Mars Needs Moms:

A whole new language

Ruwini Jayawardana

Though many expected the film to embody science fiction elements Simon Wells’ Mars Needs Moms does not capture much of these features except in the form of a few power-packed alien shooting devices and air helmets. Nothing much is innovative about the alien figures either. The stereotypical big headed, large eyed and chiselled mouthed beings found in most extraterrestrial movies are featured in this movie as well.

Mars Needs Moms unfurls when a disobedient son expresses keen dissatisfaction with having a nagging mother. After a particular row, Milo goes in search for his mother one night to see extraterrestrial beings kidnapping her and making off in their spaceship. Luckily Milo was able to make it inside the spaceship.

He meets Gribble, a dishevelled techno-wiz who also happens to be the only other human being on Mars. He tells Milo that the Martians steal a mother from earth every 25 years to use their parenting skills to operate the nanny robots who take care of Martian babies. Interestingly the Martian babies come out of the planet’s rocky surfaces rather than through biological mothers.

The head of the group, the supervisor, is a cold hearted and humourless character whose body seems as mummified as her heart. She rules the female dominated planet and orders all the male Martians babies to be dumped out of their headquarters so that the hairy male Martians, who resemble African tribal groups, will raise them amid a waste infested slum surrounding.

Milo and Gribble soon find an ally, a rebellious young Martian named Ki who learned English watching ‘70s sitcoms. They plot to rescue Milo mother and stumble across something which is of value to Martians as well as earthlings: love and the ideal of the traditional family unit.

The entire movie is set up as a race against the clock with humans and Martians tumbling through space, sliding down parachutes, chasing along corridors and dancing on trash mounds. Though the plot is based on a theme which targets children and adults, the director had chosen to paint it in a manner which suits children’s tastes while ignoring the adult audience.

The story is originally based on a children’s novel by cartoonist Berkeley Breathed, but the theme of the child-parent bondage is universal and suitable for all ages. The only high point of the film is its play at emotions. Be it the final scenes which unite Milo with his mother or Gribble’s alliance with Ki, the scenes strike a cord in the audience and make them rethink certain family issues.

Nearly all the scenes which follow the kidnapping; Milo desperately trying to find a means of rescuing his mother, bubbles with emotions. It is an illustration of what mothers does for their children - tasks which children simply take for granted, that remain unappreciated or ignored. Gribble and Ki’s attraction also adds humour to an otherwise lifeless story.

Seth Green, Joan Cusack, Dan Folger, Elisabeth Harnois and Mindy Sperling have leant their voices to the Walt Disney Pictures and ImageMovers Digital animation. Though a lot of work such as creating a particular alien language and backdrop to the Martian environment had gone into the project, the work had gone unnoticed simply because the scenes drag on. It leaves you feeling slight and disappointed because the movie does not really hit you. You are left with a feeling that the filmmakers could have found a better means of delivering the goods.