kind of hilarious in hindsight that the first question president Jack Nicholson is asked about the Martians is their gender.
I had planned to watch the original before I dove into this movie, but a quick google search informed me that there was no original. Surprisingly, this movie is based on a trading card series from 1962. so with that out of the way, let's dive into this wacky-ass Tim Burton sci-fi classic.
first of all the cast list for this movie is insane. Jack Nicholson as President James Dale/Art Land
Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jack Black, Micheal J Fox, and so many more I couldn't possibly list them all here. it's kind of miraculous they got so many big names based on the rest of this movie, which is nothing but B movie cheesiness in the best way possible. This is a movie that is very self-aware of just how ridiculous its concept is, and uses it to show how equally ridiculous humans are. it mainly does this by focusing on how different institutions handle the news of Alien life, and what they do when they attack. it just so happens that most of those institutions are full of super wacky B movie characters that fit perfectly in this just as wacky movie.
as for the Aliens themselves, the massive CGI used for the alien scenes hasn't aged very well. that being said, the bad effects don't detract from the movie at all. any real complaint I have about this movie is overshadowed by its great (if basic) characters, sense of humor, and of course Tim Burton's directing.
despite its 55% score on rotten tomatoes, this movie is one of my favorite cult classics.
9/10
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