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Gribble (voiced by Dan Fogler) advises Milo (Seth Green) on how to handle Martians in the 3-D animated action-comedy “Mars Needs Moms.” |
This could be the first time in the history of science fiction movies that the humans are scarier than the Martians.
If you’ve seen commercials for the 3-D movie “Mars Needs Moms,” you know exactly what I’m talking about.
The kid in those commercials looks really creepy, like a photo-realistic copy of a human being, but with dull, lifeless eyes and plasticized skin.
“Mars Needs Moms” is another Robert Zemeckis-produced project that uses the same motion-capture computer-generated animation that the Chicago-born filmmaker experimented with in “The Polar Express” and “A Christmas Carol.”
In those earlier motion-capture projects, the kids looked slightly psychotic, as if at any moment they would whip out kitchen knifes and dispatch the nearest adults with Jack the Ripper-like precision.
The animation technology has improved enough so that Milo, the kid in “Mars Needs Moms,” looks slightly less murderous. But the moments where we’re supposed to get all fuzzy and emotional over him don’t quite work, because there’s a disturbingly unrealistic quality to his realistic look.
Seth Green supplies the voice and perky personality to Milo, a rebellious youngster who learns to regret telling his mother (Joan Cusack), “I would be better off if I didn’t have a mom!” (Read more…)