MARS NEEDS MOMS

MARS NEEDS MOMS is a very entertaining comical science fiction adventure that extols the traditional premise or proposition that every child needs a mother and a father.

In the story, 9-year-old Milo gets angry at his mother and brings her to tears when she punishes him for not eating his broccoli like he promised. Alone in his room, Milo starts to regret his angry words. Just when he goes to apologize, creatures from Mars kidnap Milo’s mom. Milo manages to sneak aboard the spaceship just in the nick of time, however.

On Mars, the Martians find Milo and lock him up. With help from Gribble, a 30-something man who’s never grown up and whose own mom was taken to Mars years ago, Milo manages to escape. Gribble is ecstatic to find another male who will play video games with him, but Milo discovers that the harsh female leader of the all-female Martian security forces plans to drain his mom of all her mom-ness, to program her essence into robot nannies for the newborn female Martians. At the same time, the newborn Martian males are tossed down the garbage chute to fend for themselves.

Gribble reluctantly agrees to help Milo rescue his mom, but he has another plan for force Milo to stay on Mars with him, because he thinks rescuing Milo’s mom is a hopeless cause. Along the way, however, Milo runs into a rebel Martial girl named Ki, who’s grown up watching a 1960s TV sitcom about rebellious hippies. Her help just might help Milo succeed in rescuing his mom.

Everything comes to an exciting, emotional finish proving the idea that every child needs both a mother and a father.

MARS NEEDS MOMS has a beautifully structured script. The simple premise is woven perfectly throughout the storyline and comes to a brilliant, exciting climax that also will bring most viewers to tears. The animation is shot in motion capture, which brings a marvelous spontaneity to the performances, though some critics after the screening still complained about the rendition of human faces. Animated motion capture faces are indeed a bit different from traditional animated or CGI animated faces, but MOVIEGUIDE® found that the rendition of human faces in MARS NEEDS MOMS was okay, especially in the way it captured the funny, goofy and unique personality of actor Dan Fogler, who gave the movie’s best performance as Gribble.

What sets MARS NEEDS MOMS apart from other movies, however, is its excellent, insightful defense of the traditional family structure, including God’s definition of marriage. Although it focuses on the nurturing role that mothers play, it doesn’t neglect fathers. In fact, the Martian society is viewed as a harsh, totalitarian, even communist, feminist matriarchy that’s cold and heartless. As such, the movie (whether consciously or unconsciously) posits a dark future of what might happen on Earth if modern society continues to cast the male species aside and turn women into some kind of counterfeit masculine automaton with no commitment to heterosexual marriage and family. Given the radical left-wing politics of many opinion leaders today, this kind of conservative, biblical content is surprising, even though MOVIEGUIDE® has proven time and time again that movies with Christian, biblical or conservative content and values make the most money on average.

Of course, all these heavy issues are dealt with in a humorous, exciting, extremely touching, and profound, but not overbearing, way that makes MARS NEEDS MOMS one of the best movies of the year so far. We congratulate the filmmakers on a job well done!