dandbone The movie is about Martians invading the Earth. The reason is unclear, but as the movie progresses, it turns out they are purging the planet of everything uncool. By uncool I mean redneck soldiers, politicians, generals, fashion, sex addicts, trailer park dwellers, crooks, scientists, journalists and lawyers. In the end, uncoolness becomes a weapon against the aliens.There is a subtext in the movie, that civilization itself is uncool and maybe we should return to simpler times when men used to live in tepees.There are lots of great jokes in the movies, and some of them aren't exactly obvious. My favorite is the one with the hydrogen fusion and the laughing gas.There are lots of characters, most of them being stereotypes. That is actually not a bad thing, and many of the jokes derive from these characters and their perception of the alien invasion. There are lots of A-list actors in the movie and, though they each have little screen time, they make their characters unforgettable.I wish that Hollywood would make more movies like this, instead of sinking hundreds of millions on Avatar and other Muppet shows.

brandonmatzke-69819 I want to start this review by saying that I can understand why people may not like this film: it's bizarre, corny at times, and filled with one to many celeberties. But, that's exactly why I like it. Mars Attacks! is reminiscent of the classics 50's science fiction films, when Hollywood was more concerned with being entertaining than making sense. And that was the spirit of Mars Attacks: entertain, but don't be afraid to be strange. I mean, the martians are killed by "Indian Love Call" for crying out loud! Again, not for everyone. But for those looking for a stranger take on the alien invasion story line, this if for you.

Thomas Drufke Tim Burton doesn't usually delve into the Sci-Fi realm of filmmaking, so Mars Attacks seemed like a good deviation for him while still maintaining his style. Burton certainly does that, with sometimes satisfying and always ridiculous results.One thing it undeniably has is an unbelievable cast. Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Michael J. Fox, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Martin Short, and Danny Devito star in this insane sci-fi romp. And that's just to name a few. In some ways, this is Tim Burton's Independence Day. The story is structured in a similar way with an ensemble cast sharing the load with interweaving stories. The aliens have similar intentions but with a slightly more comedic approach and horrific special effects.I was not on board with this film for the first 45 minutes. There were far too many characters to keep track of and I didn't really feel connected to them anyway. The film also seemed to be taking itself way too seriously. But once the aliens reach Washington D.C., it turns into a completely different film altogether. So in one hand, it's an uneven directing job from Burton. But on the other hand, the change of tone midway through kind of adds to the ridiculousness of the whole thing. Either way, I enjoyed my time with this sci-fi romp.Overall, it's a charming little sci-fi project from Burton, and we haven't really gotten one of those from him since. Although the budget skyrocketed to 70 million, which is a lot for the 90's, the story feels more personal and smaller scale than the similar Independence Day. The effects are brutal and would have been better off using stop motion like Burton had originally planned. But all of this pretty much leads to a harmlessly entertaining comedy that hits more often than not.+Tonal change helps+Cast+Ridiculous-Don't really care about all the characters6.8/10

FilmBuff1994 Mars Attacks is a mediocre movie with a poorly developed story, despite a top notch cast. For a film with a premise as bizarre as a group of aliens based on trading cards attacking Earth, parodying Science Fiction from the 1950's and featuring a gigantic slew of cameos, it is surprisingly bland. It does not deliver it's promise nearly as much as it could have, the cameos feel very much like they were done for the paycheck and its satire of cheesy disaster films was something we have already seen done, to a much more effective degree, by the Zucker brothers. The lead cast members do a good job, Jack Nicholson is great as the president and throws himself in to this universe effectively, Pierce Brosnan is also very funny in his professor role, proving comedic talent. It surprised me with a set up like this, directed by the versatile imagination of Tim Burton, that Mars Attacks bored me, it is not as bad as it could have been, but it was certainly was not as good either, might be worth the watch if you see it on television and want to form your own opinion, but I would not recommend it. The Government must act fast when the Earth is attacked by powerful aliens. Best Performance: Jack Nicholson/ Worst Performance: Tom Jones