Eat your broccoli, take out the trash, clean your room... infamous momisms such as these, guaranteed to provoke certain eye-rolling in children, do have a deeper meaning and a grand purpose. In his children's picture book, Mars Needs Moms, Berkeley Breathed brings this point home with a certain amount of charm. The movie, not so much charm, unfortunately, but grade school kids will likely get a kick out of the high action scenes and physical comedy.
The performance capture animation in the movie is in some instances great, but the animation of the mother is as flat as her character. The movie just misses the mark in capturing the tender feelings of a mom who has had enough for one day (whereas the book hit the nail on the head), and the early portrayal of the mother is lifeless and devoid of heart. Even the reason that the martians kidnap this particular mother takes away from the poignancy of the event. In the book, Mars needs moms -- sweet moms, good moms, caring moms who take kids to soccer practice, make sure they eat their veggies, and love them. In the movie, Mars needs disciplinarians. I'm not even going to go into the Martian monkey types that pass for dads in the film.
Also, moms should know that young children may be very unsettled by this movie. Not only is the main character Milo's mom kidnapped, but also, we find out that she is soon to be vaporized, just as was the mother of Gribble, a man Milo meets on Mars. For older kids (about 7+), the movie does have a lot of action and some good comedy here and there. Also, the overall message of the film -- that moms love and would do anything for their kids, and that it's important to show love to each other because we never know what could happen -- is a very positive one, even if it's not delivered in quite as touching a way as it was in the book.
- Read a full review for parents of Mars Needs Moms
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Family Films
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