Directed by: Andrew Stanton
Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe, Bryan Cranston

So today, I decided to hit the mall to check out the new, “John Carter”, movie released by Disney. Here is my review:

Plot/synopsis: A Civil War vet named, John Carter, who is from Virginia, is transplanted to planet Mars, the red planet. While there, he discovered that the planet was inhabited by 12 foot tall barbarians. While John is being kept prisoner by these barbarians, he met a princess named,Dejah Thoris, to save her from getting forced to marry a man who she doesn’t want to marry.

As some of you know, this film was based on the first John Carter book by, Edgar Rice Burroughs, which is originally titled, “A Princess of Mars”. The same author who wrote the Tarzan series. I never read the book but after seeing the film, makes me want to. I believe I can download the book for FREE through iBooks on my Ipad. Sometime, I’ll have to download it and read it myself.

On with the movie, I was at first pretty skeptical of this movie being made. The trailer didn’t grab me at first, but it grew on me. Plus, I like Taylor Kitsch as an actor. He is most well known for his role as Tim Riggins for, “Friday Night Lights”, plus he did several other films in his career as well. The other movies he starred in weren’t very big roles. They were mostly supporting roles and cameos. Finally, Taylor gets a huge opportunity to star in a major leading role and he ended up getting, John Carter. This John Carter character has appeared in comics and there was already a straight to DVD movie as well. It’s just that this character has never landed a big screen picture, and now it’s the time.

I actually thought the movie itself was very enjoyable and entertaining. It had good writing and good acting. The movie was a good long, 2 and half hours. It is action packed. The special effects are pretty impressive. Taylor did a great job in his first major leading role. Taylor did a great job playing a tough guy character.

A lot of people have been comparing this movie to “Star Wars”, and, “Avatar”, and I agree. This film is similar to those movies, but better, in my opinion. The action scenes were fun. I liked the characters Bryan Cranston and Willem Dafoe played. It’s a PG-13 Disney movie, but it still can be enjoyable for the little kids as well.

What I liked about “John Carter”, they made that movie kind of old school. The way sci fi movies were made back in the 70’s and 80’s. It had that kind of feeling. Kind of felt like David Lynch’s “Dune” or, “Enemy Mine”. There hasn’t been any new sci-fi action adventure flicks lately, and it’s about time that this genre makes a comeback. “John Carter” wasn’t the best movie ever made, but it was just enjoyable and fun.

Score for “John Carter” = *** (“3 stars” as in good)

Kev