Toni Whiston (22 May 2013)

Very Enjoyable Movie - Will Add to at Home Movie Collection!

Everyone in my family enjoyed this movie. I will not give away anydetails so hopefully people will get out to see it...I would rather seea movie like this than those pathetic "Clash of the Titan" or "GI Joe"movies, which somehow have gotten sequels. I really hope it generatesenough revenue to get a sequel or even a series of movies. I thoughtTaylor Kitsch did a great job...he reminds me of a young TimothyOlyphant and I am a big fan, so I mean it as a compliment. I wouldnever let a critic dictate whether or not I see a movie. I think anykid who is old enough to see a Harry Potter movie could easily enjoythis movie. I am a 49 year old female, and enjoy things that entertainme and it certainly did that.

not_your_buddy (22 May 2013)

Stargate Meets Prince of Persia

May contain spoilers? Nope, it definitely contains spoilers. You'vebeen warned.Had relatively low expectations going into this movie and knew next tonothing about the 100-year old story of John Carter -- as I'm sure isthe case for many (safe to say the marketing campaign wasn't exactlyhandled the best). And for the first 40-minutes of this movie my low expectations seemedto be warranted. After the opening wild west motif (fairly well done inan over-the-top Clint Eastwood way) we find ourselves thrust into aworld overflowing with uncomfortably bad geek speak, goofy wire-harnessbunny hopping, and quite a bit of "wait should I be caring about allthis?" feeling as random villains appear and seemingly pointlessbattles commence.But, I gotta say once the action finally subsides and the princess +the hero (John Carter) start to get to talk the movie started to pickup. We get to learn the story, the plot, the people, and frankly theseare the first two "normal" people on the planet we can understand andstart to relate to. Of course we begin to suspect they will fall inlove, which they do, and when they do it happens in a way that isnothing revolutionary -- in fact it plays out almost identically to2010's Prince of Persia (all the way down to the over-tanned princessforced to marry to save her people plot). Yes completely predictable,but I liked it just the same.As for the story in general I'm left with a strong Stargate impression(a movie which I really liked by the way). Man finds alien device,using it he is suddenly transported to another planet through awormhole, he finds a civilization in trouble, tries to decipher thelanguage to find a way to activate device to return home, falls inlove, becomes the hero by defeating some alien pretending to be a god,etc. Its a nice story that is well told, moves along at a nice pace,and has some special effects thrown in to keep you interested. Overall, despite the "been here done that" of the storyline I actuallyenjoyed the movie. It got better and more interesting as it went on,had likable lead characters, wasn't just mindless special effects (asthe trailers led me to believe), had a good ending, and it was nice tosee the story that "started it all" with "ideas that influenced moviesfor the next century" as they say. To me its one of those movies where the second viewing will be muchbetter than the first since you'll have a better grasp of whats goingon from the get-go rather than having to try and play catch-up theentire movie. Poor John Carter probably wont fare too well at the boxoffice, but this is by no means a stinker and if your on the bubble youreally should give it a chance. A quality 75-80/100 in my opinion andwill be a good addition to any movie collection when its theatrical runends.

chefchrislee (21 May 2013)

JCM was Great!

So I in some ways coerced my wife into joining me to see John CarterImax 3d just to set the stage. My wife isn't a huge scifi fan sheprefers movies that have the word "poignant" or "touching" somewhere inthe title, and I love her nonetheless. I assured her that if thedirector at least followed the books she would enjoy the story. We gotour 3-d glasses, seats, and cozied in for the ride. The movie startedand though it wasn't to the "letter" in the book (which by the waywould have been unnecessary) It was a GREAT movie. Those who comment onthe lag in the middle must have worse ADD than myself. I felt the"political" fill in was perfect for creating a richer story. Does everyaction movie today need to be non-stop explosions, sex and blood? Doesevery action movie need to spoon feed the audience the story? To me andmy sweet wife we would both agree that this was a fun, well-scripted,entertaining movie. There was action, romance, comic moments and plentyof thrills. The story written so long ago remained intact, I especiallyliked the director keeping "Ned" in the script. Awesome movie and agreat date!

Eric Melin (21 May 2013)

Since its story inspired every mainstream fantasy right up to Avatar, John Carter may seem a little old-fashioned, but it's a solid piece of fantasy entertainment that's equal parts corny and poignant.

S Ram (17 May 2013)

Disconnected story - bad acting and weak animation

I saw the IMDb rating of 6.8 and decided to watch this movie. Boy, wasI mistaken. It looks like most of the positive reviews for this movieare paid for by the movie producers.The movie has a weird story that is very difficult to follow. Thespecial effects are good here and there although this certainly lookslike a B grade movie that doesn't even come close to Avatar.If you are going to watch this thinking that you are going to get anavatar like experience, just forget about it. It is not worth it at allin my opinion, avatar like or not.Disney has definitely disappointed with this movie.

thethumbthing (17 May 2013)

good and the bad

I was very excited to see this film, after reading numerous review andchecking the trailer i was very intrigued to see this movie in its full3D glory. Technically I was rather disappointed with the wide angleshots of the vast expanse of Mars with the characters matted into theseshots looking slightly out of proportion to their surroundings, themodel making looked like models and let down the overall look of thisfilm. John Carter looked like a hobbit in some scenes next to the 12foot aliens... it just didn't look real to me. The film has its goodpoints as well, some nice CGI, the acting is fine, but the filmunfortunately lacks a certain realism which i missed. would i recommendthis film, yes, its a good pop corn film which i would have been happywatching without the 3D. I don't think this film was shot 3D butconverted in post production. Overall this film did not live up to myexpectations, but still worth a look as this is only my opinion.

kevinmorice (15 May 2013)

Flash Gordon for 21st Century

John Carter is a surprisingly effective cheesy slice of sci-fi. It isyour standard fish-out-of-water sci-fi flick. It is a bit Phantom Menace, a bit Stargate, a bit Avatar, but unlikethose films it make no pretence at being the next big thing in sci-fimovies. Think of it more as an updated Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers. I was expecting Taylor Kitsch to struggle a bit to lead the movie, andin all truth his character does seem to adapt a bit too well to thefour armed aliens and the flying skiffs. However, I was also expectingto see Riggins peeping out from behind John Carter and was pleased thatwithin the first few minutes I had totally forgotten his past.Lynn Collins manages the opposite trick equally well. She has beeninstantly forgettable in everything else she has passed through butdoes enough here to stand out.Being Disney they managed to throw plenty of weight onto the backgroundand smaller characters as well. Dominic West, Mark Strong, JamesPurefoy, Ciaran Hinds all hold their roles on the screen, and WillemDefoe et al give the Tarkus enough individual characterisation to tellthem apart. I doubt the book lovers are going to be pleased about what has beendone to Edgar Rice Burrough's work but there is only so much that canbe done to squeeze a book onto the screen and this doesn't fall a longway short of what could have been done reasonably with what they had.I wouldn't bet against a sequel either. I think there is room for morefrom the same characters and I think the word of mouth is going to turnthis into a financial slow-burner that will make Disney enough thatthey will already be wondering about who they have retained contractson.

Erin Free (14 May 2013)

Despite occasional moments of silliness, the old-fashioned sense of adventure and brilliantly rendered aliens elevate this above other derivative big-budget sci-fi fare.

kipica (12 May 2013)

Even more than I expected

Directed by Andrew Stanton,prominent director of animated movies (ToyStory 3 ,WALL-E...), so everyone should have expected something fromthis movie.The fact that it is based on tale written by Edgar RiceBurroughs also get him a thumb up from me (although Dragon Ball Z moviewas catastrophic,I still lay some hope for upcoming book/tale/comicbased movies).So when the movie was released,I saw only bad critics onmovie sites like rotten tomatoes,and what hit me too was thebudget,which was a little lesser than revenue so I decided not to watchit.That was a big mistake.Great special effects,greatstoryline(although it has some clichés,it is still authentic from mostviews) and really really unexpected and surprisingly good ending whichmade me demand a sequel.So I suggest everyone to watch this film anddon't take others opinions so easily as i did.

Kevin Carr (11 May 2013)

The entire story behind John Carter is the essence of high concept, especially in the day and age it was originally created... a blast of a film.

Rob Taylor (11 May 2013)

Sooo....What went wrong?

I think for a start, the budget was way too high. The movie looksundeniable gorgeous, but some of that $200 million would have beenbetter spent on things other than CGI.Next up the marketing campaign, or lack thereof. If you haven't readthe books it is based on, then the name "John Carter" means preciselynothing. The posters were bland and told you nothing about the movie.If someone had told me they were going to watch John Carter (before Iheard anything about it) I would likely have assumed it to be ahard-bitten police drama, not a scifi epic.Finally the realization of the film itself. JC seems to want to beepic, but it also wants to be frivolous and funny. The resultingcombination is confusing. I laughed out loud at some scenes, even whenthey weren't particularly amusing, expecting a comedy punch-line orvisual gag that didn't appear. At other times, the humour caught meunawares.There is an opening exposition sequence that is right out of FlashGordon, then the movie cuts to Civil War era America rather jarringly.I think the perceived need to spoon-feed the setting information in theopening scenes was unnecessary and did the audience a disservice. Itwould have been better to start with the introduction of John Carterand then give him the information later on, once he reached Mars, buthey! What do I know? There are some nice little plot twists towards theend and these, plus the humour throughout the film, keep it working,though only just barely. It's not a bad film. It's just...meh.

Burl Burlingame (10 May 2013)

Great fun as we endure scrape after scrape in this wild, near-hallucinatory landscape, and director Stanton finds the right balance of cheerful solemnity and cheeky humor.

cultfilmfreaksdotcom (08 May 2013)

Of Time And Mars

This two hour and twenty minute film, based on the story by Edgar RiceBurroughs written in 1912, would have made a terrific Western. Startingout with our rugged hero John Carter, a rogue confederate soldierseeking a mountain of gold. He's captured by Yankees and they can'tkeep him pinned down. The boundless action is fast paced and exciting,Taylor Kitsch displaying the right amount of lean bravado and swiftagile.But then something happens.Finding an emulate, Carter is transformed into a strange world thatdoesn't look much different than the flatlands of America: except thereare green creatures bursting from eggs and giant, lanky aliens withfour arms. And Carter himself has a powerful skill of leaping a hundredfeet into the air.The plot's quite familiar: a beautiful princess is forced to marry aswarthy scoundrel in order to save her race. Declining that option, shewinds up with Carter, who's been taken in with the tall green aliens(the endearing leader voiced by Willem Defoe) and after a few coolfight scenes, Carter and the Princess travel across the Mars terrain:each seeking a different location without realizing.Here's where the movie hits a long, tedious wall… And by the time theaction sustains you'll feel robbed by the ponderous bouts of dialogdescribing the history of the planet, why it's doomed and who's doomingit. Thus a scene where Carter battles a formidable beast in a Romanlike coliseum is too little, too late.But after all's said and done and we return back to Earth – the finalfifteen minutes is as intense as the intro. Making it ironic that afilm originally titled JOHN CARTER OF MARS would have been better offspending much less time there.For More Reviews: www.cultfilmfreaks.com

jacobson98 (08 May 2013)

Far Better Than I Expected

Disappointing box office is not an indicator of the quality of thisfilm - it was far better than I expected. Great photography and specialeffects, believable characters, lots of action, and a fast moving plotmakes the two-hour film fly by. The film explains the minimum theaudience needs to understand and moves so fast you never notice thelogical inconsistencies, a problem with so many science fiction/fantasyfilms. The leads are strong and believable and the character actorsfabulous and the direction light and fun. Fun is the major word here -difficult to walk away from this film without a smile on your face. Thefilm feels like a really good adaptation of a comic book, but I guessEdgar Rice Burroughs books were the comic books of their day,Princesses of Mars and Tarzan swinging through the jungle and so on.It's obvious that this was the "origin story" of what Disney hoped tobe a franchise with future sequels. Alas, poor box office has doomedthat hope, but what's left is a fun, enjoyable film that is worth aviewing.

John Beifuss (08 May 2013)

Comical Woola, a faithful dog-like creature that travels at Road Runner superspeed, steals every scene. He's the 'John Carter' equivalent of Uggie, and the movie, sad to say, needs him.

Leonard Maltin (07 May 2013)

While we can still marvel at the amazing sights laid out before us, it is imperative that we never lose sight of who's who and what's at stake. That turns out to be a tall order.

griffolyon12 (05 May 2013)

Skip It

I really wanted to like John Carter, but unfortunately that was not thecase. The titular character, John Carter, is a veteran of the AmericanCivil War, but he lost his way after the deaths of his wife and child.One day in the Wild West, he's pursued by Indians. He hides out in acave which magically transports him to Mars, where he now hasSuperman-like powers and is being heralded as its savior. Everythingabout John Carter just feels old hat. Sure, films like Avatar and StarWars were partially inspired by the original Edgar Rice Burroughs'books, but the fact of the matter is, science fiction and fantasy havejust grown in sophistication since Burroughs initially wrote thesetales in the early 1900s. It's very hard to suspend disbelief in theidea that you could fall asleep in a cave on Earth and wake up on Mars.As well, unlike many other sci-fi films that came after it, we'reintroduced to three different alien cultures that contend with ourattention span, each with convoluted, hard to understand customs, notto mention all of them having an affinity for big words that seem tohave little founding in the English language. What films like Star Warsdid, is they took our everyday customs and transported them in adressed up setting, to where, while we were on another worldexperiencing fantasy, we believed it because the emotions being shownwere not far from those that we might experience in our own lives intrying situations. However, even with all this, the special effects arequite good, as is the music by Michael Giacchino, but the rest of thefilm is not. Featuring a stilted performance from Taylor Kitsch asCarter, and many attempts at humor and romance that just fall flat,this is just a huge misfire from Disney.I give John Carter a 4 out of 10!

danielbloome (04 May 2013)

The Big Problem

This movie is not great but it's not bad either.The real reason why this movie is doing so unbelievably bad at the boxoffice, actually, to be honest, it has nothing at all to do with itbeing a good movie or with it being a bad movie, it is somethingdifferent.Marketing! Nobody knows what this movie is about or who John Carter isor why we should care. I didn't know it was supposed to be on Marseven. I don't know anything about the story and I think most people arelike my in that area.With all the posters, commercials etc why did they never say what thestory was or who this guy is? I'm supposed to know about a sci-fi bookfrom the 1900's? Get real, the marketing on this movie is maybe theworst ever.Anyway the story is okay (better than Avatar but still kind of basicand thin) but the effects really are tremendous, if you like effectsthen I definitely would say you should go see this movie while you canin 3D which might not be for long because the rate this movie isflopping it will be pulled from theaters at any minute, wish I wasjoking.

corneliusdion (03 May 2013)

John Carter, huge potentials had been wasted

The movie actually had a lot potentials, but unfortunately, Andrew(Stanton) had wasted it. The movie itself actually gripping, and quitea 3D experience, but it dragged on, and on, and on. The story lookedstrong at the beginning, but weaker in the middle. Unlike Pandora inAvatar, Mars (or Barsoom) looked like a boring planet, with endless redstones and desert (sorry, Tars Tarkas!). The only thing that saved thismovie is Dejah Thoris and the amazing ship design that the charactersused in the movie, Woola seem failed to be the cute creature in Disneytraditions. Well directed, but Andrew (Wall-E --> John Carter) shouldlearn more to direct live-action movies just like Brad (The Incredibles--> Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol).

mtabzr (03 May 2013)

Only those who had read the books didn't find it fascinating

From what I saw in previews did expected merely a soppy mid-range moviewhich would do good for weekend's entertainment, but it proved mewrong. As a sci-fi fan I was really annoyed when read a review,humiliating it by comparing it to Avatar. I got to say where Avatarlacked genuine plot (men destroying The New and eventually aredefeated) this one has a great plot (which same as always is not up toscratch for those who have read the original book). You got to admitMovies' plot may never topple the standard set by the set-upon-books,because book is just a plot while movie has to concentrate on manyaspects. Anyways I got to say plot isn't exceptional but I loved thetwist at the end. Visually it's amazing while john's jumping sucks attimes other visual effects are marvelous. If you haven't read the bookNEVER MISS the movie.