John Carter deserves a second look on home video

Disney’s John Carter got a bad rap upon its release. I mean, a really bad rap. So bad that Disney lost $250 million dollars on the endeavor and director Andrew Stanton will probably be more closely associated with his first live-action bomb than any of the wonderful, popular and classic animated films he’s overseen (WALL-E, Finding Nemo). Maybe it was just a case of being released at the wrong time, maybe it was Disney’s inability to properly market the movie — changing its title to shy away from the Mars location, the first deadly dull trailer — or perhaps it was that so much of the movie seemed … familiar (swords made of light?!), except the original story was written long before George Lucas — heck, even George Pal — imagined light sabres and warring Martians. Edgar Rice Burroughs is probably best known today as the creator of Tarzan, but he was also the father of John Carter, and the movie is based on his first John Carter novel, A Princess of Mars (1917). But is the movie really that bad? My buddy Ivey weighed in back when the movie was first released, and I pretty much agree with his assessment.

John Carter harkens back to the pre-Star Wars days of motion picture epics (heck, even the original Star Wars trilogy is pretty talky compared to the prequels). Yes, it has some nice special effects, some pretty cool “aliens,” and some great action, but it’s pretty old-fashioned at heart. Stanton takes his time laying out the story (another fact Disney hid in the promotion was that it takes place during the Civil War era) of Carter’s life, the loss of his family, his quest for gold, his ultimate transportation to Mars and his involvement in that planet’s own Civil War, and he doesn’t resort to mind-numbing editing, quick cuts from one location to another, and special effects just for the sake of it. To me, John Carter was more like a Cecil B. DeMille epic (The Ten Commandments comes to mind) than a modern sci-fi action flick, and that leisurely pace may have been the main thing that really turned people off (the useless 3D conversion didn’t help much either). And at more than 2 hours, it was probably just too “boring” for most people to sit through (had the movie been released as a major awards bait, Christmas epic, things may have turned out differently).

Now John Carter is available on home video in several formats, from standard DVD to Blu-ray 3D to digital downloads, and I think the movie deserves a second chance. I took a look at Disney’s new Blu-ray release (from the DVD/Blu-ray combo pack), and the film holds up on a second viewing (you actually get more out of a second time), and it looks and sounds spectacular. The 1080p high-def image is sharp and colorful, and the 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio is crystal clear with some nice bass during the battle scenes and the dialogue is nice and sharp. Other language options are English 2.0 Descriptive Video Service, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital. There are also English for the Hearing Impaired, French, and Spanish subtitles. There’s also an audio commentary track featuring director Andrew Stanton and producers Jim Morris and Lindsey Collins.

Bonus features on the Blu-ray are slim, but there are still a few nice things to view. One of the options Disney now includes on their Blu-rays is the Disney Second Screen option which allows you to sync your iPad or laptop with the movie and view additional material while the movie plays. Hopefully they’ll make this option available to Android users as well. The Second Screen option on this disk gives you the chance to explore John Carter’s journal while watching the movie.

Also on the Blu-ray:

• “100 Years in the Making” — This mini-doc gives some historical background on Burroughs, the influence of Percival Lowell (the man who discovered the “canals” on Mars) on his imagination, how his stories influenced modern sci-fi and fantasy, and the challenges of bringing the book to life on film. Some interesting tidbits you’ll find here are the reason Burroughs wrote his first John Carter story under the name Norman Bean, and a brief look at some test footage from the legendary Bob Clampett for his proposed animated film that never got off the ground.

• Deleted Scenes — You’ll get a chance to view ten deleted scenes with optional (and recommended) commentary from Stanton detailing why these scenes were left on the cutting room floor. Included is the original “Hall of Science” opening. These scenes are pretty interesting to watch chiefly because they were obviously scrapped early in the post-production process as many of them include crude, unfinished, temporary, and just plain not-there effects.

• “360 Degrees of John Carter” is a 35-minute doc detailing a single shooting day of the film, from the time extras and key cast members arrive for make-up and costumes, to getting the final shot of the day before the weekend. It’s interesting to see the make-up process on Lynn Collins (Dejah) as she undergoes hours of tattoo applications, hair extensions, and battle training for what appears to be a single scene set-up seven hours later. Curiously missing from the documentary is star Taylor Kitsch, who had the day off when this was filmed (there is a brief shot of him shooting the beginning of the Dejah scene from the day before). Worth watching if you’re really interested in the filmmaking process, and if you have your Second Screen application, you can watch an extended version as well.

• “Barsoom Bloopers” — Short, but features some pretty funny mishaps on the set climaxing with shots of the cast in various locations breaking out in spontaneous dancing. For a movie of this length, it would have been nice to see more bloopers, but I did get a few laughs from these.

The John Carter DVD includes just the audio commentary and the “100 Years in the Making” doc. If you stayed away from John Carter due to the reviews and general negative press, give it a shot now in the comfort of your home. At least you have the option to pause it if you need a break. And if you did see and didn’t think much of it, give it a second chance.

Clacked by Chuck Duncan
on Jun 09, 2012 @ 15:43 EST5EDT