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Seth Green, Joan Cusack, Dan Fogler, Elisabeth Harnois, Mindy Sterling ... see more see more... , Kevin Cahoon , Tom Everett Scott

Take out the trash, eat your broccoli-who needs moms, anyway? Nine-year-old Milo (Seth Green) finds out just how much he needs his mom (Joan Cusack) when she's nabbed by Martians who plan to steal her... read more read more... mom-ness for their own young. Produced by the team behind Disney's A Christmas Carol and The Polar Express, Mars Needs Moms showcases Milo's quest to save his mom-a wild adventure in 3D that involves stowing away on a spaceship, navigating an elaborate, multi-level planet and taking on the alien nation and their leader (Mindy Sterling). With the help of a tech-savvy, underground earthman named Gribble (Dan Fogler) and a rebel Martian girl called Ki (Elisabeth Harnois), Milo just might find his way back to his mom-in more ways than one. Based on the Book by Berkeley Breathed. -- (C) Disney

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43% liked it

24,597 ratings

Critics

37% liked it

109 critics

PG, 1 hr. 28 min.

Directed by: Simon Wells

Release Date: March 11, 2011

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DVD Release Date: August 9, 2011

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Flixster Reviews (1,267)

  • sanjurosamurai
    December 31, 2011
    sanjurosamurai
    wow. the film features an interesting concept, and then does whatever possible to muck it up. a total train wreck. one of the worst kids movies i have ever had the displeasure to sit through.
  • kiriyamakazou
    September 23, 2011
    kiriyamakazou
    Oh dear. This was an incredibly lifeless effort. Mocap shows that it has a long way to go to capture humanity. This seems like the Mocap film least in need of being in the form. It's a story of a boy that is your usual asshat kid. Then his mom is captured by aliens and he realise... read mores how much he loves her. The film is mostly dull, with very repetitive landscapes used. Foggler has some great chances for emotional connection as a stranded kid, but he messes it up by just being a very poor imitation of Jack Black. And even Jack Black can't be Jack Black anymore. Seth Green was screwed over by having his voice completely replaced. I'm sure this is false advertising as the trailers had his voice. The film also fails to slow down, with constant chasing and shouting. In the end the main reason this film fails is because of its confusing messages. If you listen to your mom she'll be taken away by aliens. Women shouldn't work and should look after kids. Families should comprise of 1 mom and 1 dad in order to be successful. It's hard to know what the film is saying, because it just isn't articulate enough.
  • CloudStrife84
    September 14, 2011
    CloudStrife84
    Mars needs more than just moms, but also a better script, funnier jokes and something to take it beyond genericness. Great visuals just doesn't cut it, however graphically impressive it may be with its astoundingly life-like animations. But I suppose with all the awesome CGI flic... read moreks we get, the price we have to pay is to endure a couple of mediocre ones every once in a while. This is one such "I'll watch it just to have seen it"-films. It got better by the end though, where it found its way into my heart with a very touching scene. Just too bad that everything that preceded it was such a mundane experience.
  • DreamExtractor
    August 29, 2011
    DreamExtractor
    Mars Needs moms is not a good kids film, even though the animation is incredible. The plot is a very boring and loses its train of though many times and starts worrying about other things instead of the main point, saving his mom. The voice acting from Dan Folger was the only o... read morene that I found a slight bit interesting, other than that everyone annoyed the crap out of me. The animation was incredible, I was stunned at how well it was, and it was the only thing that saved it from a very bad review, instead of just a bad review. Overall kids might enjoy this, and the film has a good theme that moms are the people who will love us no matter what, but my siblings are 6 and 10 and they hated it, so im not alone when I say it was a bad film.
  • CreedsDelight
    August 16, 2011
    CreedsDelight
    'Mars Needs Moms' is not a great film, it isn't even too good, which places it in the average zone. I found the first act very bright and promising, but the story falls apart and becomes uninteresting in the last two acts. The main aspect that really caught my eye was the flawles... read moresly impressive animation, which was done my motion capture technology, if I'm remembering right. The animation was astounding to look at, as well as the realism of these visuals making animation more real than ever. The same animation team that provided the award winning effects for 'The Polar Express'. I found the human animation was incredibly realistic, as well as the most impressive aspect of the film from a visual standpoint. Despite the fact that the film is beautiful to look at, the writing is poor, the main character is an extremely unlikable brat, Dan Foggler is at his least funny (he's never funny), and there isn't much originality. Another gripe I had with this film were the Martians animation, which in my opinion were not original, nor well-made. It seems that the direction was clearly trying to be serious, but the entire tone changes throughout which makes the audience care less and less about the characters, even in moments of extreme peril. As I mentioned, the film lacks a radiant script; nothing is ever explained in a reasonable or understandable way and the Martians' actions have no complexity or explanatory objections as to why they need the moms. I must admit that there are little individual moments that are great and light-hearted, but it is undeniable that the script mainly consists of mindless potty humor and deliberate use of immaturity. Perhaps if character development was handled more carefully, this could have turned out to be something really great. The fact that Disney is involved in this is quite sad because they usually never fail at giving audiences what they want; with this and 'Cars 2', it seems that Disney is running out of ideas (here's your chance Dreamworks). Luckily though, the film does have a short running time, coming in at about 90 minutes, being the best aspect I can think of pertaining to the film aside from the animation. On an unrelated note; this movie was marketed as an action-adventure movie, when in fact is slightly that, but there wasn't very much action to offer considering the endless possibilities that can be diligently and brilliantly well-executed when creating a totally farfetched animated universe. Seth Green (who only provided the motion capture for Milo's character) and Joan Cusack are admirable and lovable actors, and bring some of their individual wittiness humor to the stage, and with great animation, 'Mars Needs Moms' is somewhat watchable, but easily forgettable.
  • itsjustme2004
    August 15, 2011
    itsjustme2004
    Cute. Nothing too exciting, though.
  • 3niR
    July 27, 2011
    3niR
    I can't believe how low the rating is. This movie is awesome! I enjoyed from starting till the end. It is beautifully done.
  • ythelastman89
    June 21, 2011
    ythelastman89
    I honestly cannot understand how anyone could see this and not find it to be one great kid's movie. Not only is Mars Needs Moms great for its target audience, this is truly built for everyone. There's some great writing, amazing characters and truly heart felt moments. Motion cap... read moreture is an animation form that is still finding its audience, but I just really can't get enough of it. This is so beautifully done that it's hard not to marvel at it just from a visual standpoint. However, this has reasoning to look the way it does; it makes all of the characters and situations all the more real. It's not a bunch of goofy, animated characters. Milo looks like a real kid who's lost his mom and you can see his emotions in every single frame. A lot of this motion capture works as well as it does due to the amazing performances from Seth Green, Dan Fogler and Seth Dusky as Milo's voice. Now this might seem like a corny movie only suited for eight-year-olds, but it has some of the most honest things to say about unconditional love and what it means to be a family. It also happens to be just really fun and genuinely great in terms of comedy. It manages to contain a number of crazy elements, but make them appear extremely believable and you're never taken out of the story because of them. This movie deserves so much more praise than it receives and it is a complete leap in terms of what you can do with animation technology and achieving true performances in the medium.
  • xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    June 21, 2011
    xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    Mom needs a little space.

    Good movie! The story was pretty good and simple with a nice solid message. What I didn't like about this movie was the voice of Seth green with his character, it totally didn't work for me. I thought this movie was pretty cool and not bad at all. The ... read morescene at the almost end of the film where the mom saves his son was really important and touching, almost perfect to really solidify this film. I love Disney movie's, can't help it!

    The film follows a boy named Milo. Milo is just beginning summer but his mother gives him chores and tasks like weeding the garden or eating his vegetables. But after Milo tints his sister's face purple, his mother sees no humor in this. She orders him up to his room. After an argument with his mother in which Milo says "I don't see what's so special about mothers!", Milo goes to his room. After falling asleep, Milo does not hear the rumble of the rocket landing outside. After, Martians enter Milo's house and take away his mother. Milo realizes that he has to rescue her. Milo embarks on an adventure to rescue his mother.

    The film is based on a children's picture book by Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Berkeley "Berke" Breathed, author of the comic strip Bloom County.
  • fb100000440772572
    February 5, 2012
    fb100000440772572
    This film is a lot more infantile than the title would suggest. Mars Needs Moms delivers what it promises, and that's not a good thing. The story is incredibly stupid and the acting isn't much better. Even the CG animation is atrocious; quite possibly the worst motion capture ... read moreanimation that I've seen. Mars Needs Moms is complete garbage and a waste of time.

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Critic Reviews

Rafer Guzman
March 25, 2011
Rafer Guzman, Newsday

The film looks neither fully real nor fully imagined, which could be forgiven if Mars Needs Moms had something more to offer besides its nifty technology. Full Review

Eric D. Snider
March 21, 2011
Eric D. Snider, Film.com

They took a small story, made it complicated and burdensome, filmed some actors performing it, turned those actors into affectless, mechanical cartoons, converted it to 3-D, and dropped it in theaters... Full Review

Stephen Whitty
March 12, 2011
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

So, okay, men are completely irresponsible slobs, which is why women need to be unceasing nags. Check. Great message for the kids. Full Review

Tom Long
March 11, 2011
Tom Long, Detroit News

This is just a big rollercoaster of a movie, filled with dazzling effects and funny creatures and the requisite five-hankie "I love you, Mom" ending. But then, there are some weird gender political ba... Full Review

Stephen Cole
March 11, 2011
Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail

Even though Mars Needs Moms isn't female-friendly, mothers looking for quality time with 6- to 12-year-old boys could do worse than book group passage there soon. Full Review

Mike Hale
March 11, 2011
Mike Hale, New York Times

It seems that it's time to admit that dressing actors in LED-studded catsuits, asking them to give performances on sterile white sets and handing the results to a team of computer animators is not a w... Full Review

Lou Lumenick
March 11, 2011
Lou Lumenick, New York Post

Aside from a relatively brief appearance by Joan Cusack's avatar as the kidnapped mother, there are no involving characters or situations. Full Review

Sean O'Connell
March 11, 2011
Sean O'Connell, Washington Post

While Wells's ice-blue color scheme borrows from both "Tron" films and a litany of "Star Trek" episodes, a majestic musical score by the great composer John Powell somehow makes everything old feel fr... Full Review

Mick LaSalle
March 10, 2011
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Talk about setting the bar too low, especially in a movie that kids will be watching. Full Review

Claudia Puig
March 10, 2011
Claudia Puig, USA Today

The movie is hampered by uninteresting characters, a predictable story and 3-D technology, which darkens even the brightest colors and detracts from the vibrancy of the tale. Full Review

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    • Milo's Mom: Milo, is that broccoli?
    • Milo: No, that's vomit.
    • Milo: Broccoli makes me barf. Besides it looks like brains.
    • Milo: What is going on?
    • Gribble: Mars needs moms, so the aliens are stealing them from Earth to raise their own kids.
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