter.

I guess I will have to see Mars Needs Moms at some point now. If the film is good, it's a shame that Disney's marketing department did such a bad job advertising it. There was nothing about the ads for the film that attracted my interest at all.

[Elladorine]

Yeah, that's the overall impression I've had since I tried to sit through the first trailer. I imagine the story works but the rest of it just ruins it for me.

Look, don't judge a film by it's trailer! There really aren't many gags at all, and in fact, some of the "gags" in the trailer take on a completely different and not-at-all funny tone in the actual film. The characters are nowhere near as obnoxious as they seem either (espeically Ki, but Gribble as well).
As for the plot... Well, it makes more sense in context. It didn't really sound like my thing either, but it's executed so well that it didn't matter.

It's more than the trailers. I thought the US trailers for Tangled were horrid, but still believed in it because I could see the film's potential beyond them. I just can't find enough appeal with the physical look of the characters and overall film for Mars Needs Moms. Maybe that makes me superficial, but when it comes to animated films the design has to have some kind of appeal and the world depicted has to look interesting enough to want to explore. IMO, that's just the nature of animation. As I've been trying to say before, of course the story's the most important aspect, but I have a hard time getting into the story if I have to fight myself to even look at the characters and settings they've created.

[Margos]

The thing is, they used some of the worst possible sets for the trailer, not to mention some awkward shots of some characters (Milo and Ki, especially) who actually don't look so bad. In fact, I found Ki's character design rather attractive. They don't look that bad most of the time... And some of the sets are quite stunning (well, mostly the underground cavern that isn't shown in the trailers). Really, it isn't even as ugly as the trailers made it look. All in all, the trailers didn't do the movie justice in the least, even down to the look of the film!

I'm not trying to be argumentatice, EW, and I understand your misgivings. But I just don't want anyone to miss out on this wonderful film just because of those abominable advertisements.

[Elladorine]

The thing is, they used some of the worst possible sets for the trailer, not to mention some awkward shots of some characters (Milo and Ki, especially) who actually don't look so bad. In fact, I found Ki's character design rather attractive. They don't look that bad most of the time... And some of the sets are quite stunning (well, mostly the underground cavern that isn't shown in the trailers). Really, it isn't even as ugly as the trailers made it look. All in all, the trailers didn't do the movie justice in the least, even down to the look of the film!

I'm not trying to be argumentatice, EW, and I understand your misgivings. But I just don't want anyone to miss out on this wonderful film just because of those abominable advertisements.

Eh, no worries. I'll eventually check the film out and will try to watch it with an open mind, it's just that I have to set some priorities with what I see at the theater since I don't get to go as often as I'd like. I'm sure I'll be Redbox-ing it.

[Margos]

Yay! I know how things are with the movie theater sometimes, so that's perfectly understandable. As long as you watch it someday, the SIS won't hunt you down or anything...

[Sotiris]

Mars Needs Moms Going Direct-To-DVD in Benelux
http://www.awn.com/news/business/mars-n ... vd-benelux

Walt Disney has decided to go direct-to-DVD and Blu-ray in Benelux with MARS NEEDS MOMS, reports Variety. The move to not release the film theatrically in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg was spurred by the film's weak international showing in its second week. The $150 million 3-D performance capture production earned $2.1 million internationally in its first week in 14 territories and only has an international cume of $8.3 million over 20 territories after two weeks. The Simon Wells-directed film has only made $15.8 million in the U.S. thus far.

[Sotiris]

The 10 biggest movie flops of 2011 (so far)
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/show ... 11-so-far/

Robert Zemeckis’ motion-capture "Mars Needs Moms" was one of the most expensive bombs in Hollywood history, costing at least US$150 million to produce and grossing US$21.4 million at the domestic box office. Overseas, it didn’t do much better, grossing US$17.6 million for a total of US$39 million.

[Sotiris]

Mars Needs Moms, but Earth needs Director Simon Wells! (Interview)
http://knowtheartist.com/film-tv-blu-ra ... mon-wells/

JA: I believe, originally, you pitched two very different versions of the project to Zemeckis.

Simon Wells: Yeah. The original book by Berkeley Breathed is a very, very small book. We had to pitch an idea of how that was going to expand to an 85-minute movie, so we went in and did a full-on pitch of a “little kids” movie. Bob went, “Eh, not really interested in that.” We thought, “Oh, okay. All right.” So we thought out a completely different storyline, and we went back with that. He went, “Eh, you know, I don’t want all this detail. I just want a basic idea. Imagine you were meeting an actor at a party, and you really wanted to convince this actor you want him in your film. Tell me the three-minute pitch.” We had accumulated a couple hundred pictures off the internet, of inspirational visuals, and went in with literally a 10- or 11-bullet-point pitch. Bob just said, “Yeah, I like that movie!” and shook our hands, and we did it.

JA: Speaking of the book, the art direction in it is quite different from the more realistic look of the film.

SW: Part of that is the automatic sensibilities of Doug Chiang, our production designer, and his whole crew. He has a vast gang of incredibly talented artists who all came together under Doug, after doing design work on things like the Star Wars movies. They were just itching to do a science fiction movie. Basically, this design crew had done stuff for Bob on his previous movies Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol. They really wanted to do sci-fi stuff – robots, space ships, and stuff like that. A lot of it had to with the natural sensibilities of the group of artists we had developing the film.

There was also a push from Bob, saying, “Let’s make the world realistic so that when we go to Mars, we’ll know what we’re seeing is real, as opposed to making the whole thing sort of a cartoon in style.”

JA: I see. Many people have yet to accept motion capture films. Because of this, did you have any hesitation in working on Mars Needs Moms?

SW: No, I was fascinated by the technology. It’s interesting. I think there are more people in professional criticism who have a problem with motion capture than the general audience. I think there’s a large section of the general audience who really can’t tell. Also, the thing that is a little painful is, yes, there are bits of Mars Needs Moms that do look motion captured, but there is an awful lot of it that doesn’t. I think the animators at ImageMovers did an extraordinary job and really got on board with a level of caricature that I was trying to bring. The majority of the work in the film, I feel, really lives extraordinarily well. The trouble is, particularly with some of the early scenes, maybe a few of those are a little rougher because they were early in the process. I think that got the heckles out of some people straight away.

The thing is, it’s getting better and better all the time. Look at the early color movies. They didn’t look very realistic either; they were flooded with light, and the color process gave a very strange hue. It definitely wasn’t like reality. There were a lot of people back then who were saying, “This is an abomination! Black-and-white film is so beautiful, why are we doing this? We’re ruining the beautiful lighting you can do with black-and-white films. You have to just completely blanket these color films, and they look dreadful!” With all new technology, there’s going to be a number of movies that break ground. People didn’t have a problem with the motion capture technology in Avatar. We’ll see how well Tintin is received. I haven’t seen it yet, but I gather the motion capture in Rise of the Planet of the Apes is very good.

JA: But what is next for you? Do you think you’ll stay with Disney, or go back to DreamWorks Animation? I know Zemeckis is also taking ImageMovers to Universal.

SW: All these things. I actually had a good working relationship with the guys at Disney. Despite what was a slightly awkward political situation, I got along well with Sean Bailey and those guys and would very happily work with them again. In fairness I think, given that Mars didn’t perform very well, it’s a little difficult for them to offer me another film right now.

Jeffrey Katzenberg and DreamWorks have always been incredibly kind to me. I’m actually talking to you from my office at DreamWorks; it has remained here, strangely, through my leaving to do Time Machine, working on Polar Express for a year, and going off for three years on Mars. I’m back in the same office. Jeffrey welcomed me back with open arms. I have a great deal of loyalty to Jeffrey in particular and DreamWorks in general. They have always been very kind to me. I’m looking at possibilities of doing things here. I’m actually helping out; I’m doing a bunch of writing and storyboard stuff for a couple of projects here.

But we’re also talking to Zemeckis’ company about another project. We just sent them the latest script we’ve written. But are they in the position to produce for other people? Perhaps they are now. So, yeah, we’re talking them.

You have to go out and get friendly with as many people as you can. So we’re meeting all over town, looking for projects.