Even after five years and $250 million of development, the story of John Carter falls short of expectations
John Carter may be rated PG-13, but there is no lack of action and bloodshed, amplified by special effects and 3D glasses. Adapted by Disney from the 1912 novel A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the movie takes place just after the American Civil War.
Taylor Kitsch plays war-weary former Confederate captain John Carter who is first seen in Arizona, searching for gold in the land of the Apache Indians. Hiding in a cave from Apaches, he stumbles on a medallion that teleports him to the planet Mars — or Barsoom — where he’s reluctantly thrown into the planet’s conflict.
As the hero of the epic, all John Carter needs is a beautiful princess in distress for the plot to move forward. Enter Princess Dejah of Helium, love interest, who fully fulfills the on-screen romance. Cheesy love scenes are plentiful, with one that ends with her asking “Will you stay and fight for me; will you fight for Barsoom?”
If the scenes focused more on unfolding the story rather than on Princess Dejah’s barely-there outfits, perhaps the audience would be left less bewildered by random rivers and flying machines.
Director Andrew Stanton, who deviates from his usual repetoire of Pixar animations in taking on this film, allegedly went over budget for the production that Wall Street analysts predict will cost Disney a loss of at least $100 million.
You’d think that having worked on the project with passion for years and spent so much money, it would be a well developed success but it was so overloaded by special effects and action sequences that it couldn’t go deep into the story.
The first trailer was released almost a year before the movie was released, with an extended commercial trailer promoting its release during the Super Bowl.
John Carter has been met with mixed reviews, and it has not lived up to the critical expectations of a film that took so much planning, but the blend of history, science fiction, action, and romance makes it easy to enjoy.
