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As we continue discussing the best movies based on toys, we are jumping into one you probably didn’t know, or just forgot, was based on a toy line.
Tyler Clark
July 19, 2023
Good morning Consumers. Good morning Consumers. This is please consume, film newsletter that says “Come on Barbie let’s go party!” way too often.
Mars Attacks! (1996)
As we continue discussing the best movies based on toys, we are jumping into one you probably didn’t know, or just forgot, was based on a toy line.
Today we’re talking about Mars Attacks!, the film directed by Tim Burton based on the Topps trading cards. So, let’s dive on in!
How Does This Film Exist?
So, let’s start by talking about how this movie even came into existence. It feels so weird that a movie based on trading cards from the 60s would ever have a movie made during this time period and by somebody who was so popular in that moment, starring some of the biggest stars in the world.
The film was originally pitched at United Artists by Repo Man director Alex Cox but was rejected and sat on the shelf until the rights got bought out by Warner Bros.
When the script for Jurassic Park was circling the studios, Tim Burton was Warner Bros. choice to direct it. Of course, the script went to Universal and Steven Spielberg, but Burton was still interested in doing a dinosaur movie, but was more interested in a B-movie version. He decided to make Dinosaurs Attack!, which was a companion toy line to Mars Attacks!, but when Jurassic Park eventually came out, Burton rightly decided to step away from the dinosaur mania.
He made the jump to Mars Attacks!, writing a screenplay that was originally gonna cost the studio $216 million, but whittled it down to $80 million which is still quite big. He also originally wanted the aliens to be in stop motion, but the studio convinced him to do them in CGI.
Critical Response
The reason Mars Attack! may feel like such a weird movie for Burton to make is because it’s so unusual for a director known for gothic films to do something this silly and ridiculous. And you better believe critica didn’t let Burton off easily.
The film was panned at the time for being too silly and nihilistic, but now with time we can really see where Burton was co ming from. He had just come off doing Ed Wood which was actually a biopic that explores b-movies about the filmmaker who made Plane Nine From Outer Space. In it, Burton poses the question “I don't see the difference between me and this guy, why does everybody like me but not Ed Wood?”. And so it only makes sense that after coming out of that mindset Burton would want to make a Plan Nine From Outer Space type movie and this is 100% that movie.
It’s silly. It’s over the top. It has a massive cast who all die in pretty ridiculous ways. Combine all that with the fact that it came out four months after Independence Day, a film that reclaimed the alien b-movie to a much warmer reception, and it’s no surprise that it was rejected by critics and audiences alike.
The Themes of Tim Burton
Watching this movie is gratifying and just gets better with age because you kind of get the feeling this is probably exactly what’s going to happen if aliens land on earth. It’s not gonna be Independence Day where we all band together to stop the aliens, it’ll probably be just a bunch of people going “No, I think I’ve got it figured out” and then failing miserably because of their own ego. Then the aliens take advantage of our smugness and trick us into letting them destroy us all because of a crappy translator.
This is back at a time when Burton still kind of cared about people. Nowadays it feels like he’s just into making films that feel like they feel like a Tim Burton movie. It’s sad to say, but it’s like a copy of a copy at this point. Back in the Mars Attacks! era, Burton was making movies about human beings. He was making films that explored how weird he thinks people are. Mars Attacks!, despite not being a Gothic work like Edward Scissorhands, does still have the innate distrust of human beings that we’ve come to expect from Tim Burton.
It’s also in line with his earlier work, especially something like Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, a film that feels more conventional, but has that same goofy nihilism that’ trademark Burton. Today’s clip displays that nihilism perfectly.
Today’s Scene
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