If you have seen a Burton film before, you have an idea of what to expect. On the other hand, if you have not, it is a little difficult to determine if you will enjoy it or not. What I can say is that this is *not* mainstream or Hollywood. If anything, it mocks the traditions of such. This is tasteless, sick, twisted fun, spoofing and satirizing the army, politics, the media, religion, etc. It also contains homages to the campy sci-fi flicks of the 50's, though you really don't need to be particularly familiar with those to get into this(I'm not, and I laugh my head off). This was my second viewing, and the other time was at least half a decade ago, and yet I remembered nearly everything(and the humor still "worked" for me, in spite of me knowing the punchlines). That doesn't happen all that often. The comedy is *hilarious*(with some exceptions that miss the mark), with silly and goofy material, absurdity, brilliantly written dialog and absolutely *no* holding back. This has a magnificent cast(all of them clearly in on it, aware of what the final product would be) and the characters are distinguished and memorable, and all the archetypes are there. The acting is spot-on for nearly every performance; Tom Jones isn't entirely convincing, but it doesn't get to be terribly bothersome. This never stands still, there is a ton of energy in it, and the pacing is fast without being overwhelming. The special effects are good, if you can tell that CGI was relatively new at this point, and the integration between the FX and the live-action elements is reasonable at best. There is plenty of moderately violent and disturbing content, a little mild language and brief(not graphic) sexuality in this. I recommend it to anyone who can imagine that they'd like it. 7/10
Review of Mars Attacks!
