Mars Needs Moms is a 3D computer-animated sci-fi film based on the book by Berkeley Breathed. It is set to be released on March 11, 2011 by Walt Disney Pictures and is directed by Simon Wells. The film stars both Seth Green (performance-capture) and newcomer Seth Dusky (voice) as the main character Milo, and is produced by Robert Zemeckis and his studio ImageMovers Digital.
Milo (Seth Green- voice) is always being nagged by his mom (Joan Cusack – voice) to eat his broccoli, do his chores and when she sends him to bed with no TV one night, Milo gets into a big fight with her and tells her to her face he wished he didn’t have a mom. Ouch.
So when the Supervisor (Mindy Sterling – voice) has been monitoring the Earth to find good moms to abduct and come steal their memories and download them into their nanny bots, she sees her chance in grabbing Milo’s mom. Milo, a little while after their argument, feels bad and wants to go apologize to his mom. Good thing he did, because he hitched a ride on the space ship when they were taking his mom away.Through some crazy turn of events, Milo finds the only other human on Mars, a flashback to the 1980’s astronaut named Gribble (Dan Fogler – voice). Gribble is so happy to see another human that he pegs Milo as his new BFF. Milo has to convince Gribble to help Milo save his mom, and according to Gribble’s calculations, he has only 6 hours to do so, until she becomes Martian toast. Milo, Gribble and with the help of fellow girl psychedelic, flower child/ graffiti artist Martian Ki, (Elisabeth Harnois – voice) race against the sunrise, other crazy female Martians, and the odd, Rastafarian male Martians and the scary Supervisor to save Milo’s mom and get them back to Earth before it’s too late. Will they succeed in time or will Milo have to live together with Gribble in the trash heap forever?
So when the Supervisor (Mindy Sterling – voice) has been monitoring the Earth to find good moms to abduct and come steal their memories and download them into their nanny bots, she sees her chance in grabbing Milo’s mom. Milo, a little while after their argument, feels bad and wants to go apologize to his mom. Good thing he did, because he hitched a ride on the space ship when they were taking his mom away.Through some crazy turn of events, Milo finds the only other human on Mars, a flashback to the 1980’s astronaut named Gribble (Dan Fogler – voice). Gribble is so happy to see another human that he pegs Milo as his new BFF. Milo has to convince Gribble to help Milo save his mom, and according to Gribble’s calculations, he has only 6 hours to do so, until she becomes Martian toast. Milo, Gribble and with the help of fellow girl psychedelic, flower child/ graffiti artist Martian Ki, (Elisabeth Harnois – voice) race against the sunrise, other crazy female Martians, and the odd, Rastafarian male Martians and the scary Supervisor to save Milo’s mom and get them back to Earth before it’s too late. Will they succeed in time or will Milo have to live together with Gribble in the trash heap forever?
I think all kids have a tendency when they get frustrated with their parents or even their siblings, to wish that they were not related. What Mars Needs moms does is weave a great story complete with amazing animation and special effects to bring a heartwarming message or two that will please the parents and resonate with the kids. If parents can only get the key message of the movie, then everyone comes out a winner (No Charlie Sheen is nowhere to be found in this film). In a rather unusual move, the filmmakers decided to use two actors to portray the central character – with Seth Green acting out the role and Seth Dursky providing Milo’s voice. Green does an excellent job of becoming this enthusiastic, plucky young boy, with the actor’s expressive performance mirrored by Dusky’s energetic voice work. Cusack and Tom Everett Scott are solid as Milo’s concerned parents, while Mindy Sterling turns in an impressively vicious performance as the film’s larger-than-life villain. And although Fogler is initially somewhat grating as Gribble, the actor manages to transform his lonely character into a figure worthy of the viewer’s sympathy.
Mars Needs Moms is hardly in the same league as Pixar or DreamWorks Animation, but then, it doesn’t really seem to be going for that kind of a feel. Instead, Wells and his team have crafted a fun, consistently entertaining adventure film that feels like a throwback to the summer movies of the 1980s – including The Goonies, Gremlins, and Back to the Future. And while the film is by no means perfect – it does feel a little long at times and Gribble’s lair is almost oppressively grungy – Mars Needs Moms is a solid computer-animated flick that should leave adults just as satisfied and entertained as kids.
