'MARS ATTACKS!' PLAYED FOR LAUGHS

By Lea Jaratz

From The Plain Dealer, 12.16.1996

Unlike recent intense alien invasion films such as Independence Day, Mars Attacks! gives horrifying and profound science fiction plots a much-needed rest. This is not a movie to teach you about intergalactic relations. It is a movie to make you laugh.

This film is thought-provoking only to the extent that you sit there wondering, "Why do aliens wear underwear?" The digitally animated aliens are vicious in their attacks against man. Their motto seems to be, "Zap first, talk later."

Mars Attacks! is odd enough to surprise you. The movie's strange animation scenes are among the most curious Tim Burton's audiences have ever seen.

This movie is terrific, mocking the irony of a war between man and Martian. It brings you to a slow realization that if there is another form of life sharing a galaxy with us, they are probably more afraid of us than we are of them.

Mars Attacks! is full of top Hollywood stars such as Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan and Danny DeVito. There's even singer Tom Jones.

So the eye-popping surprises scattered throughout the flick won't be spoiled, I won't tell you much more. Science fiction fanatics looking for words of wisdom from our extraterrestrial friends probably won't love this movie.

But for anyone happy with quirky special effects accompanied by a few good laughs, Mars Attacks! is a good movie to see.