Mars Needs Moms

Plot synopsis:
Unbeknownst to humans, there is a thriving, technologically sophisticated society of Martians living below the surface of Mars. The Martians Supervisor (Mindy Sterling), while observing Earth, sees a mother (Joan Cusack) persuading her son, Milo (motion by Seth Green, voice by Seth Dusky), to do his chores. The Martians decide to bring her to Mars, where her "momness" will be extracted and implanted into the next generation of nannybots. Meanwhile, Milo, who doesn't like following the house rules and doing chores, tells his mother in anger that his life would be better without her, breaking her heart.
Later that night, Milo goes to apologize, but discovers his mom is being abducted. He runs after her, but they end up in separate parts of the Martian spaceship. On Mars, Milo is taken to an underground cell. He escapes and is chased by Martian guards, but he follows a voice that tells him to jump down a chute, and lands in a lower subterranean level. There, he sees a trash-covered landscape that is inhabited by furry creatures.
Milo is whisked away by the creatures to meet Gribble, a.k.a. George Ribble (Dan Fogler), the childlike adult human who had told him to jump down the chute. Gribble explains to Milo that the Martians plan to extract Milo's Mom's memories at sunrise, using a process that will kill her. Gribble, who is lonely and doesn't want Milo to leave, pretends to help Milo rescue his mother, but his plan goes awry leading to Gribble being captured and Milo being pursued by Martian guards.
Milo is rescued by Ki (Elisabeth Harnois), one of the supervisions who raises Martian babies. Milo tells her about his search for his Mom and what a human relationship with a mom is like, as Ki and her kin were mentored by only nannybots and supervisors and don't know of love.
Milo returns to Gribble's home but finds him missing. Gribble's robotic spider, Two-Cat (Dee Bradley Baker), takes Milo to the Martian compound where Gribble is being prepared for execution. Milo is captured by the guards, but Ki tosses him a laser gun, allowing him to escape.
Milo and Gribble retreat to an even lower uninhabited level, where, Gribble explains his Mom's abduction and murder by the Martians 25 years earlier. Gribble blames himself for her being chosen, and regrets that he hadn't been able to save her. Milo convinces Gribble to actually help him just as Ki finds them. They discover an ancient mural of a Martian family and realize that Martian children weren't always raised by machines. Gribble explains that Martian female babies are currently raised by nannybots in the technologically advanced society, while the male babies are sent down below to be raised by adult male Martians, which are the furry creatures he encountered earlier.
Milo, Gribble, and Ki save Milo's Mom just before sunrise, causing the energy of the extraction device to short out the electronic locks to the control room. This lets the adult males and babies enter, where they run amok, attacking the guards and robots.
Milo and his Mom steal oxygen helmets and try to escape across the Martian surface, but the Supervisor causes Milo to trip and his helmet shatters. His Mom gives him her own helmet, saving Milo but sacrificing herself. The Martians are awed, as this is the first time they have seen love.
Gribble finds his own mother's helmet, and gives it Milo's Mom, saving her. Ki brings a ship for them to escape in, but the Supervisor intervenes. Ki argues that Martians were meant to be raised in families, with love, but the Supervisor insists that the current situation is better, because it is more efficient. The guards decide to arrest the Supervisor because they prefer the loving vision of family-life. The other Martians celebrate.
Milo, his Mom, Gribble, Ki, and Two-Cat travel to Earth. Gribble decides not to stay, because he wants to pursue a relationship with Ki on Mars. Milo and his Mom return to their house just before Milo's Dad (Tom Everett Scott) comes home.

Tags: entertaining, sentimental

Review:
Easily the biggest flop of 2011, and pretty close to of all time, this Disney motion-capture film is about a young boy, Milo, who must save his mother (Joan Cusack) from Martians.
I would probably give it 6.5 out of 10 if I could, but I didn't feel it was as bad as movies I've given 6 out of 10 stars, so I gave it a 7 out of 10.The movie uses motion-capture computer animation to apply more realistic textures and movements to its characters, following movies like A Christmas Carol (which wasn't as good), Beowulf (which was much better), and The Polar Express (also much better).Mars Needs Moms features a plot that wasn't demographically targeted correctly.
One critic said, "Mars Needs Moms stands as the potentially final Zemeckis-produced motion-capture effort, and, like The Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol before it, its characters boast the waxy complexions, unreal movements, and dead eyes of mannequins..." (Nick Schager, The Village Voice)What the...?
What gives?While I'm not going to defend Mars Needs Moms on every point, I don't understand the beating its taking from reviewers here at IMDb. It's a fairly average film from a director who isn't very good to begin with, with plotting that could have been better and could have been worse, and some character design that could have been more intelligent.
In all fairness, Rango was intended for slightly older children than mine, but I'm a pretty old child myself, with a lot more filmmaking, movie-going, and storytelling experience than the average IMDb reviewer, and I didn't find Rango nearly as brilliant as Johnny Depp's ground-worshipers claim.My advice to you, if you haven't seen Mars Needs Moms, is ask your kid if he or she is interested, and if so, take them.
Due to the copious negative reviews about "Mars Needs Moms," I decided to write a quick positive one.I've read a bunch of different kinds of bashing over this film; from sexism and hidden political agendas to poor animation and a poorly timed release.
This film really isn't as bad as everyone says it is as long as you just go into it with the right mind set.The animation is incredible, as well it should be with a $150 million dollar budget and over 6 minutes worth of end credits of people who worked hard creating it.
"Mars Needs Moms" is a delightful underrated animation about that crazy love thing and a tribute to the mothers and to the families.
This was quite a surprise: A Disney family movie rated PG with creepy animation, lots of dark scary scenes, aliens, homicides and attempted homicides and more!
I guess it will grab kids' attention, but it will also scare them to death.Aside from the crazy story line, which is not child-friendly, we have a new kind of animation that makes computerized characters look very much like real people.
It has a fun story, good characterizations and great animation with possibly the most realistic motion-capture character ever in Gribble, the childlike adult victim of the Martians' earlier Earthian foray.
and I will tell you right now that more kid's movies need to be like this one.It's a good, honest movie that doesn't stand a chance because of gimmicky advertising and forgettable, in-your-face motion capture animation.Yes, I'm looking at you animated movie marketing.If you want to connect with your kids, see this movie.
And it teaches many aspects of life like how important is the love of your mother and how important is to value your family and this makes it a real good family movie, teaching children importance of this and that.Pretty often I come here to IMDb and read the reviews to decide whether to go and watch the movie or not, but this one?
The cast featuring Seth Green, Joan Cusack, Dan Fogler,and Elisabeth Harnois (permission to fall in love with martian version) all did a great job with motion capture and voice acting.
It was a huge box office disappointment as I read, but seeing that little children's love for their mom has been polished and watching them talk about "families" concept (aside from creating an "Infonavit spirit" in them -local joke for Mexicans ;-) ) then I think this drama film is not bad after all but highly recommended because now days society sometimes lacks of love towards our parents, oldies and true family ties.
And it excites us whenever filmmakers succeed in finding the balance between entertaining the masses and allowing audiences to think about certain more profound messages.This computer animated science fiction movie had us revisiting long forgotten textbook topics like communism, and gender differences.
Throw in the popular 3D technology (which is aptly used in this production), and you'd get an entertaining ride through Mars' mystifying lands.Narrated by Seth Green (TV's Family Guy) and featuring performances by Seth Robert Dusky (the child actor provides Milo's voice while Green provides the physical motion), Joan Cusack (Toy Story 3), Dan Fogler (Kung Fu Panda) and Elisabeth Harnois (TV's One Tree Hill), this movie proves that you don't need an A list cast to make a good movie.It is a pity then, that this is the final project produced by Robert Zemeckis' studio ImageMovers Digital.
And to think that we were just beginning to enjoy its films after less than satisfactory productions like The Polar Express (2004), Beowulf (2007) and A Christmas Carol (2010).With a screenplay based on the book by Berkeley Breathed, this 88 minute ride may not feature the most adorable creatures (we are predicting that toddlers may be a little terrified by how the Martians are animated), but it is one recommended adventure to Mars with Mom and back.www.moviexclusive.com.
As the saying goes "You win some you lose some"Title: Mars Need Moms Directed by: Simon Wells Starring: Seth Green, Dan Fogler, Elisabeth Harnois and John Cusack Rated: PG for sci-fi action and peril Rating: 06/10 88 Minutes.
I would suggest either fully animating a film or leaving it in live-action -- the perfect solution to Mars Needs Moms would have been to have the scenes on Earth portrayed by real-life actors while the scenes on Mars could have become animated (although it isn't as if this suggestion would have "saved" this Martian mire -- IF neither Jim Carrey nor Tom Hanks could salvage this "genre" how-on-earth is Seth Green supposed to do so?!).While the film has a somewhat respectable premise -- "mothers are invaluable" -- the movie also decides to feature women/female(s) as the cause of destruction and mayhem in the universe (it is a 50/50 crap shot everybody!).
Milo is a spoiled brat who only realizes an instant too late -- as his mother is abducted by Martians literally mere moments earlier (!!!) -- that he was a jerk and was wrong in mistreating his mother.Luckily for Milo (and for the benefit of the movie), he comes onboard the MOTHERship and soon finds himself on Mars where he quickly comes into contact with the only other human (other than his captive mother) on the planet (voiced by Dan Fogler -- Take Me Home Tonight, Balls of Fury, Fanboys) who's stalled mission from the 1980's has left him stranded on the furious-female led planet.While there are some nice graphics and some inspired shots (and a few hilarious 80's references to passing fads "those hideous-looking fake Cabbage Patch Kids" had me laughing), Mars Needs Moms comes across as nothing new -- it is just sci-fi lite family adventure.
The reason for all the negative reviews is that this film's real message is that a mother and father should raise a family.I am a married (gasp) dad who went to see this movie with a 10 yr.
It was so realistic we were getting mild motion sickness at some parts, but in a good way.If you are a fan of science fiction, or of excellent graphics, go watch this movie with your kids.
This is the kind of thing I'd expect to see from a no-name animation company, not Disney.Mars Needs Moms features the inventive motion-capture style of animation where actors are fitted for special suits and act out all of the motions done by their characters in the movie.
After wishing he didn't have a mom, nine-year-old Milo's (motions done by Seth Green, voice acting done by Seth Dusky) wish comes true when his mom (Cusake) his kidnapped by martians in a spaceship.Milo hitches a ride, and after meeting up with another human on the planet named Gribble (Fogler), Milo is told that mars needs moms to have their "mom-skills" be transferred into Mars's many nannybots so they can control their young.
The story-telling and plot had me lost a good portion of the film, and I can't imagine a six-year-old in the theater getting too involved or even caring what happens.When it comes to the storyline, that is where Mars Needs Moms fails greatly.
However, I took a leap of faith because I am a sci-fi fan and also the title sounded very good, plus the still shots seemed pretty nice.I had a very good time seeing the actual thing :)I think that the problem is that any animation is seen as something for kids.
I remember being on a bus at SIGGRAPH 2001 and watching several prominent folks from Sony and Disney rip that film apart while a Squaresoft animator in the back cringed and hoped nobody would notice his Final Fantasy tee shirt.But Disney seems to have repeated history with Mars Needs Moms.
Some hurtful exchange of words from son to mother, before he discovers the Martian's ploy and made himself a stowaway on a spaceship back to Mars, where he turns from prisoner to rescuer with the help of a perpetually high Gribble (Dan Fogler), who teaches him a thing or two about survival on the red planet, wanting Max to become his BFF if not for the latter's insistence to save his mom.So begins a quick adventure of about an hour with an audacious rescue mission to exploit its 3D-ness (watching this on 2D, there weren't many sequences designed to do that, really), also with the help of convenient online, realtime translator sets the humans use to communicate with their Martian helper in Ki (Elisabeth Harnois), a somewhat non-conformist female Martian being influenced by the Flower Power propaganda the Martians have while researching Earth, graffiti painting the dull look of Mars with psychedelic colours.
An unnecessary subplot occurs with the romantic dalliances between Martian and Man (really, eww), as well as some commentary about nature versus nurture with the male martians not being cared for by Moms and becoming more like Apes when left to their own devices when forced away from civilizations - there are two layers here, one being the females ruling the world, with the male species through the lack of nurturing going back to their primal selves.Still, what made this film bearable for the most parts is the emotional core of the story stemming from Milo's regret in saying what could possibly be the meanest comment anyone can make toward their moms, which intensified his sense of urgency and regret as he races against the clock to save his her.
You'll be hard pressed not to tear up (oh the manipulation, Disney), though the insult to intelligence if you're older than 5 years come from the final act, involving the lack of breathable air which I thought on one hand was brave of Disney to attempt something a little bit more shocking as is, but on the other pulled its punches with what was very implausible, that robbed it of its credibility.The only aspect which impressed was the sheer amount of work going on behind the motion capture, where you can see plenty of behind the scenes effort when the end credits were rolling, where the actors are strapped to multiple sensors of all kinds placed on their bodies while they act out their scenes made up of sparse looking, makeshift sets that double up for the real thing.
Even my wife (who usually despises anything sci-fi, and bad kids movies in general) had tears in her eyes near the end, when the flick pulls surprisingly on some heart strings.It wound up being a nice night for us as a family, and a pretty enjoyable film.
It's not that Mars Needs Moms was a crowning achievement in cinema, but my surprise derives from the film's abysmal IMDb score -- which has provided only more evidence that IMDb reviewers and critics are either unduly harsh, or simply abusing a clearly fallible rating system.That's right: I'm implying that a good many hipsters and faux-intellectuals out there actually exploit community rating systems such as IMDb's as a means of expressing generic angst and/or exacting misguided vengeance against...
First off, I shall say right up front, that anyone who gave this movie a '1' out of 10 is insincere at the very least ( and needs to get a life) and at most here to defame a otherwise amazing movie with a cute message.As the title suggests, Mars needs moms, and as the plot unfolds you will be drawn into the PG storyline, amidst clever character design, amazing mo-capped animation over the top of well done voice overs and amazing digital imagery.
With a not so great story, sometimes not so good motion-capture Effects and unmemorable music, "Mars needs Moms" is a pure mediocre picture!The technology clearly wasn't there yet, but still everyone didn't get it.
The cast are solid enough especially Seth Green and Joan Cusack and Elizabeth Harnois as Ki was quite promising as well, the music while unexceptional was pleasant on the ears and the visual style if only in the backgrounds, effects and colours is quite good especially in the first ten minutes, which was a thoroughly decent start to a movie that went down the plug-hole just like that.However, I wasn't so impressed with the character designs.
The film seemed too short as well, so any depth and charm are seemingly absent while the moral feels shoe-horned in and feels superfluous to the already uneven tone to the story.In conclusion, a disappointing movie, better than the trailer but while the kids may like it, adults probably won't.
I thought I wanted to see this movie in 3-D, but I'd stayed away from the theater for a while.It's sorta a disappointed year for Disney in 2011 although Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and The Lion King 3-D were the only successes that they made and did a great job for its incredible work.The reason why Mars Needs Moms was one of the worst movies of 2011 because I know it was a profitable mess ($150 Million), it doesn't have enough advertising endorsements, the 3-D cost a little too much, and CGI is totally the blame for its lucrative script plus a good but solid cast.Eventually, it is one of the fifth biggest bombs of all time since the cruds "Battlefield Earth" and "Showgirls." I think it's time for Disney to start making new plans for the audience.
"Mars Needs Moms" looks good (the motion capture technology is a little jarring at first, but each effort from Robert Zemeckis looks better than the last) but most of the time it's surprisingly empty.
This film, directed by Simon Wells is about a kid named Milo (played by motion capture, and looking very much like Seth Green, but voiced by Seth Dusky) who witnesses his mom get kidnapped by Martians, just after her made a nasty comment to her and hurt her feelings.
On Mars, he meets a helpful alien named Ki (Elisabeth Harnois), and a kid who also had his mom captured by aliens, but is now all grown up, named Gribble (Dan Fogler).For some reason, I'm feeling generous and I'm giving this movie a 2,5/5.
i rented this because I like 3d animation and as a grown man I didn't mind a darker story line ,details of a heartless matriarchal society, firing squads, your mom getting exploded at sunrise - I can get behind a little dark stuff in a kids movie (like Bambi's mother) but this just seemed gratuitous.maybe they should have just gone full tilt and made an aniamtion for adults like Beowulf or Avatar.
First of all ,the animation of this movie is just wonderful.it looks so real.And also the visual,great job.I read most reviews before i watched this movie, so i didn't expect anything good.
It appears as though the caregivers that the creatures in this cartoon crave aren't the current crop of teen moms but a more classic materfamilias archetype.In dire need of maternal affection to fill their nanny-bots with, the Martians abduct human females and extract their essence.The next in line to undergo this process is the mother (Joan Cusack) of Milo (Seth Dusky), who has stowed away on the alien spaceship.Once on Mars, Milo, an alien agitator (Elisabeth Harnois) and a human tech-wizard (Dan Fogler), undertake a mission to rescue her.Based on the children's book, this motion capture adaptation elongates the narrative to ridiculous lengths with creepy character designs and dark themes.Besides, if Martians want to kidnap parents without raising concerns...abduct deadbeat dads.
No movie that cost $150M should have a stupid name like 'Mars Needs Moms'..
I like the story of Milo's change, but when George says that he was a good boy and his mom was taken to Mars...((( 6) There was a mistake.
Mars Needs Moms (2011): Dir: Simon Wells / Voices: Seth Green, Dan Fogler, Elisabeth Harnois, Joan Cusack, Tom Everett Scott: Family animated space movie about the importance of mothers.
And i think soon Mars needs moms will get more views cause parents who saw Rango will be mad as i am and my friend and also other parents who saw how bad that Rango movie is will do same - even Johny Depp not saving it ....I give this movie 8/10 Animation: ** Intelligent story: ** Good ending: * Emotional: * Message: *.