I discovered the world of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom novels about five or six years ago, around the same time as I was delving into Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories for the very first time. To my unending delight I found two authors whose imaginations were coupled with a style of storytelling that drilled right down into the core of my being to that child who dreamed of a future filled with space flight and just knew that there was life ‘out there’. Here was nostalgia at its very best. This is especially the case with the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Regardless of what scientific knowledge of the immediate solar system that might have been available to the common man in the first part of the twentieth century, these books feel as if they were written out of an optimistic assuredness that life would be discovered on our next door neighbors one day. Just you wait.
Scientific discovery has done some wonderful things for us, and the discoveries about the planets that occupy our galaxy are indeed very, very exciting. But at the same time I sometimes miss the unknown wonder. Stories like those about Virginian John Carter, a Confederate veteran, who is suddenly and unexpectedly transported to the red planet capture that wonder like a fly in amber. Only the reality is even better, because by merely cracking open the cover of the book, you can step into that encapsulated time when anything was possible and the imagination was the blueprint for adventure.
The idea of a film version of John Carter’s adventures has made me equally excited and wary since the rumors of a film began in earnest several years ago. The film adaptation took many paths and I cannot say that I was entirely excited when I read the Disney was the company who would be bringing Burroughs’ planetary romance to the big screen. Don’t get me wrong, Disney has brought plenty of magic into my life over the last four decades. But I was by no means assured that they could bring John Carter, and what I mean by that is “my” John Carter, to life in a satisfying manner. Nevertheless I have been cautiously optimistic throughout the media build up to this weekend’s release. And on Sunday afternoon Mary (also a big fan of the books) and I ventured out to the local AMC to put Disney’s adaptation to the test.
And do you know what? Disney made the grade!
John Carter is by no means perfect. Few book-to-film adaptations are and when you consider the subject matter of this film and the many films of this type that have been dismal flops, perfect was not what I was hoping for. Near perfect on the other hand was a nice dream and Disney has earned my praise for bringing a solid, entertaining adaptation to audiences that had me geared up for a second viewing even as the credits rolled. Whether you agree or disagree with my assessment may fall in large part on your previous knowledge of the stories.
Some of the reviews I read, positive and negative, purported that the film is confusing, particularly during the open sequences. There also seems to be some agreement that the film drags in the middle. Perhaps I am just easily entertained. Mary and I were riveted to the screen for the entire 2+ hour running time. It isn’t that I cannot see where those complaints were coming from, it just wasn’t my experience. The writers tried to do justice to the story, and to do that there had to be some lead in time and a lot of material had to be worked into the story. I felt that they did an admirable job creating something of a bookend story that wove in the beginning and end of the first Barsoom novel, A Princess of Mars, that honored the spirit of Burroughs’ story while also appealing to the sensibilities of a contemporary audience.
I won’t spoil it for you, but through a series of events we get to know a little about the history of John Carter before his eventual transport to Mars. Once there he discovers that a difference in gravity affords him super strength, a gift that saves his life when he is discovered by the Tharks, the not-so-little green men of Mars. The Tharks are but one of many races on the red planet, some of which appear every bit as human, only more red of skin, as John Carter himself. What follows is a story of war and politics and a hero’s journey that is certainly not treading new ground. But that matters very little if you approach it with the idea that this film is based on a book that is now 100 years old, and what you see unfolding before you is a film that, despite the preponderance of CGI, hearkens back to the way films used to be made. Remembrances from John Carter’s past were interwoven with scenes from his present which gave a deep emotional resonance to the story which was also unexpected.
Utah makes for a gorgeous stand-in for Mars, and the largely monochrome scenery is really very lovely. There is a stark beauty to the landscape that is showcased on the large canvas of a movie theater screen. The CGI is frankly quite amazing. A great deal of time is spent with the Tharks and I never once found myself distracted by the CGI. I was able to emotionally connect with these digitally rendered creations as easily as with any of the human actors. This was one of the biggest keys for me when it came to how I would react to the film. This race of aliens is essential to the story and their realization on the big screen was a feat of skilled craftsmanship.
I wasn’t entirely sold on the idea of Taylor Kitsch as John Carter. On the one hand I was happy because, despite his previous work, I hadn’t seen him in anything. But I didn’t think he met my expectations of what John Carter would look like. In the end it didn’t matter because I was sold on him not long into the film. Lynn Collins, another unknown to me, was equally as enjoyable as Dejah Thoris, the smart and strong female character who is central to this particular story. The voice actors were well chosen. Even though many of them are famous in their own right, I never found myself distracted thinking “that is so-and-so doing that alien voice”. I really don’t have any complaint about the casting choices. I was particularly pleased with James Purefoy as Kantos Kan. And I cannot forget Woola, easily one of the most fun characters of the film. He is man’s best friend on speed, quite literally.
On the whole I was more pleased than I ever expected I would be. Good performances, beautiful scenery, nice special effects that never once threatened to overwhelm the story, a pleasing score, and (from what I can remember) an adaptation that honored the spirit, and often the letter, of the source material. My only regret is not having the sharp memory that my wife possesses, as there were things in the film that I completely missed as being from the books that she picked right up on. At the very least I think a re-read of A Princess of Mars is in order.
I will be anxious for the assessment of those of you who saw the film who are not at all familiar with the source material. I wonder if it will excite you in the way that it did me or if it will be something that ultimately did not work for you. I am also equally interested in seeing if I am in the minority of Barsoom fans that actually were pleased with the film. Numbers for the weekend look very poor (though our 3:00 p.m. Sunday showing was packed) and the Disney marketing department is taking a possibly deserved beating for not doing more to make the film appeal to those outside its core audience. The romance of the film was largely ignored in trailers, as was a great deal of the actual story. The target audience for a film like John Carter should not be either fans of the books or the adolescent or young adult male audience who are give-me attendees for this kind of film. Instead a savvy marketing campaign should target those unlikely to make this their weekend film choice in the hopes of luring them in for what, in the case of John Carter, is a film that offers a little something for everyone. I am not big on sequels, particularly given the propensity for sequels to drop off in quality from the first film. But I liked this John Carter, Dejah Thoris, Tars Tarkas, Kantos Kan and of course Woola enough that I was really hoping for a sequel. With numbers like these, it does not look like that is in the cards.
At any rate I am grateful for an enjoyable adaptation and I look forward to continuing on with the adventures of John Carter from the pen of the man who imagined him in the first place.
I’m so glad to have your stamp of approval on this show. It looked a little cheesy to me in the trailers I’ve seen, but it seems everyone that’s seen this past weekend has loved it. And now you say it’s good too! Awesome. I hope to see it soon.
The trailers did not do the film any favors AT ALL. As a pulp adventure there is certainly a cheese factor, but I felt the film makers really took Burroughs’ story seriously and did an admirable job translating it to the big screen. It is a shame that the one big area that Disney fell down in, marketing, is the one area that is so detrimental to the film’s performance.
I have not read the books, but the movie made me want to read them, which is something a truly fine film adaptation can do.
I loved the whole movie and fell in love with Barsoom and it’s wonders and characters. I had not seen the lead characters elsewhere, but liked them immediately.
My sister, who likes action films but is not particularly a science fiction fan as I am also loved it.
I think the marketing for it has been terrible and the advance word of it surely being all epic fail is bizarre.
I’ve only read the first three books, Librariandoa, but I enjoyed them all immensely. And now I’ve got the urge (which I am probably going to give in to) to go back and read the first book again before continuing on with Thuvia, Maid of Mars, the next book in the series that I have yet to read.
Happy to hear about both you and your sister’s reaction to it. I’m hoping some positive word of mouth will help boost numbers and give this film some staying power.
I’m so glad both Mary and you enjoyed it so much. I read the first book at least 5 years ago or more as well. Long enough ago for me to have forgotten the details but I do remember liking it. I remember it started off quite dry to me but once he was transported to Mars I felt the story really took off. I never did read more in the series but would like to one day. The book didn’t grab me like REH’s Conan series but I still solidly enjoyed A Princess of Mars.
I will say that Disney marketing really fell down on the job on this one. I recently saw a fan made trailer for the film which was great. A fan took images from all of the Disney trailers out there and made one that made sense. It was one of those frustrating moments as a fan where you can’t believe all these high paid Hollywood types can’t get it right yet a fan can craft something much better at home for free.
I saw the box office results as well which were bad unfortunately because it means Hollywood will most likely ignore the rest of ERB’s library of works which is a shame.
I probably enjoy the Conan stories more myself, but then they are both different enough from each other that I enjoy them each for what they are, as do you.
I’m going to have to find that trailer.
Okay, is this it? Because this is a good one!
Yup. That’s the one!!!
It is SOOO much better than any of the trailers Disney put out. They should hire this fan!
Too bad it’s too late to save this movie. The first weekend box office is done. It’s only going to drop after this which is a shame.
I wanted to see a movie yesterday and it was a toss up between John Carter and The Artist.
We ended up seeing The Artist and loved it! Looking forward to catching this one, though. Are you serious about seeing it again?
We were at the 2:00 yesterday so we just missed you!
I’m glad to hear that you both enjoyed The Artist. I was sorry I didn’t see it before the Oscars.
I am definitely up for seeing John Carter again. In fact I’d actually like to pop for the extra $ to see it in IMAX. Wanna go on a date? 🙂
That sounds tempting….as long as I don’t get dizzy!
Aren’t you always dizzy? 😉
I haven’t heard of the movie or the book. I’ll have to check it out when it’s released on DVD. It sounds like something I would enjoy…a nice escapist story.
I knew for years that ERB had written the Tarzan books, but in my ignorance I though that was all he wrote. I was amazed to discover this series of books as well as a whole bunch of other stories that he wrote. He was an incredibly prolific author.
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this! I wasn’t able to see it last weekend, myself, but I hope to take it in sometime in the next two weeks. I’ve been a Burroughs fan for about twelve years now and a Michael Chabon fan for nearly three, so I can’t wait to hear Chabon’s script for Burroughs’s material.
Given the fact that you like both of their work you most definitely have to see the film! I started re-reading A Princess of Mars over lunch today and am already digging how faithful the show was to the material I’ve read thus far.
What I find interesting is that the majority of the Big Name reviewers trashed the film, giving it one star, or saying it was juvenile junk. One I saw said it was a poor attempt at another Avatar film. Huh? Yet just about every single review I’ve seen on blogs has been like yours: liked it, loved it, would love to see the next book done. In our bottom-line world, I’m very much afraid either it won’t happen or it will but be drastically cheaped out and thus self-fulfill the prophesy of a poor sequel.
I haven’t seen it yet, but plan to pretty soon.
It has been see-sawing back and forth of the 50% line on Rotten Tomatoes the last few days. Not surprisingly the “audience” has it rated at a 72% fresh vs. rotten. The ‘top critics’ only have it about 35% fresh. I was surprised though to find reviewers like Dana Stevens and A.O. Scott praising it. They had criticisms but overall liked it.
Given the money it has made…or hasn’t made as the case may be…I’m afraid there are more chances of no sequel or the really bad sequel you describe. And I’d rather have no continuation in the films unless they are done with passion for the work and with the same cast.
At any rate it is fun to have this film out there and the books are a treat for those who want to continue with John Carter’s adventures. I do hope you enjoy it when you see it, but either way will be interested in your comments.
I’m taking some folks and seeing it again tomorrow night on the IMAX this time. Can’t wait!
Have to say that this is my favorite review of John Carter thus far:
http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie-critic-reviews/john-carter/
This guy GETS it!
I saw the movie this past weekend with my two sons. I read the whole series about 34 years ago, and basically have been yearning for a decent movie ever since!
I made a point of re-reading the first 3 novels of the series as well, just to be aware of discrepancies between the books and the movie. I feel that Carl summed up my feelings almost perfectly. I came out of the movie having thoroughly enjoyed it. My sons, ages 21 and 19, have not read the books and enjoyed the movie too.
It makes me happy to see so many positive responses all over the ‘net given the critics’ panning of the film (to a certain degree anyway) and the film’s less than stellar weekend performance.
I’m glad you had a similar experience with the movie Sean, especially given your affection for the books. And of course it is great to hear that your sons enjoyed it as well.
Well, to be totally honest I haven’t read the book and I hadn’t heard about the film – so maybe that reinforces your point about Disney’s marketing (or lack thereof)! (Or maybe living under a rock isn’t conducive to finding out such things!)
That trailer above is brilliant – I checked out the reviews on IMDB and they seem pretty positive, rated about 7.?? – which certainly isn’t bad.
I sometimes think that films like this just get slated because reviewers think it’s just mass market pulp. I don’t really agree with that – sometimes it’s great to sit back and watch an action movie or something with great special effects. It’s a bit like when a film gets major critical acclaim – you might watch and think ‘what?’ but it’s a bit like The Emperor’s New Clothes and nobobdy wants to dive in and contradict! So, well done for sticking to your guns. Sounds good. Now I’m in a dilema – because I like to read the book before I see the film – I suppose you can’t always read the book first!
Thanks
Lynn 😀
That certainly does make a good point Lynn. I saw some fairly regular marketing but that was on sites like YouTube, and even then that fan trailer is 100% more appealing than the way Disney used the same footage to promote the film.
What is special about a genre film like this is the fact that it is built upon some really early work, work that many books and films have used as a foundation and as inspiration. You cannot help but watch John Carter and think of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ influence on the type of story that inspired Lucas when he was creating Star Wars, for example.
You won’t find me discouraging you from reading the book, but I also wouldn’t let that stop you from seeing the movie if you are in the mood for a real fun swashbuckling action adventure film. The nice thing about A Princess of Mars is that it is not a tremendously long book. I think my paperback version is 150 pages long. So its a pretty quick read.
Well, now you’ve said it’s only 150 pages it’s almost too good to be true. I’ve been reading such a lot of BIG books I really need something to fit in between
Sounds perfect.
Thanks
Lynn 😀
Just be sure to pick up “A Princess of Mars” and not the novelization, which might be good. There is a really nice looking book (to me because it has this brilliant orange poster image for the cover) that has both the novelization of the film and the novel in it. I’d like to snag it at some point. We’ll see.
The trailers were all over TV here in Portland: NBC, CBS, ESPN… I’m amazed Lynn hadn’t heard of it, but then I’m also a SF-F fan and read several SF-F blogs and sites (SF Signal, Science Fiction World, especially the latter has a lot of film information and updates. I’m also surprised she hasn’t heard of the book. Lynne, I wonder if you’re familiar with any Burroughs?
I don’t watch hardly any television, so I wasn’t sure how marketed it was on tv. I only know that the marketing online was weak. It appealed to me as I was a fan, but wouldn’t have had I been coming to this without any knowledge of the story.
Now that fan trailer on the other hand, wow! That is the way this should have been marketed.
I wasn’t all that surprised about her not hearing of the book. As I mentioned up until a few years back all I knew of Burroughs was that he wrote the Tarzan novels. It wasn’t until I started collecting art books about Frank Frazetta that I was exposed to the other books ERB wrote.
I can’t wait to see it. Will be viewing it Wed with my son. I am ignoring the reviews since I remember how critics treated Bladerunner and Dune.
Thanks for the great post. I’ve been waiting to see if you would review it. Yeah!!
Can’t wait to hear what you think. I’m going to see it again tonight. Really looking forward to it! Make sure you come back and let me know what you and your son thought of it, and if you do a review please leave a link here for us to come over and check out.
I loved this film (but haven’t written my post yet); never read the books but my husband is a huge fan so I had an idea of what I was going to see, and I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it given how awful some of the reviews have been.
Thrilled to hear it Bride! You should check out this excellent review of John Carter by author Greg Bear:
http://www.gregbear.com/other/johncarter.cfm
I was finally able to see John Carter on Friday and loved it. I highly recommend catching it on the big screen if you can. I saw it in the Imax 3D but I thought the 3D was nothing special so if you can only catch it 2D you will be just fine and save some money to boot.
Now I too have an itch to go back and read A Princess of Mars. 🙂 Why they didn’t call the movie that name instead of John Carter I have no idea. Plus they should have played up to romance angle in the trailers to show it’s appeal to men and women. It is not just a guys action pic like The Fast and Furious movies.
There really wasn’t anything special about the 3D presentation, although the IMAX sound was great. It was actually a little better in our theater but it was still really good in yours. I actually expected the opposite. Makes me want surround sound badly!
Reading A Princess of Mars with this movie fresh in mind has been fun. Plus since I consider it a SF/Fantasy mash up it is a fun bridge between the SF Experience and Once Upon a Time.
So thrilled to be able to see this with you since we discovered the work and the art and stuff at the same time.
I’m thinking they kept changing the name to try to distance it from SF and make it appealing to a broader audience, which in some ways is silly because once you see the images onscreen you know what it is. And I agree, there is a great romance here that they missed out on showcasing in their marketing.
I read the Barsoom books when I was a teen and collected the comics, too. I really liked the movie and I think it’s one of the best book-to-film adaptations I’ve seen.
I agree with you about the casting. I haven’t seen Kitsch in anything else and was dubious about him at first, but he grew on me. Dejah’s actress was in the Wolverine: Origins movie but she spot on here.
I’m really sad to hear that it’s done so badly in the US.
I’m discovering it to be a really great adaptation Mervi, so I agree with you wholeheartedly. It makes me admire the film even more…if that is possible, after all I’ve seen it three times in less than a week. LOL!
I’m disappointed in its US box office, especially considering the long list of positive reviews I’m reading from fans, including authors and some critics, who GET it. Its too bad the more prominent and vocal critics get the play that they do. At least when they are so wrong it is sad.
You seem to be in the same boat as me. I could easily have allowed the pedantic literary critic in me to take over and blast the film for Walking Zodanga, Tragic Anti-Hero Carter and Dejah Warrior Princess, but for some reason all of those problems faded into the background just seeing Tars Tarkas and Sola and Woola up on the big screen.
“faded into the background” is a good description, as that is what any qualms I had about anything did. I let the film overtake me and just enjoyed it. We didn’t figure we’d see a John Carter film in our lifetimes and then we got one and I feel they did a pretty tremendous job with it, all things considered.
I finally got to see JCM on the big screen. I loved it, and thought it was a fun and entertaining movie. It is something that I could watch with my teenagers. I first picked up “A Princess of Mars” in a used book store as a teenager. It took me years to find the next one in the series. This was the 70’s and they were hard to find. Now I have them on my iPad… It has been a long time since I have read them!
I just checked…
Domestic: $62,407,212 26.6%
+ Foreign: $172,100,000 73.4%
= Worldwide: $234,507,212
So John Carter is doing much better overseas. So I guess someone in the world “gets” it.
I checked that out the other day as well, Ian. Its made back its money if you include overseas box office. Still a shame that critics and poor marketing sunk this before it ever had a chance.
My wife and I went and saw the movie last week and we were both pleasantly surprised by how much we did enjoy it. As are after now I want to get myself some John carter books.
I’m thrilled to hear it Adam! I think I’ve mostly found that the fans enjoyed it in spite of what critics said. Which makes it even more of a shame that it has done so poorly over here.
I think you’ll enjoy the books.
I saw John Carter a couple of weeks ago and kept meaning to come back and comment on this post but alas, kept forgetting to do that. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and that was going into it with next to no knowledge of the source material. Since then I’ve read the movie novelization and started “The Princess of Mars” original novel. It is a real shame that it looks unlikely that this movie will start a franchise…there was — is — real promise there.
I’m glad you did Ruth, thrilled to that you are reading A Princess of Mars. How was the novelization of the film? I almost bought that book just because I LOVED the bright orange cover.
You are sadly right about that, and it is a shame because I believe this was a work of love. I posted a new short post today with a link to an excellent John Carter post that you should check out if you have time.
Honestly, the novelization was a bit underwhelming. But I was glad for the purchase because I read the novelization first and immediately dove into ‘A Princess of Mars’ — the novelization reminded me of the film plot so it was interesting to compare the two immediately. 🙂 Plus I had downloaded a free version of ‘Princess’ and there were like no decent chapter breaks, which honestly made reading it a bit of a slow go. The copy bundled with the novelization rectified that issue.
I really enjoyed the Burroughs book and downloaded the 2nd Mars novel to my Kindle! It may be a bit before I get to it though…
I understand that Ruth, there is only so much time and the abundance of books to read makes it a bit hard to commit to any one series, in my opinion, without breaking it up with other reading.
Thanks for the update about the novelization, I was curious. I don’t know when the last time was that I read a novelization of a film. When I was young I used to read and re-read the novelizations for all three Star Wars films frequently. I still keep copies of those books even though I may never go read them again just because I have such a nostalgic attachment to them.
This is just in regards to the marketing of the film. I Loved the film and have seen it several times before it left the area .
I was introduced to the books …well , soo many years ago and have been waiting a long time for something like this film, but ,and I guess I shouldn’t be surprised , besides being a science fiction fantasy, the story has always been a Superhero story to me. Written 26 years before the introduction of Superman in the comics, it was pretty much the original Superman story ,but instead of landing on Earth, Carter found himself on Mars with pretty much the same original Superman powers ! Leap tall buildings in a single bound (Superman didn’t fly in the beginning , he really did leap), super strength, speed, and pretty impervious to harm ( how many times can someone be whipped to the ground like that and still keep going?) It wasn’t because he was some white guy from earth that he was triumphant, He had powers and abilities beyond that of mortal martians!!
One of the things I noticed right away in previews was his leaps and how they really delivered and so I went into the film very excited just to see how they handled his “super powers” through out the film.
So , considering the preponderance of Superhero films nowadays that seem to bring people in just because they’re about Superheroes with super powers….. Why Not tell people that John Carter , not only being one of the earliest examples of science fiction fantasy but one of the first Super powered Super Hero stories ?!
I like it! And I don’t disagree with you at all. He certainly is very much like what became the superhero mold when you read Burroughs’ novels. And I thought they captured that very well in the film (which I saw three times during the opening week, 🙂 ). It really is a shame more people didn’t get to experience this on the big screen. What is going to happen is a bunch of them will end up seeing it on DVD, will agree with us that the critics who blasted this were way off base, and will wish they had seen it in the theater. Argh!!!! It is soooo frustratring.