Mars Attacks! (1996)

Tim Burton's Mars Attacks!, like Barry Levinson's Toys, is a misguided but extremely personal vision. From the opening images of a herd of cows on fire running through a spacious Western landscape (much to the disbelief of stoic local residents), there is never a doubt that the viewer is in the world of Burton's playful imagination. While the film has many good visual jokes, the characters are nothing but caricatures that fail to get any laughs. Pierce Brosnan plays the stiff scientist, forever smoking a pipe. The pipe is as far as the satire has been thought out. The film is based on a series of collectible cards issued by the Topps Company in the 1950s, and the film feels about as thin as one of those cards. Despite some funny gags, the film does not have enough visual wonder to make the viewer ignore the underdeveloped elements that aimed to spoof sci-fi disaster films. Mars Attacks!'s lack of success is due to a personal vision that the director has failed to develop. Since most flawed movies (especially comedies) are terrible precisely because they have been homogenized to reach the lowest common denominator, Mars Attacks!'s individuality makes it an honest failure worth seeing once. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide