Revisiting MARS ATTACKS! in 4K

MARS ATTACKS! (4K UHD)

1996 / 106 min

Warner Bros

#InPartnershipwithWB  

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😺

One of the black sheep in Tim Burton’s filmography, Mars Attacks! was a critical and commercial disappointment thirty years ago, his own equivalent to Spielberg’s 1941. In Burton’s defense, the film’s failure wasn’t entirely his fault. Even with his reputation and a cast of A-listers big enough to rival The Ten Commandments, releasing this one so soon after 1996’s other big-budget alien invasion movie doesn’t rank among the wisest Hollywood decisions ever made.

But aside from bad timing, I think the biggest issue with Mars Attacks! might’ve been that it was directed by a guy trying to make a cult film for a studio expecting him to crank out another blockbuster. That it ultimately did become something of a cult film is neither here nor there. With its obscure trading card origins, exaggerated characters, wild aesthetic and an overall emphasis on black comedy, the film was always destined to appeal to a niche crowd.

That being said, revisiting Mars Attacks! all these years later more-or-less confirms what I’ve personally always felt about it. Like 1941, it’s a film guided by boundless enthusiasm (on both sides of the camera), but mostly anchored by a one-joke premise that’s mildly amusing, though seldom hilarious. And once the basic plot and characters are established, it becomes a series of visual gags and set-pieces that could almost be placed in any order without disrupting the narrative too much. 

These guys should pay today's congress a visit.

While the impressive cast does what they can with the caricatures they’ve been given, the appeal of the film has always been largely aesthetic. And in that respect, Mars Attacks! might arguably be one of Burton’s most interesting efforts. The director’s films have always been triumphs of production design and this one is no exception. But in addition to that, the rendering of the Martians, as well as their ships and cartoony weapons, are great fun simply to look at. Speaking as someone who isn’t the world’s biggest Tim Burton fan, such amusing eye candy (aided by a fun sense of mean-spiritedness) is probably the reason I revisit this one more often than his others. 

And I gotta say, the thing looks wonderful in 4K. The overall image is very sharp, and the film’s frequent use of bright, garish color really stands out, much more so than on the previous Blu-ray release. There are also two audio options, the original theatrical mix and a brand new Dolby Atmos track. I’ve always loved Danny Elfman’s playful score, and it sounds terrific here. And finally, sweetening the deal for fans are two all new retrospective bonus features (see below). 

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - Looking Back at Mars Attacks! features interviews with several people involved in the film’s production; Ack! Ack! Aesthetic is more of a continuation of the first featurette, with more of a focus on creating the Martians.

DIGITAL COPY

CORPSE BRIDE (4K): Tim Burton's Bag of Tricks

TIM BURTON’S CORPSE BRIDE (4K UHD)

2005 / 77 min

Warner Bros

#InPartnershipwithWB

Review by Mr. Bonniejangles😸

I suppose I should be forthcoming and put out there that I’m not among Tim Burton’s biggest fans. He’s made a few films I really love, but by and large, I never thought he was all that great of a storyteller. 

But I’ll concede that his work was almost always aesthetically interesting, especially the pre-21st Century stuff…before his usual bag of tricks (colorful production design, quasi-gothic flourishes, oddball characters, Danny Elfman score, etc) turned Burton into more of a reliable brand name than a director still interested in artistic growth. 

The exceptions might be a couple of whimsically dark forays into stop-motion animation, starting with 2005’s Corpse Bride (contrary to what a lot of people still mistakenly assume, Burton wrote & produced A Nightmare Before Christmas but didn’t direct it). In a way, Corpse Bride is a welcome return to his roots, when he first got Hollywood’s attention with such stop-motion shorts as Vincent and Frankenweenie.

Though co-directed by Mike Johnson, the tricks in Burton’s bag are still here in abundance (including his choices for voice actors). But this time they’re in service of a narratively slight but charmingly morbid folktale that’s bursting with vivid imagery, from the characters to the worlds in which they exist. With Laika Studios assisting with production, it probably goes without saying that the stop-motion animation is brilliant (which earned an Oscar nomination that year).

Looks like the honeymoon's over.

Corpse Bride features an impressive cast providing the voices, including Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson, Tracey Ullman, Albert Finney and Christopher Lee. It also boasts another playful Danny Elfman score, along with a few amusing musical numbers that help drive the plot. For the most part, this is all typical Tim Burton, but the animation makes it look and feel a bit fresher than his increasingly rote live action films of the time. And at 77 minutes, at least it doesn’t wear out its welcome.

If there’s ever been a director whose overall body of work screams for the 4K treatment, it’s Burton, and the video/audio transfer for Corpse Bride doesn’t disappoint. I’m still not completely sold on the visual and sonic benefits of 4K for every film, but it’s arguably the best way to appreciate Burton’s aesthetic sensibilities and the meticulousness of stop-motion animation. Additionally, there are a couple of brand new bonus features thrown in with a bunch of supplements from the original 2005 Blu-ray version. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

4K & DIGITAL COPIES

FRESH KIBBLES - Digging Up the Past: The Minds Behind Corpse Bride and ‘Til Death Do Us Part: A Corpse Bride Reflection are a couple of brand new retrospective bonus features.

SEASONED KIBBLES - Danny Elfman Interprets the Two Worlds; The Animators: The Breath of Life; Inside the Two Worlds of Corpse Bride; Voices from the Underworld; The Corpse Bride Pre-Production Galleries; Tim Burton: Dark vs Light; Making Puppets Tick; The Voices Behind the Voice. All the these featurettes are carried over from the 2005 Blu-ray release.