John Carter

Movie Name: John Carter

Year of Release: 2012

Director: Andrew Stanton

Stars: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Willem Dafoe, Mark Strong, Thomas Haden Church, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, Daryl Sabara, Ciaran Hinds, Art Malik

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6

Synopsis:

Andrew Stanton's first live action film "John Carter" comes surrounded by a cloud of news concerning the film's budget and it's poorly conceived marketing campaign, which has been obscuring the film's qualities. The film follows the story of John Carter a skilled veteran of the civil war, who finds himself through a strange device, on the plains of Mars. There he is thrown in the midst of a battle for the domain of the planet, and thanks to his newly found physical capabilities (due to the changes in the gravity of the planet), he ends up changing the tides and the overall life of the inhabitants of the planet.
The path of this film to the screen is marked by many attempts from different studios and filmmakers (most notably Robert Rodriguez), and after directing many of Pixar's big hits, namely "Finding Nemo" and "Wall-E", Andrew Stanton was the name selected to create the world of Edgar Rice Burroughs' hero on the screen. The film ends up having mixed results - in an attempt to create more than stereotypes and allow for character development, Stanton creates a film that has an irregular pacing. "John Carter" though with it's flaws in pacing and the somewhat predictability of the plot, still has lots of positive things to offer, namely it's fantastic visuals, ranging from the production design, costumes and the stunning special effects. Though flawed, it's a film with solid actors and a solid and entertaining core. Worth watching.