Review of Mars Needs Moms (2011) by Talitha B — 03 Aug 2011

Yes, that is a bad title. In fact, Mars Needs Moms pretty covers anything you could ask for in bland animated films. The jokes are lame, the dialogue is cheesy, the drama comes sappy, the characters are annoying, the energy is overly kinetic, and there isn't much to appeal to anyone over 12.

As if that overview isn't enough, let me just make this point clear: Mars Needs Moms sucks. It's a juvenile view of an already saccharine and trite moral, made all the more unpleasant by even more juvenile jokes and uninteresting characters.

That alone is a pretty worthless flick, but I've stalled long enough and now I have to get to my main point. Yes, the animation looks incredibly real, impressively so. I applaud the time and energy that went into creating this.

The problem is that it actually works against the film in two very bad ways. The first is simple: The film is unpleasant to look at. This is uncanny valley territory. Everything looks so real, but at the same time clearly false, that it gets very, very creepy.

I think this is the main factor in driving kids away. If I were five years old, this would have freaked me out. The other reason is a point I've been trying to get at for a while. Making animated films look realistic is inherently a bad idea.

Leaving the uncanny factor out, this is always a bad idea. Why is it that animated films are made? So we can do things that can't be done in real life. Look to the film with the best 3D animation I've ever seen: Tangled.

Tangled's animation was detailed down to the shiniest fiber of hair. Even then, it never looked like anyone was really there. If no one will believe it, then do whatever you can with it. Make their eyes bug out, make ridiculous looking buildings and funny looking animals.

Look to the Pixar movies, taking a rat wanting to be a chef and making it enjoyable. Now imagine if that rat looked like a real one. Not only would it be disgusting, but you've lost the charm of the rat.

He no longer can express himself in the outlandish ways required for a film of that premise. Such is the problem with Mars Needs Moms. Everything is so realistic, and everything is so boring. Bland human faces, and boring looking sets.

It's a complete bastardization of a great art form, brought into the boring realms of reality.