...where distraction is the main attraction.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Trailer Thursday: John Carter

I'm still not sure what to make of John Carter.  It has Tatooine-like visuals and Na'vi tribal stuff without the pterodactyl rape and unobtanium.  There's a Lawrence of Arabia feel to it, filtered through Edgar Rice Burroughs.

With Andrew Stanton (WALL-E, Toy Story 1 & 2) directing/co-writing this, there's a lot of us genuinely hoping that the great filmmaking qualities from Pixar can transition to live action.  And that hope's not unfounded.  To me, Pixar's magic comes from their incredible writing teams and it's debatable how much actual live action is in John Carter.

Plus I think we can all use a big slab of entertainment that has been neither dumbed down nor compromised.

Here are the two trailers, which have completely different tones and at times seem to be pitching two different movies.  I think the second one spins the story with more clarity.

Teaser - 7/14/11


Trailer - 11/29/11


The studios have been trying to make this since the 1930's.  Ray Harryhausen (allegedly) wanted to make it back in the '50s.  Disney pulled together a great filmmaking team to do it in the '80s, but ultimately decided that the necessary visual effects didn't exist, yet.  Apparently they do now.

So here's to hoping that this is good.  With Stanton and Marc Andrews from Pixar responsible for the first script drafts and the Amazing Michael Chabon knocking out the final polishes, I think my optimism is warranted.

But, like every other blogger's post about this film, it's all speculation until March 9th.

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