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B+
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is a film critic for EW
MARS ATTACKS! (PG-13) In Tim Burton's giddily satiric epic, aliens try to destroy the human race, but they're really demonic jesters out for a cosmic giggle. Burton affectionately skewers the schlock of two eras: the space-invader fantasies of the '50s and the let's-kick-alien-butt jingoism of Independence Day. The very form of the movie is a swipe at ID4, with Burton setting up a cheeky cross section of America. But his comic-strip collage lacks zing; if anything, it's as flat as the one it's parodying. Still, this bubble-gum fantasy finally escalates into full Burtonian madness. Mars Attacks! makes you feel like a very knowing 8-year-old, seeing through the artifice yet believing in it at the same time. B+
Posted Dec 20, 1996
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You Might Also Like
- Video Review Mars Attacks! | Ty Burr
- Internet Review JINGLE ALL THE WAY;EVITA;MARS ATTACKS!;101 DALMATIANS;SHINE;STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT | Bob Strauss
- Movie Review MARS ATTACKS (1996) | Owen Gleiberman
- Movie Commentary Favorite fictional presidents: James Dale (1996)
- Movie News THEY'RE OUT OF THIS WORLD (1996)
- Movie News Martians get the red carpet treatment (1996) | Chris Nashawaty
