Why can't we work out our differences? Why can't we work things out? Little people, why can't we all just get along?

After Small Soldiers, Mars Attacks! is another film I saw at cinema on it's original release, but unlike Soldiers seen a few times on VHS, the last time I probably saw this film however is sometime in 1999, so like this is also something else I haven't seen in 9 years until a couple of days ago...

As a Tim Burton movie it rates well above Planet of the Apes, but well below Beetle Juice, Edward Scissorhands, the Batman films, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and Ed Wood, so what I'm pretty much saying is it's far from vintage Burton. This wasn't the only alien attacking earth film of 1996, the other one was of course Independence Day, this of course attempts to be funnier and on the whole as a much more well known cast, among those Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Tom Jones, Glenn Close, Michael J. Fox and people like Natalie Portman, Sarah Jessica Parker and Jack Black also went on to become more well known.

My main problem with this film is it feels like the cast are having a much better time then the audience, sure it's quite fun seeing a-list stars getting zapped to death but probably not as much fun as it is for the actors and also sometimes the humour seems a bit mistimed. But at the same time there is a lot to like about this movie, like Jack Nicholson's dual roles at the President and a Las Vegas Hotel owner, some of the deaths are fun like Michael J. Fox's and Rod Steiger's and some of the use of colour is pretty terrific.

You feel there was a much better film there somewhere down the line (i.e in the script or in a different cut), but it's still a fairly watchable movie with some good and some not as good as it should be moments. I'd still recommend it but don't expect anything classic.

<><><>