quote: Speaking of the "John Carter" movie, can any of you fathom why it bombed so badly? I loved the books, and I thought this Disney version of the first book was well done -- not Oscar material, but well done nonetheless.
Jean Valjean:
quote: Maybe because the crowd that might be interested in the John Carter movie are also a crowd that are at least dimly aware that Mars is actually a frozen wasteland with the barest wisp of atmosphere, none of which is oxygen?
Yeah, I know. But when you plug actual place names into your fantasy, it's that much harder to willingly suspend your disbelief.
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I'm willing to make allowances if the book was written prior to scientific knowledge that renders it totally wrong.
However, if I were to make a John Carter movie I might consider setting it further out into the galaxy. Barsoom could be anywhere.
But the movie was like a cartoon. Had I known in advance that the movie should be interpreted as a cartoon, I might have enjoyed it a little more.
Or not.
Lots of sound and fury. Never really getting to know the characters enough to actually care about them. For me, that is the movie-killer.
Raiders of the Lost Ark had a lot of sound and fury too, but it also had actors that made you care, or hate. It takes more than painting a movie by the numbers to make a hit.
I only dimly remember reading Burroughs' novels but I don't think he imagined Carter jumping as far as he was represented to jump in that movie. Each jump was more amazing than the last. It got past the point of ridiculous. Weak gravity will only take you so far.
[ May 14, 2012, 08:16 PM: Message edited by: Randy ]
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My family enjoyed John Carter. Was it an epic journey? No. It was a simple eye candy adventure. I got what I expected going in.
Some blamed the promotional efforts. Some blamed timing. It wasn't on people's radar for whatever reason. I guess this a good place to ask. So, those who didn't see it, why didn't you?
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I read the entire Barsoom series in my younger days, as well as anything else I could get my hands on by Edgar Rice Burroughs. There are an awful lot of writers these days that are much better in most ways, but there was an idealism and underlying theme of honor and virtue in the heroes of his books that I sometimes miss. It worries me that may not be part of this movie--it certainly was "producered out" of any Tarzan movies I have seen. The sex scene in "Greystoke" (mild as it may have been) was so out of character of either Tarzan or Jane in the original Tarzan it ruined the whole show for me.
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Maybe because they called it "John Carter". I'd like to think that I could come up with a better name than that in my sleep.
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Jim Clay: (in his sleep): Jhzzzz Crzzzz ... Brzzzzmmm...
Hollywood producer: Hmm. Different. Edgy. I like it!
Look, the last new movie I was was the Star Trek reboot, and I hated it, so I'm not likely to have anything good to say about modern Hollywood.
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I'm a 50-something mechanical engineer. I first read the series as a young adult. I'm not sure why, but the techical inaccuracies in the story never really bothered me the way it does in some other movies.
I may also have walked in with low expectations that were then greatly exceeded. There was a prior attempt to make a movie out of the first book of the series in 2009 ("Princess of Mars"), and that movie was terribly done by every measure.
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I'm like Jen, this was the only place I'd heard about it. It's one of the few disadvantages of not having a TV signal - we have no idea what the current batch of movies are.
Unless of course it's something like Batman or The Hobbit, because my teenage boys let me know the instant a new trailer pops up on youtube. (Yup, I'm a geek raising geek children. Our house is an awesome place to be. ) I'm not sure how John Carter fell below our radar.
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They should have left the title as "John Carter of Mars". That is one of the marketing mistakes. I don't know, however, if that would have increased interest or not.
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Yeah, it was almost as good as the newer three Star Wars movies, the second Chronicles of Narnia movie, the fourth Indiana Jones movie, or Transformers.
I really wanted to like it.
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quote: Yeah, it was almost as good as the newer three Star Wars movies, the second Chronicles of Narnia movie, the fourth Indiana Jones movie, or Transformers.
Ouch.
But that confirms my inclination not to bother with it. At this point, I'd basically be seeing it just to ogle Lynn Collins, and that's not a very respectable reason.
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I actually liked the direction they took the second Narnia movie. Prince Caspian is my least favorite of the books and the changes to the story for the movie actually made the plot and character development somewhat interesting.
However, what they did with Dawn Treader was just plain silly.
I hope they do make Silver Chair. My favorite of the series, and probably the most easily adaptable to film.
As for John Carter... yeah... I think it was the whole Mars thing that turned people off. It would have likely had more success if Barsoom was reinvented as a distant star system, and the film was given an even remotely scifi-ish name like "The Star Voyager" or something.
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My son and I have said we hope they make the Silver Chair but I don't know of the Narnia movies will continue beyond the Magician's Nephew (the one Walden and Fox said they want to make next) if they even get that far. Walden (that produced the first two with Disney and the last one with Fox) has let rights expire and due to lackluster box office returns in the US, Fox may not be overly enthralled with making another one. The C.S. Lewis Estate wants to do them all but movie studio enthusiasm may not make it.
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My wife and I saw it last weekend and while I enjoyed it she really liked it and looks forward to it coming out on DVD so we can share it with the kids. I felt that while it was entertaining it suffered from seeming like many other movies I've seen, even if its ideas were actually original when first written.
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) I'm not sure how John Carter fell below our radar.
