The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

In
this 3D computer-animated sci-fi film, young Milo (Green) is your typical
teenager: interested in his hobbies and passions such as video games and
zombies and less so in chores like taking out the garbage and eating his
broccoli). And of course, as most kids behave, he doesn’t appreciate the fact
of having a good mother (Cusack) who tries to make him do what he should do
rather than what he wants to.

While
those qualities may seem like a great burden to Milo, they are exactly what the
aliens from Mars are looking for in mothers to raise their own children, so
that they can be free to focus on their police state work and running duties.
With a major turn of events, the Martians kidnap his mother for their own good.
However, before they take off with their ship, Milo gets his way aboard and accidentally
travels to Mars as well. After landing, the real adventure begins with him
trying to save his mother with the help of Gribble (Fogler), a man who got
stuck as a boy on Mars and grew up without a mother.

As
silly as this might seem, the story work quite well for an animated feature.
After all, it’s the fantasy stories that relate to most children ever
since the beginning of time. Mars Need Moms is like a bedtime story with
visual effects to enhance kids’ own imagination.

From
the producers of The Polar Express, this film is an adventure that
follows similar footsteps – having the same unique presentation of special
effects combined with motion-capturing suits that were worn by the actors,
which means that they were really acting throughout the entire film. Even
though the visuals are excellent, this type of animation technique isn’t
that appealing to many generations today.

Given
that the technology, presentation, and competition between animated films are
rising in a phenomenal way, Mars Need Moms needed more interested
audiences. The problem with it isn’t itself, it’s with the timing.
Today, a film like this sadly looks cheap even when the visuals are great. In
addition, people tend to connect more with (ironically) non-human characters
when it comes to animation. Who could deny the enormous success of films such
as Toy Story, Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar? That leaves
Milo as a normal kid with a story of how he learns to become a better son with
the usual happy ending, instead of being a memorable icon for kids just like
the previously mentioned animated flicks.

To
be specific, this is a light adventure with nice visuals aimed for kids but
not recommended for adults. It’s an enjoyable but not necessarily
memorable 3D experience. Most kids will not be asking for the DVD afterwards.
Mars Need Moms will not be in need of a sequel.