Mars Needs Moms

Mars Needs Moms is a 2011 American 3D computer-animated motion-capture science fiction adventure family film based on the Berkeley Breathed book of the same title. The film is centered on Milo, a nine-year-old boy who finally comes to understand the importance of family, and has to rescue his mother after she is abducted by Martians. It was co-written and directed by Simon Wells. It was released to theaters on March 11, 2011 by Walt Disney Pictures. The film stars both Seth Green (motion capture) and newcomer Seth Dusky (voice) as Milo. This was the last film by ImageMovers Digital before it was absorbed back into ImageMovers. The film grossed $39 million worldwide on a $150 million budget, making it a box office bomb.

Plot
Unbeknownst to humans, there is a thriving, technologically sophisticated society of Martians living below the surface of Mars. The Martians Supervisor, while observing Earth, sees a mother persuading her son, Milo, to do his chores. The Martians decide to bring her to Mars, where her "momness" will be extracted and implanted into the next generation of nannybots. Meanwhile, Milo, who doesn't like following the house rules and doing chores, tells his mother in anger that his life would be better without her, breaking her heart.

Later that night, Milo goes to apologize, but discovers his mom is being abducted. He runs after her, but they end up in separate parts of the Martian spaceship. On Mars, Milo is taken to an underground cell. He escapes and is chased by Martian guards, but he follows a voice that tells him to jump down a chute, and lands in a lower subterranean level. There, he sees a trash-covered landscape that is inhabited by furry creatures.

Milo is whisked away by the creatures to meet Gribble, a.k.a. George Ribble, the childlike adult human who had told him to jump down the chute. Gribble explains to Milo that the Martians plan to extract Milo's Mom's memories at sunrise, using a process that will kill her. Gribble, who is lonely and doesn't want Milo to leave, pretends to help Milo rescue his mother, but his plan goes awry leading to Gribble being captured and Milo being pursued by Martian guards.

Milo is rescued by Ki, one of the supervisions who raises Martian babies. Milo tells her about his search for his Mom and what a human relationship with a mom is like, as Ki and her kin were mentored by only nannybots and supervisors and don't know of love.

Milo returns to Gribble's home but finds him missing. Gribble's robotic spider, Two-Cat, takes Milo to the Martian compound where Gribble is being prepared for execution. Milo is captured by the guards, but Ki tosses him a laser gun, allowing him to escape.

Milo and Gribble retreat to an even lower uninhabited level, where, Gribble explains his Mom's abduction and murder by the Martians 20 years ago. Gribble blames himself for her being chosen, and regrets that he hadn't been able to save her. Milo convinces Gribble to actually help him just as Ki finds them. They discover an ancient mural of a Martian family and realize that Martian children weren't always raised by machines. Gribble explains that Martian female babies are currently raised by nannybots in the technologically advanced society, while the male babies are sent down below to be raised by adult male Martians, which are the furry creatures he encountered earlier.

Milo, Gribble, and Ki save Milo's Mom just before sunrise, causing the energy of the extraction device to short out the electronic locks to the control room. This lets the adult males and babies enter, where they run amok, attacking the guards and robots.

Milo and his Mom steal oxygen helmets and try to escape across the Martian surface, but the Supervisor causes Milo to trip and his helmet shatters. His Mom gives him her own helmet, saving Milo but sacrificing herself. The Martians are awed, as this is the first time they have seen love.

Gribble finds his own mother's helmet, and gives it Milo's Mom, saving her. Ki brings a ship for them to escape in, but the Supervisor intervenes. Ki argues that Martians were meant to be raised in families, with love, but the Supervisor insists that the current situation is better, because it is more efficient. The guards decide to arrest the Supervisor because they prefer the loving vision of family-life. The other Martians celebrate.

Milo, his Mom, Gribble, Ki, and Two-Cat travel to Earth. Gribble decides not to stay, because he wants to pursue a relationship with Ki on Mars. Milo and his Mom return to their house just before Milo's dad comes home.

Cast

 * Seth Green as Milo (motion capture)
 * Seth Dusky as Milo (voice)
 * Dan Fogler as George "Gribble" Ribble
 * Elisabeth Harnois as Ki
 * Mindy Sterling as The Supervisor
 * Joan Cusack as Milo's mother
 * Kevin Cahoon as Wingnut
 * Tom Everett Scott as Milo's father
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Two-Cat
 * Ryan, Robert and Raymond Ochoa and Gavin Bryson Thompson as Martian Hatchlings
 * Liam and Edgar Wells as Robot Martians

Production
Simon Wells had known Zemeckis since the mid-1980s when he was supervising animator and storyboard artist for Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He also worked on Back to the Future Part II and III and later worked on The Polar Express, which was why he was attracted to making Mars Needs Moms. The production designer was Doug Chiang, and the supervising art director was Norm Newberry. The title of the film is a twist on the title of American International Pictures' 1966 film Mars Needs Women. After spending six weeks outfitted in a special sensor-equipped performance-capture suit while simultaneously performing Milo's lines, Seth Green's voice sounded too mature for the character and was dubbed over by that of 11-year-old actor Seth R. Dusky. The makers came up with their own alien language. Elisabeth Harnois stated in an interview that she and the cast were given scenarios by Wells to which they acted out responses in improvised Martian language.

Release
Mars Needs Moms was released in theaters on March 11, 2011.

Home media
The film was released on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD, and movie download on August 9, 2011. The release is produced in three different physical packages: a four-disc combo pack (Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD, and "Digital Copy"); a two-disc Blu-ray combo pack (Blu-ray and DVD); and a single-disc DVD. The "Digital Copy" included with the four-disc combo pack is a separate disc that allows users to download a copy of the film onto a computer through iTunes or Windows Media Player software. The film is also a movie download or On-Demand option. All versions of the release (except for the On-Demand option) include the "Fun With Seth" and "Martian 101" bonus features, while the Blu-ray 2D version additionally includes deleted scenes, the "Life On Mars: The Full Motion-Capture Experience" feature, and an extended opening film clip. The Blu-ray 3D version also has an alternate scene called "Mom-Napping", a finished 3D alternate scene of the Martian abduction of Milo's mom.

Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes reported that 37% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on reviews from 112 critics, with an average rating of 5/10. The critical consensus reads, "The cast is solid and it's visually well-crafted, but Mars Needs Moms suffers from a lack of imagination and heart." Metacritic assigned an average critical score of 49 out of 100 based on 22 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Box office
Mars Needs Moms was a box-office failure and has the worst financial reception for a Disney-branded film. It earned $1,725,000 on its first day, for a weekend total of $6,825,000. This is the 19th-worst opening ever for a film playing in 3,000+ theaters. Adjusted for inflation, considering the total net loss of money (not the profit-to-loss ratio), it was still the fourth-largest box office bomb in history. In 2014, the Los Angeles Times listed the film as one of the most expensive box-office flops of all time. On March 14, 2011, Brooks Barnes of The New York Times commented that it was rare for a Disney-branded film to do so badly, with the reason for its poor performance being the subject (a mother kidnapped from her child), the style of animation, which fails to cross the uncanny valley threshold, and negative word of mouth on social networks, along with releasing it on the same week as Battle: Los Angeles which had more hype with the general movie goers. Barnes concluded, "Critics and audiences alike, with audiences voicing their opinions on Twitter, blogs and other social media, complained that the Zemeckis technique can result in character facial expressions that look unnatural. Another common criticism was that Mr. Zemeckis focuses so much on technological wizardry that he neglects storytelling."

Soundtrack
The film's score was composed by John Powell. The soundtrack was released by Walt Disney Records on March 3, 2011.


 * "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" – Queen
 * "Mars Observers"
 * "Abduction and Trashworld"
 * "Enjoy the Ride"
 * "Mars Needs Moms"
 * "Gribble's Plan"
 * "Milo Escapes"
 * "Gribble's Loss"
 * "Firing Squad"
 * "To the Surface"
 * "The Sacrifice"
 * "Transformation"
 * "Family Reunion"
 * "Mars Needs Moms" (credits suite)
 * "Martian Mambo"