Mars Needs Moms

Feature animation comes at us in so many different technologies and modes of expression these days that the possibilities are boundless. So are the pitfalls.

A good-looking shell of a movie such as "Rango" comes along, offering a string of nots -- it's not in 3-D; it's not a sequel; it's not based on material from another medium; it's not ashamed of pilfering film history, with minimal wit, for its own purposes -- and the result is hailed in many quarters (I was in the minority) as a new classic, simply because it reminds people of non-animated Westerns they adore.

Now comes a comparative piker: "Mars Needs Moms" from Walt Disney Pictures.

This one is in 3-D and is based on a 2007 Berkeley Breathed picture book. (He's the "Bloom County" creator.) Like "The Polar Express" and the recent Disney "Christmas Carol," it bears the stamp of producer Robert Zemeckis and his latest advancements in performance-capture animation.

This means a fine, reliable performer such as Joan Cusack, who plays the supporting role of the mom Mars needs, sounds, looks and moves something like a version of the human Joan Cusack, but with most of the compelling facial detail scrubbed away.

This brand of performance capture isn't quite human and isn't quite animated, and the stylization feels stuck in the uncanny valley of inexpressivity -- which is odd, because the whole point of the technology is to enhance the facial mobility and detail, not wipe it clean.

So, plot. Every 25 years on Mars, baby Martians pop out of the ground like potatoes and are put in the care of "Clone Wars"-esque nanny-bots. The Martians, ruled by a fearsome matriarch played by Mindy Sterling, come to Earth and kidnap one new human mother each generation. Her innate talent for discipline, empathy and love is extracted and then implanted into the nanny-bots. (None of this grim nonsense came from the book, which was far more comic -- and cleverly drawn -- than the film, directed and co-written by Simon Wells.)

The separation and eventual reunion of 9-year-old Milo (Seth Green) and his mom (Cusack) is played out against the tale of the motherless human Milo finds on Mars, a slobby computer genius named Gribble (Dan Fogler, more strenuous than funny). Mars has one society above ground, in control and all-female, and another, all-male caste of rejects living "Time Machine"-like far below the planet's surface. How do all these narrative elements jell? They don't. The tone baffles and wobbles. This is one of the least visually appealing films ever to go out under the Disney banner. Jokes about "Top Gun" and Botox sound like desperation. On the whole, I'd rather be on Pluto, which isn't even a planet.

 

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"Mars Needs Moms" Movie Trailer

 

MPAA rating: PG (for sci-fi action and peril).

Running time: 1:28.

Voice Cast: Seth Green (Milo); Dan Fogler (Gribble); Elisabeth Harnois (Ki); Joan Cusack (Mom); Mindy Sterling (Alien leader).

Credits: Directed by Simon Wells; written by Simon Wells and Wendy Wells, based on the book by Berkeley Breathed; produced by Robert Zemeckis, Jack Rapke, Steve Starkey and Steven Boyd. A Walt Disney Pictures release.

 

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