A few days ago, my family and I had the pleasure of viewing an advance screening of the Disney movie John Carter. Although we had some seating issues we were excited to get a sneak peek.
The movie John Carter is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first novel, “A Princess of Mars.” The awesome cast is led by Taylor Kitsch (NBC’S “Friday Night Lights”, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”) in the title role, Lynn Collins (“50 First Dates,” “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”) as the warrior princess Dejah Thoris and Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe (“Spider-Man,” “Shadow of the Vampire”) as Martian inhabitant Tars Tarkas.
The movie starts with us meeting John Carter, a seemingly tortured, and angry Civil War Veteran. He fights his way through the first few scenes and then is magically transported to Mars, aka Barsoom, after finding a cave of gold on earth. This is where he finds he has the amazing ability to jump really high, and I mean really high and has awesome super strength! The whole theater was laughing through these scenes, you’ll see why when you see the movie.
John then meet Tars Tarkas, the four armed leader of the Tharks who takes a liking to John. These scenes were really funny and cute. My oldest son and I were laughing our heads off. Once everyone finds out about the “powers” he possesses, everyone seems to want John Carter. It is during a battle scene where he first meets Dejah, the princess of Helium.
This is where the journey begins for John, Dejah and Sola. Sola, is the daughter of Tars. They embark on a mission to the Gates of ISS to find a way back to Earth for John but it quickly changes into John saving Barsoom and Princess Dejah.
The Red Men of Zodanga and Helium, the, I think, adorable Tharks, and the kind of creepy Therns, dominate midway through the movie and many battles ensue. The fight scenes, in my opinion, are not too graphic but there is a scene at the end of the movie that is presented in a flash back that may be disturbing to some, but the scene is shown so fast most younger kids won’t even understand it. There is also the costume of Princess Dejah at the end they some may feel is a little revealing, personally, I have seen more revealing on TV.
Overall, the movie had incredible CGI, great fight scenes and story lines and of course, a sweet love story. I enjoyed all of the character’s, especially Dejah, who was portrayed as incredibly strong, which is a great message for young women. Oh,and of course John Carter himself wasn’t so bad to look at 🙂 I’d have to say that my favorite character in the whole movie was Woola, the Martian Dog. He reminded me a little of Falkor the Luckdragon from Never Ending Story. You’ll see, he is very endearing.
Personally, I don’t care for 3D movies, I always get a little nauseous and have trouble fitting the glasses over my own, but it does add to a few scenes, especially the ship scenes you see when John first gets to Barsoom.
My oldest, who is 13, enjoyed this movie a lot, so this is perfect for young teenagers to go see. Just a note, it is quite long, so be prepared to take a bathroom break at some point, this may work against you if you are bringing younger children.
SEE AN EXCLUSIVE 10 MINUTE SCENE FROM THE MOVIE:
Disclosure: I was provided with advanced tickets to see John Carter by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in order to facilitate my review.
Dianna Ranere