User reviews

There have been many comments on this movie so I will be brief. There are no redeeming qualities to this film. Most of the best actors are wasted in throw-away parts, with death scenes that are not at all funny. There is nothing particularly intelligent about this film, contrary to some comments; perhaps they mistake gleeful sadism for intelligence. There are few movies I truly hate, and this is one of them.

Tim Burton is a strange director. I listened to many comments from Actors and others that say he's a genius, but unfortunately I've never noticed. All his films are the same (how about trying something different for once). Both Edward Scissorhands and Batman were bad, but this is even worse.

None of the comedy works in this film. The occasional comment on American culture is so unsubtle it doesn't work at all.

Completely pointless waste of time of a movie, avoid it at all costs.

God knows why but I'm sure some rich producer will give this talentless director another pile of cash to create yet another bizarre self-indulgent fantasy. Give it to someone else please.

What a terrible waste of so many good actors and actresses. I'd love to know what Tim Burton (who I personally think is without a doubt the worst director in Hollywood) slipped these folks to get them to work with him. Didn't they all see "Ed Wood" or his awful Batman movies?

Please don't give me any garbage about deeper meanings. This movie is one of the worst I've ever seen- and I have one heck of a sense of humor, especially when it comes to bad movies. Jack Nicholson and company should file a suit to have this movie erased from existence.

Thankfully the rest of Hollywood seems to have caught on to the fact that Burton's a terrible director/writer, but I'm sure some sucker with a bottomless bank account will put him back to work soon enough.

Absolutely horrible movie from start to finish. This B-Movie satire isn't worth the paper the script was written on. A love or hate film for sure, I absolutely hated it. The best part was when it was over. Even Mystery Men, which I also hated was better than this steaming pile of turd.

When even Jack Nicholson and Glenn Close can't save a film you know you're in trouble. This supposed to be funny? I guess if funny has changed it's meaning to horribly bad. Mars Attacks is without a doubt the most awful movie I've ever seen John Waters' film... and those are INTENTIONALLY bad! I saw it years ago in the theater and wanted nothing more than to leave after the first few minutes. However, after seeing the whole thing I have to wonder why in the world a great filmmaker like Tim Burton would associate himself with such, dare i say it, crap? (we'll keep in mind this was well before the Planet of the Apes remake... another big OppS) Oh Tim Burton you know better!

One of the problems that "Second City TV" had after its first couple of seasons was that it mistook observation for automatic humor. They would nail an imitation of Joey Heatherton or Sammy Davis, Jr., but that was it. You were supposed to think, "Yes, SCTV, these people are silly and you certainly have hit THAT nail on the head!" But they never actually gave the characters anything funny to do. The fact that the people parodied were exposed as being shallow and annoying didn't make the sketches any less shallow and annoying.

"Mars Attacks" is like that. The idea was to make a really cheesy, third-rate sci-fi movie, just like in the Good Ol' Fifties, only to spend $20,000,000,000 making it. Great. It worked. They made a cheesy, third-rate sci-fi movie. But you get the idea that Burton wants to be praised for his Hip, Cutting Edge Cheesy Third-Rate Sci-Fi Movie.

There's no actual plot line here. But since it's a Tim Burton film, that is a redundant statement. Burton is great at individual, quirky, interesting scenes, but he can't tell a story to save his life.

Nicholson has a good moment when the President meets the aliens. It's obviously written that the President is so dense, he thinks he can talk his way out of trouble and save the world. Nicholson adds the feeling that inside the idiot is a decent man struggling to get out, and who knows that he is probably going to be killed but is willing to do his best.

That's about it for this movie... well, that and seeing Sarah Jessica Parker in her underwear.

Avoid at all costs.

I was really looking forward to this movie because it seemed like a cool sci-fi spoof with a great cast. Even better, I noticed that "Mars Attacks!" was being shown on cable in a late-nite time slot -- the best time for watching a flick like this.

However, my pleasure quickly turned to pain as I actually began watching the movie -- it started out slow and unfunny and did not deviate from that course one iota. I'll say one thing in favor of "Mars Attacks!" -- it is consistent. Nothing works on any level at any time; it doesn't work as a spoof, parody, comedy, satire, etc.. etc... And it is boring, incredibly boring... and when something does happen, it is boring.

I think the main problem with "Mars Attacks!" is that Tim Burton tried too hard and too seriously to make a funny little spoof movie when he is not a director of funny little spoof movies. Burton's successes are with stories that are a little weird, like Edward Scissorhands or Batman (to which he added a dark visionary element). He's not really a comedy director and "Mars Attacks!" really needed a lighter touch to make the material work. Don't waste your time with this, you will only be disappointed as the movie promises so much and delivers so very little.

If I was a Martian and I saw this film I would attack Earth for making this turkey. Its a poor film in many ways not for its special effects but for its horrible disjointed storytelling. The story kept changing from one scene to the next and I found this very irritating and hard to keep up. There were far too many subplots! Seeing Pierce Brosnan smoking a pipe was absolutely absurd, he was totally miscast as a scientist and as for Tom Jones, keep to the singing mate! And there where lies another problem, too many cast members! Too many bit parts, too many subplots. A very poor film, I think Burton might have caught Ed Wood syndrome when making Ed Wood.

Tim Burtons track record as a director isn't a very good one with films like "Edward Scissorhands" & "Batman Returns" but those were at least a bit better than this film. When you do a spoof film it should be funny in a stupid way not just stupid, however Burton seemed to miss that point and made this very awful and terribly unfunny film.

Completely unfunny and full of graphic violence, this may be one of the worst movies of the 90's. This is a movie that just goes to prove that a great cast doesn't equal a great movie. Its' PG-13 rating is UNDER-rating it's content. The movie should have been rated R and should have been direct-to-video, or not on video at all would be preferred. Waste of time and talent, but what can you expect from a movie based on a pack of bubble gum cards.

A note to the review about yada, yada and Clockwork Orange all rolled into one: PLEASE...don't compare the masterpiece 'Clockwork' to this disaster!

There's nothing worse than a comedy that isn't funny. While watching this film it's hard to believe that it was even meant to be humorous. It's mean-spirited and insulting and overall, very unpleasant to watch. This is a film that should not have been made, much less released theatrically. It is easily Tim Burton's worst effort. The only conceivable reason to view this movie is to see the all-star cast, although no one turns in a particularly good performance. If you find yourself in the mood to see an inventive, off-beat Tim Burton film, pick a different one. There are better things to do with your time than watching this movie.

Is it funny?? No.

Is it clever?? No.

Is the script any good?? well...no.

How about the effects?? half decent.

Is Tom Jones an annoying welshman?? Absolutely.

I can not think of any reason why this film was made. I didn't see it at the cinema, I bought it as a part of a 3 for £15 at HMV and I wish I hadn't bothered. It hypes itself as being side-splittingly funny with an allstar cast. It aint.

This film can boast a host of big names in its cast. They must of been given some big pay cheques to make it worth their while. The plot ambles along. The humourous, side-splitting scenes are not funny. They are however blatent attempts at slapstick humour that you can see coming and are drawn out over a lengthy timespan. If you want to get to sleep then sit down to watch this film it'll knock you right out.

For the love of god and your own sanity never ever watch this film if you don't have to, its crap. Have I said enough??

It's kind of incredible how they got an all star cast for such a lousy movie. I mean, do these superstars agree to act in just about anything? It really does seem like it because this must be one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It is not funny, entertaining or interesting in any way. I guess this movie had about three laughs and fifty sighs. It's kind of funny how bad this movie is, because if you have one or two stars in a movie, thanks to them, the movie automatically gets a little better. Here you had like 12 great celebrity actors and still it sucks. The script is lousy, the Martians are probably the high point of this movie, and they are not funny. I'd love every single person who liked this movie to try to tell me why it was good, because I just can't see how you would be able to like it. Don't waste your time watching this movie, if you haven't already seen it, because it is not worthy of your time.

When I first saw the listing of stars in this movie, I expected nothing less than a phenomenal movie. I mean, it's like they dredged Hollywood and just dumped the stars into this movie. It's a true who's who in the movies.

But sadly, the movie was horrible. No, horrible is too good a word. How about putrid? That's getting better, but not quite there yet.

Vile. Yeah, that's it. Vile. It is, without a doubt, one of the ten worst movies ever to waste screen space.

Okay, there's one decent scene .. where Congress gets blown away. Yeah, I liked that. But the rest was a puke-fest.

Save your money. Save your time. Save your mind. Avoid this movie!!

I cant believe how such good movie stars such as Jack Nicolson and others on this film can make such trash. I sufferd during the watching. Its a real shame and a disgrace for the people who's name was in the credit list. I havnt laughed more then 3 minutes.

I personally think this movie had quite a bit going for it. Tim Burton directed it, it had an all star cast (Glenn Close, Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, all very good actors), it had spectacular special effects, but it lacked one important thing: a good story. The aliens were horrid little annoying CGI's that just made the plot fall from bizarre to just plain incomprehensible. The whole movie was blown by the annoying barking "KNOCK-KNOCK!" the aliens use to communicate. Not Tim Burton's best effort, but I still thing he can and will do better.

No one likes and respects Tim Burton more than I do, but I draw the line at this movie. I understand what it was supposed to have been, but it didn't do it. See "Invaders from Mars" or "Strange Invaders" for the same story done correctly. I do thank him for giving Sylvia Sidney another job, tho. And anyone who puts Tom Jones and Jim Brown in his movie cannot be all bad!

Let me cut right to the chase: this movie was awful. During the opening credits, I believed, like apparently many who have seen this film do, that "Mars Attacks!" was a spoof of the '50's horror genre and could actually be pretty funny. Unfortunately, as the movie progressed, I found myself feeling disgusted at how stupid this movie was. I laughed perhaps twice throughout the entire thing. Compared to movies such as "Airplane!", "Naked Gun", and heck, even "Scary Movie", "Mars Attacks!" seems forced and overly simplified.

One of my bigger issues with the film was how bloated with star power it was. Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Glenn Close, what were these people thinking when they were offered this script? "Boy, this sounds like a great film and a great booster to my career!" Thank god almost all of the high name actors in this film recovered from their bouts with temporary insanity and went on to better things; otherwise, they could be treading dangerously close to Halle Berry/"Catwoman" territory.

Normally, I enjoy the weird quirkiness of Tim Burton's films, but this attempt just makes me feel irritated and depressed. There is a certain something, a spark if you will, missing from this one that was so prevalent in his others. To sum up, this is definitely not the worst movie I have ever seen, but it is definitely up (or down) there. Avoid it like the plague.

When I finished watching the movie "Mars Attacks" on television several years ago, I literally stared at the screen and said: "Wow. That's an hour and a half of my life I'll never have back." This movie didn't even try to be good. Why in the good Lord's name did these actors (particularly the several who actually are quite talented) consent to be casted in this bastardization of the film industry? Tim Burton needs to stick to movies like "The Nightmare Before Christmas," because frankly, he can't do much else. This movie followed the standard formula:

Clichéd plot +Attempted Humor x Zero Effort = Crap.

When I saw the list of stars appearing in this movie, I knew that it would be great. I knew that with that much talent in one movie, it just had to be great! Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. The plot stunk, the acting stunk, the jokes stunk, the effects stunk ... well, you get the pattern.

Mars Attacks is the kind of movie you watch repeatedly thinking, "That's a funny idea...." without ever actually laughing. It shows up frequently on late-night t.v. where I have now given it several 2nd chances; always with a pained expression on my face, while my mind devises elaborate ways to casue Tim Burton pain. The movie needs a lighter touch (which Burton has at this point proved himself incapable of) and it's airhead humor & plotpoints are undermined by the starpower delivery. That goes double for the budget. The "realism" of CGI doesn't help an idea as silly as this one. I don't need to believe the martians have the correct radiosity, shadow depth, animation speed etc. to have a laugh, and the production design is pretty much ruined by the digital insertions (...purposely OR obliviously crappy). It would take a cast of nobodies to put this thing over. Watching a cast of overqualified stars trying way too hard to be funny, with a script and a director who can't help them, is remarkably unsatisfying.

I think I laughed twice, the "friendly Martian" translations while they incinerate people and the ability of "Ack ack ack" to mean just about anything.

This movie is atrocious.

For the record I started out loving Tim Burton movies and he alone wore out his welcome. His puerile mind hasn't moved an inch in twenty years. His Batman movies now look cheap, lurid and stupid. His movies reflect the emotional development of a five-year old. (Yes, including the execrable Big Fish) He wouldn't know a finished script if it bit him on the ass. I doubt the guy can even tell a joke.

I want to give this film a ZERO, but the scale don't go that low! Jack Nicholson (wasted in 2 roles), Glenn Close (part could have been played by a Happy Meal), Sarah Jessica Parker (ditz factor=12), Pierce Brosnan, Annette Benning (as an alcoholic Buddist), Michael J. Fox, Rod Stieger, Paul Winfield, Lukas Haas, Jack Black (THIN!), Martin Short, Natalie Portman (I'm sure this ain't her favorite role), Christina Applegate (In such a tiny part that there were extras that had more lines!!!!), Sylvia Sidney, Jim Brown, Pam Grier, Danny DeVito. Great cast...wasted...along with my time watching it! Tom Jones was good though! I've seen a number of sci-fi films from the '50's and they were all better than this. Give me James Arness as a giant alien carrot any day of the week over this insipid trash.

The only movie where there was nothing good. At least Wild Wild Crap West ) had few interesting gadgets.

A better ending for the movie would have been if instead of playing that music to kill Martians, they had shown them the beginning of this movie. That would have wiped them out much more easily.

There is nothing good about this film. It tries so hard to be a black comedy. Like most of Tim Burton's films it is black dark. Mars Attacks! is one big spoof of 50's SCI FI flicks. It is also a spoof of Dr. Strangelove. Specificly, Rod Steiger's character.(Gen. Decker). This character acts alot like George C. Scott's character in Dr. Strangelove.

People are always saying how bad some movies are, but the only people that I've ever heard say this are the critics. One Science Fiction movie I can compare this to is Plan 9 From Outer Space. Plan 9 is labled as the worst movie of all time, but it's so much better then Mars Attacks. Mars Attacks gets vaporized by any SCI FI movie in my book.

Better luck next time Burton.