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MARS ATTACKS!
MARS ATTACKS! is a terrific film and one of the best produced DVDs that I have seen. Absolutely recommended! |
This DVD review 
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DVD
reviews are Copyright © 1997 THE CINEMA LASER and may not be copied
or reprinted without the written consent of the publisher. |
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I’ve
always been a huge fan of the works of director Tim Burton. When Burton
decided to attach himself to the film version MARS ATTACKS!, that
subversive set of trading cards, I knew that movie fans were in for a
real treat. The MARS ATTACKS! trading cards graphically depicted
a Martian invasion of Earth with tons of gory detail. MARS ATTACKS!
($25) the film, captures the flavor of the trading cards, but plays as
an affectionate parody of fifties science fiction films. MARS ATTACKS!
does retain much of the gratuitous violence of the trading cards, yet
Burton’s presentation is tongue in cheek, making the film more of
a black comedy than a science fiction nightmare. 
Tim
Burton is a brilliant visualist and MARS ATTACKS! perfectly captures
the style of the fifties sci-fi genre. Burton has even gone so far as
to make MARS ATTACKS! his first anamorphic wide screen film, reminding
us that the fifties was the heyday of CinemaScope. MARS ATTACKS!
is a wondrous piece of eye candy, and probably Burton’s greatest
visual achievement. The production design and special effects are outstanding.
Even the Martian space ships are a delightful nod to Ray Harryhausen’s
work in EARTH VERSUS THE FLYING SAUCERS. The film’s only shortcoming
is the cardboard stock character portrayed by the film’s all star
cast. Every human character is a throwaway, which isn’t too terrible,
since the Martians obliterate most of them anyway. 
The Martians themselves are some of the most wonderful computer generated
characters to ever grace the silver screen. These aliens are rather nasty
looking creatures- skull faced, big brained and bug eyed- the perfect
evil aliens. Yet the Martians have a goofiness about them that makes them
kind of endearing, even when they are blowing up everything in sight.
The fact that the Martians most resemble uncontrollable, delinquent six
year old boys with ray guns is the thing that gives them their charm.
They are the kind of bad boys who get their jollies by pulling the wings
off of bugs. Personally, I couldn’t help but laugh when the Martians
started disintegrating Hollywood’s best and brightest. The all star
cast of MARS ATTACKS! features Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Danny
DeVito, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan (looking quite like Fred MacMurray’s
ABSENT MINDED PROFESSOR), Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox,
Martin Short, Tom Jones, Lisa Marie, Jim Brown, Pam Grier, Paul Winfield,
Rod Steiger, Sylvia Sidney, Lucas Haas, Natalie Portman, Joe Don Baker
and Christina Applegate.
The
DVD release of MARS ATTACKS! features both16:9 enhanced wide screen
and pan and scan versions of the film. This dual sided release the two
versions of the film on opposing sides of the disc. Since MARS ATTACKS!
was filmed in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, I found the pan and scan version
rather pointless. Burton fills the frame with many visual goodies, and
the pan and scan process eliminates most of his intentions. For those
who remain interested in the pan and scan version, the transfer has good
color and is relatively sharp, without the film grain problems associated
with blowing up an anamorphic film to fill the dimensions of a television
screen. There were some noticeable artifacts on the pan and scan version,
yet they were virtually absent from the Letterboxed version of MARS
ATTACKS!. The Letterboxed transfer is fantastic, making this edition
of MARS ATTACKS! the perfect demo disc to show off the benefits
of Letterboxing and the DVD format. The transfer restores the film’s
proper theatrical framing, allowing one to enjoy the beauty of MARS
ATTACKS! cinematography, production design and computer generated
special effects. The image is razor sharp, and the colors are richly saturated.
The look reminds one of the candy colored glory of the lost Technicolor
process, which made so many fifties films so wonderful. 
In keeping with the rest of the film, the Dolby Digital (AC-3) soundtrack
has a big fifties style stereo mix, with a lot of left and right channel
separation. With this type of mix, only the music is relegated to the
rear channels. Other soundtrack options include a matrixed Dolby Surround
mix, as well as French and Spanish language tracks. As a special treat,
Danny Elfman’s wonderful score has been isolated for music only playback.
Elfman’s music captures the flavor of Bernard Herrmann’s THE
DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL score, while creating something new, original
and completely marvelous. 
The interactive menus include musical accompaniment (a first), production
notes, a cast listing with biographies and two theatrical trailers. The
presentation of the interactive menus is almost as much fun as the film
itself. The scene selector is a hoot. Subtitles are available in English,
French and Spanish.
