Mars Needs Moms

The animated action flick Mars Needs Moms has elements that cater to every 8-year-old boy’s interest: aliens, spaceships, cool gadgets and the quest of a little boy to conquer the bad guys. The film’s message of unconditional love and kindness to one’s parents is here too, disguised as a little boy’s journey to save his mom from evil. While these aspects of the film that are found in typical kiddie fare should keep the little ones intrigued, parents might be put off by the film’s violence (that is at times excessive) and the surprisingly unsettling climax. Nevertheless, the movie has enough action, adventure and colorful animation to keep kids watching.

The Disney film, now on DVD/Blu-ray, centers on Milo and his mom (portrayed through motion-capture technology by Seth Green and Joan Cusack, respectively) in their quaint home in an ordinary suburban neighborhood. One night, they get in a heated fight over Milo’s refusal to eat his vegetables that ends in Milo’s declaration that he wishes he didn’t have a mom. Later that night, Milo wakes up to find that his mother is gone, and he runs into his backyard to find that she has been abducted by aliens in an enormous spaceship. The aliens desire to extract the maternal instincts of Milo’s mom from her brain in an effort to raise their young Martians. Milo ends up on the spaceship as well and wanders aimlessly in a confused state until he encounters Gribble (Dan Fogler, doing a poor imitation of Jack Black), a human who we learn ended up on the ship when his mother was captured too. Together, Gribble and Milo traverse the humongous spacecraft in the hopes of rescuing Milo’s mom. Their journey leads to Milo’s greater appreciation of his mom, and he regrets his hurtful comments from their earlier fight.

The film’s message is all good and well, but some elements of the film could leave young viewers frightened and at times upset. Some of the violence could be hard for little kids to watch, such as a scene in which Milo tumbles down rocky hills, landing hard on sharp surfaces. (Of course, he’s left unscathed, but his fall down the hill still looks painful.) Moreover, the film focuses on the aliens’ pursuit of Milo with scary weapons, which are at one point aimed for a target on his head. But perhaps the most harrowing scene in the film is one in which Milo’s mother, rescued by her son, sacrifices her own life by giving her space helmet to him so he can breathe. This scene, in which Milo watches his mother die at his feet, is highly disturbing, especially for the film’s target audience of little boys. Yes, the scene brings the movie’s message home, but doing so to such an extreme turns off kids and parents alike.

Another chilling element of Mars Needs Moms is the animation. While the motion-capture technology, seen previously in producer Robert Zemeckis’s The Polar Express, is on its way to being a stunning accomplishment in animated film, the pictures in Mars Needs Moms just aren’t at that point yet. The human expressions are very robotic and devoid of emotion, making the characters’ appearances quite creepy. Likewise, their movements could be smoother, as their very mechanical actions look more unfinished than honed by computer animation experts.

The mediocre animation of Mars Needs Moms should nevertheless go right over kids’ heads. But parents should be aware of the film’s sadder and scarier scenes that could easily upset children. Still, kids of an older set (maybe nine or ten-years-old) may enjoy this action-packed alien adventure.