I first read the "John Carter of Mars" series in high school, and recently re-read several of the books. The series is irregular in quality, but highly imaginative with magnificent literary visuals.
So I could never quite figure out why the books hadn't been turned into movies. I guess either the Burroughs estate forbade it, or the caliber of special effects just weren't up to the challenge. And maybe the suggestion that the Barsoomians went around nearly naked might have put off a lot of people.
As I recall, there was a borderline-softcore-porn adaptation of "A Princess of Mars" put out a few years ago, which The Husband said was only watchable in fast-forward.
So now I'm pretty enthusiastic about the new "John Carter" film that's coming out. The review I read this morning was poorly constructed, but the writer seemed to genuinely like the movie. This is the very sort of story CGI was created to serve, because Burroughs put in so many fantastical elements that actors on wires or in rubber suits just couldn't pull off convincingly.
I'm hoping to con The Husband into going to see this one on the Big Screen. Science fiction epics just lose something when viewed on a TV set.
I just viewed the trailer, which is taken entirely from the prologue section, set in the Arizona Territory in 1868. They added a conflict between Carter and the US Cavalry, but it also lays the groundwork for the later, similar situation Carter encounters on Mars.
Because it's Disney, I don't expect it to get too violent or gross.
The "look" of the film is quite nice, even on a tiny computer screen. I'm hoping the actor portraying Carter will get over the gravelly snarl, which can get tiresome; but in the trailer he was being set upon by everybody so the moody rumble kind of fits.
Ooh, there's more trailers...yeah, this looks like it could be cool. :)
But "from the director of Finding Nemo and WALL-E?" You, ahm, really want to tie those all together?
(Full disclosure: I liked both those other films.)
There's also subtle humor in the script, and I mean, subtle. So forget what the critics say--they're just out to criticize, anyway--go see it for yourself then make your decision. That's what I'm going to do!
Masquerading as a normal person day after day is exhausting.
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