I first got hooked reading the John Carter series at the age of 9 in the late 1970’s. As long, long time fan of the John Carter series, my great anticipation for a long-overdue movie was only surpassed by the expectation that it live up to the books. When I heard Andrew Stanton was leading the project, it brought great comfort—was he not, like Burroughs, a great story-teller?
Then I saw the first trailer and immediately realized I was in for long, long fall. I finally decided to take that fall last night. Here’s why the movie fails on so many levels:
1. The story doesn’t follow the books. It should have. In fact, I would make the argument that Stanton should have followed the path of Peter Jackson and shot the first three books at once. The title should have remained “A Princess of Mars.” followed with “The Gods of Mars,” then “The Warlord of Mars.”
2. The casting was fine except for the part of John Carter. That should have gone to Dominic West. In fact, I would bet that he auditioned for John Carter and was instead given the role of Sab Than.
3. I can understand Stanton’s feminist sympathies, but, sorry, Dejah, was never a sword fighter. And what happened to her name? I always pronounced it “Dee-Jah.” Very strange to hear it pronounced “Day-Sha.” (To my knowledge, Burroughs never gave us a “Hermione” moment to indicate the correct pronunciation, so it would be interesting to know how that was decided.)
4. Total fail on the White Apes. Burroughs presents them as highly intelligent killing machines in scale to the Green men; Stanton turns them in to overly large, lumbering oafs.
5. Woola should have followed the design from the book covers painted by Michael Whelan; instead they made him look like Jabba the Hut as a dog. The depiction of his great speed was silly. And here too, no time was given to develop a relationship between Carter and Woola.
6. More silliness: John Carter’s bouncing around Mars. The jump with Kantos Kan (James Purfoy—who also would have made a better John Carter) was the most silly part of the whole movie.
7. The story Stanton did craft was severely disjointed and awkward. Some of the conversations between John Carter and Dejah Thoris were ridiculous. Most disturbing, the “love interest” between the two was mutual and immediate: Dejah surrenders directly to the Tharks to be with John Carter?? But go back and read the first book: it’s essentially a long, arduous courtship between John and Dejah—the pains of longing for a girl that is out of reach (literally and metaphorically) is an intoxicating narrative for a pubescent youth. Political correctness be damned; Stanton should have played her as a visual prize to be savored for John and the viewer… and then, finally, with triumph,conquest and the boy getting the girl, comes the worst twist: banishment back to planet Earth. Agony! It was all already there for the taking. Shame on Stanton and his crew for not doing so.