John Carter (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

I went in to "John Carter" filled with trepidation. I often avoid these big, splashy CGI spectacles that never live up to their promises and I was sure that this film was going to be nothing more than lots of cinematic eye candy and short on substance. Added to that there was a lot of lackluster critical reviews. Well, all I can say is that this was a grand entertainment and I am so glad I caught it on the big screen!I've heard some critics say the plot was a mess and overly convoluted. Really? My suggestion to them is "don't text while watching a movie, you might miss something". I found the plot fairly well done and actually made sense (if only the last Star Trek film had that going for it) and was interesting to boot.I also read that the look of Barsoom (Mars to you and me) was dull and uninteresting. Hmmm, never been an admirerer of the stark and raw beauty of the American southwest I guess. Personally I found Barsoom to be beautiful, alien, exotic and familiar all at the same time. After all, the Mars rovers have confirmed that the Red Planet does indeed look like our American southwest and I for one happen to think both places very scenic.Some critics have said the story is dull and lifeless. OK, put down the crack pipe and step away from the video game console. "John Carter" has a great fast paced plot with lots of interesting twists and turns. I also thought the characters were nicely drawn, if not overly complex, and that the alien races on Barsoom to be very interesting with fascinating customs which only made me want to learn more about them.Other critics have complained that they have seen this stuff before in movies like Star Wars and Avatar. Wellllll, it seems as though those two directors (among other film makers and writers) have been looting the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs for quite some time so I guess there is bound to be a feeling of deja vu.Have we really become such a culture that is so easily jaded? Can we no longer feel that sense of wonder and feeling of adventure in a film like "John Carter"? Maybe we are too use to storylines being spoon fed to us in easily digested bites and cannot follow along with a film that isn't zipping past our eyeballs at 186,000 miles per second with flashy explosions at every eye blink. If true then how sad that such a wondrous film will get pushed to the wayside in favor of something like Transformers 8.

If you are in the mood for a fun sci-fi fantasy adventure, then look no farther. JOHN CARTER is your movie. This movie sucked me right in and put me in a world that I didn't just want to be in but fight for. While it was in theatrical release, I saw it nine times. That's NINE times. I hadn't seen a film that many times in a cinema since the original STAR WARS debuted. As other reviews point out, you may have seen some of the elements of John Carter in Star Wars, Avatar, Superman or Flash Gordon, but that's because all these properties "borrowed" extensively from the John Carter novels published 100 years ago. Some critics berated the film for showing these elements anyway, a line in the sand arbitrarily drawn by them just for this movie. Like the original Star Wars movie and the Indiana Jones films, John Carter has a Saturday matinee appeal to it and the 19th-century setting adds a certain time-lost charm to it. And the plot is refreshingly deeper than you might expect from a movie of this sort. If you have kids, they will absolutely love Woola and you probably will to. The two lead actors, Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins, are virtual unknowns but I believe that works in the story's favor as you're figuring out their characters. In any case, they're both likeable and athletic enough and Ms. Collins does an admirable job of turning what could easily be merely a 2-D pinup and turning her into a flesh-and-blood person. Willem Dafoe, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, James Purefoy, Ciaran Hinds and the rest of the cast all turn in enjoyable performances. Bryan Cranston from "Breaking Bad" even has a small role in the movie. The only relevant complaint I heard about this movie was after one of the showings was from two kids complaining it ran a little long (it's 2 hours, 12 minutes), an observation that applies to the Pirates of the Caribbean films as well. That said, the first few viewings that I saw had people in the audience clapping at the end, myself included.Now the other reality. While John Carter did well overseas (it set records in Russia), it did not do great business here at home. This is not the fault of the film. Disney did a very poor job of marketing it. You have to soften the ground a bit when you bring back a 100-year-old franchise that the mainstream public no longer remembers. You have to re-introduce it, give them the history, remind them why the property is important and ground-breaking. But no, Disney Studios treated John Carter like it was just another action film. Disney did not show respect to the property and the American public followed their lead. At the same time, a decision seems to have been made by the Hollywood media to take Disney to task for funding expensive tentpole movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, John Carter, etc. (which prevents small productions from getting made) so the fix was in to bury John Carter before it even debuted.But you probably don't need to know all that. All you need to know is this: If swashbuckling adventure with a strong, brave hero and a devastatingly beautiful, kick-ass princess both fighting for a worthy cause is your thing, JOHN CARTER is definitely your movie. This movie is at least worth a rental but I HIGHLY recommend you purchase it. Because if you're like me, you're going to want to own it.A possible sequel is still in doubt and could use your help. If you're like me, you're going to want to go back to Barsoom. There's a petition available online. Just do a search for john carter sequel petition after you see the movie. Kaor!