Alors qu’il s’agit d’un film de grande envergure et avec des acteurs, JOHN CARTER est curieusement confié à un réalisateur qui n’a œuvré jusque là que sur des dessins animés en images de synthèse. Faisant partie intégrante de l’équipe créatrice de Pixar, Andrew Stanton a ainsi travaillé, entre autres, sur TOY STORY, 1001 PATTES ou encore RATATOUILLE alors qu’il a assumé seul la réalisation du MONDE DE NEMO et de WALL-E. Force est de constater que le cinéaste s’est montré à la hauteur en proposant un spectacle qui a l’énorme avantage d’approcher le cinéma d’aventures de manière très classique. Au point que JOHN CARTER ne ressemble pas vraiment aux blockbusters contemporains mais retrouve plutôt le charme de métrages tels que le premier STAR WARS. Autant dire que ce JOHN CARTER nous a emballé. Ce n’était pourtant pas gagné d’avance puisque le film se base sur une œuvre littéraire que les scénaristes, dont Andrew Stanton , ont très librement adapté dans ce film . Ainsi,JOHN CARTER n’est pas exactement l’adaptation du livre original mais plutôt un mélanged’éléments et d'intrigue puisées dans les deux premiers ouvrages : La Princesse de Mars et Les Dieux de Mars. 

 

A partir de là, quiconque chercherait une adaptation fidèle risquerait d’être déçu. L’intrigue générale a été entièrement revue, certains rebondissements totalement modifiés et des raccourcis sont souvent utilisés. C’est le cas par exemple du début et de la fin de l’histoire. Rien de bien surprenant, en réalité, puisque Edgar Rice Burroughs ne donnait pas à l’origine d’explication concernant le voyage astral de son héros. Pour les spectateurs d’aujourd’hui, cela s’avère inconcevable et les auteurs du film proposent une solution séduisante sans pour autant être totalement convaincante. Néanmoins, on conserve bien le personnage d’Edgar Rice Burroughs, l’écrivain faisant lui-même l’introduction de l’histoire en la présentant comme une aventure réelle. En tout cas, il faut être bien conscient que les agencements sont nombreux. 

La critique de DEVIL DEAD (fin)

 

Les auteurs insufflent aussi des touches humoristiques qui tranchent un peu avec le ton bien plus sérieux des livres originaux. Pour autant, il s’agit d’une relecture plutôt réussie, peut être même bien trop riche pour un film d’un peu plus de deux heures. Car lorsque Edgar Rice Burroughs prenait son temps pour décrire les peuples de Mars ainsi que ses personnages, le film complique l’intrigue.Un choix certainement dicté par l’envie de placer un véritable complot fil rouge de l’histoire, tout en présentant un véritable méchant tirant les ficelles. Un vilain qui sera à même d’être développé dans une suite explorant bien plus avant les événements des livres suivants : Les Dieux de Mars et Le Guerrier de Mars. En effet, si à l'origine, sa présence est palpable dans le seconde livre, il ne fera sa véritable apparition que dans le troisième ouvrage.

 

Et parmi les agencements inévitables, on voit aussi mal comment il aurait été possible de présenter la princesse Dejah Thoris totalement nue à l’écran ou montrer sa progéniture sous la forme d'un oeuf (cet aspect étant totalement occulté ici) ! Enfin, le design général de JOHN CARTER n’est pas non plus totalement fidèle, en particulier les engins volants décrits comme des dirigeables prennent des allures assez différentes. Autant de modifications qui devraient nous faire hurler à la trahison !Et pourtant, le résultat fonctionne. Les personnages prennent vie, l’univers s’installe et l’aventure est au rendez-vous tout en conservant le charme de l'aventure extraterrestre selon Edgar Rice Burroughs. Evidemment, on pourra encore noter quelques imperfections en dehors de cette impression que l’histoire se déroule un peu vite. Par exemple, l’acteur principal n’a peut être pas le charisme nécessaire, à défaut d’avoir une musculature adéquate, pour incarner le héros de cette aventure.On trouvera aussi curieux le passage avec les soldats américains dans le préambule, passage inutile et inexistant dans le livre. Mais tout cela, finalement, n’a pas une très grande importance et il serait dommage de bouder notre plaisir de découvrir une belle aventure sur grand écran !

 

Christophe "Arioch" Lemonnier

 

-Mario Kassar had the project at Disney in the 1980s, but it was also listed under his development projects during his deal at Paramount in the mid-'90s. In 2004--when the project was still known as "A Princess of Mars" after the book on which it's based--Robert Rodriguez had originally been signed and announced as director and had begun pre-production early that year (it would have been his largest project to date, with starting budget reported at $100 million). Rodriguez' most notable contribution was to hire fantasy painter Frank Frazetta (whose most acclaimed works have included striking illustrations of Edgar Rice Burroughs novels, most notably the "John Carter on Mars" books) as production designer. However, when Rodriguez resigned from the Directors' Guild of America (DGA) the same year (due to a dispute over his film Sin City), Paramount was forced to replace him.

* 

The studio has a long-standing arrangement with the DGA in which only the organization's members may direct Paramount films. He was replaced with Kerry Conran, who had just finished Capitaine Sky et le monde de demain. In 2005 Conran left the project and was replaced by Jon Favreau just before the release of Favreau's movie Zathura - Une aventure spatiale; Favreau was on-board to direct until around August 2006. At that time Paramount chose not to renew the film rights, preferring to focus on Star Trek, and Favreau left to work on Iron Man. In January 2007 Disney regained the rights (it had rights to film the story previously: in the 1980s with director John McTiernan), and enlisted Andrew Stanton from Pixar to direct.

-"A Princess of Mars" was originally published as "Under the Moons of Mars" by Norman Bean (Edgar Rice Burroughs' pseudonym) in The All-Story (six pulp magazine issues February - July, 1912). Burroughs was originally afraid that he might be ridiculed for writing such a tale, so he decided to use a pen name. The pseudonym was supposed to be a pun "Normal Bean" (as in "I'm a normal being") to reassure people, but the man who typeset the text thought it was a mistake,so he changed it to"Norman".However, Burroughs' fears turned out to be unfounded the story and its sequels,collectively known as the"Barsoom series"'were almost as popular (and arguably more influential) as those of his most famous creation, Tarzan.

-Jon Hamm and Josh Duhamel were considered for the role of John Carter.

-Probably holds the record for having the longest period of "development hell" for any movie, at 79 years. Preproduction for a film version first started in 1931, when Robert Clampett (director of 'Looney Tunes') approached author Edgar Rice Burroughs to make an animated feature out of the first book in the series, "A Princess of Mars" (the same story that this film is an adaptation of). Had plans gone through, 'John Carter' could have become America's first animated feature, beating Walt Disney's Blanche Neige et les sept nains (1937). The film finally left development hell in January 2010 when filming officially started in London.

-The music in the first theatrical trailer uses two instrumental arrangements of "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin. The first (starting at 0:53) was performed by Australian/British string quartet Bond, the second (starting at 1:25) was performed by Corner Stone Cues (this arrangement is called "Ten Years Kashmir Mvt II (Orch, Choir & Perc Mix))".

-This marks the third live-action franchise under the Walt Disney banner to earn a PG-13 rating in the United States. The first being Pirates des Caraïbes, la malédiction du Black Pearl and its sequels and the second being Prince of Persia - Les sables du temps.

-The Teaser features the song "My Body is a Cage", originally written by Arcade Fire. The version used in the teaser is by Peter Gabriel, released on his 2011 album of cover versions, "Scratch My Back".

-The first "John Carter" story by Edgar Rice Burroughs made its debut in 1912 in a magazine serial. Thus, the 2012 feature film marks the centenary (100th anniversary) of the character's first appearance.

-The film was originally titled and marketed as "John Carter of Mars", but director Andrew Stanton removed "of Mars" from the opening credits and promotional material to make it more appealing to a broader audience, stating that the film is an "origin story... It's about a guy becoming John Carter of Mars." The entire title "John Carter of Mars" is displayed during the end credits.

-Dedicated to the memory of Steve Jobs.

-When Jon Favreau learned that Andrew Stanton had picked up the film, he gave him a call congratulating him and requesting that he could play a Thark. Favreau voices a "Thark Bookie".

-The book was written in Utah and much of the film was shot in Utah, almost 100 years apart.

-HIDDEN MICKEY: One of Dejah's red tattoos on her right arm.

-The movie's lead couple, Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins, both starred in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Kitsch as Gambit and Collins as Kayla Silverfox.

-For each of the super jumps that Taylor Kitsch performed, he was attached to a harness that allowed him to free-fall at a speed of 80 mph. Kitsch apparently found it unpleasant.

-Willem Dafoe accepted the role of Tars Tarkas because he thought it was interesting for him to act while wearing pajamas and walking on stilts.

-About 1,800 costumes were designed--383 yards of cloth material were used to design the Thern costumes, while Dejah's wedding dress, cuffs and crown had 120,000 Swarovski crystals attached by hand.

-While filming at Big Water in Utah, the crew accidentally discovered a 60 feet long sauropod skeleton. The site of discovery was then put into the handling by the state's land management bureau.

-Ciarán Hinds, James Purefoy, Polly Walker and Nicholas Woodeson also played together in the TV series Rome.

-The change in title from "A Princess of Mars" to "John Carter of Mars," and later simply to "John Carter" is the subject of some controversy. Conflicting reasons given include that the Disney marketing department or director Andrew Stanton wanted to appeal to a broader audience, or that the studio had hoped to create a film series with the "John Carter" banner title. Industry lore also suggests that films with "Mars" in the title tend to under perform financially, most notably Milo sur Mars which was also distributed by Disney and proved a colossal flop for the studio. Ironically, "John Carter" would prove to be the biggest financial disappointment for Disney since "Mars Needs Moms."

-Robert Zemeckis turned down the chance to direct, quipping "George already pillaged all of that" with the "Star Wars" films. In other words, most of the best elements of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars fantasies had already been "borrowed" for George Lucas' space operas.

-Director Andrew Stanton's live-action directorial debut.

-In the arena John Carter is chained to a rock. The top of the spike that is in the rock is the shape of the D in the Walt Disney logo.

-In the make-believe culture in the movie, the two moons orbiting Mars/Barsoom are called Thuria and Cluros. In serious astronomy they are called Phobos and Deimos (Greek words for Fear and Terror).

-The voice actors for the two Thark candidates for chief have played lead villains in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movies. Willem Dafoe (Tars Tarkas) played the Green Goblin in Spider-Man and Thomas Haden Church (Tal Hajus) played the Sandman in Spider-Man 3.

-In Arizona, John Carter's bad behavior lands him in a jail operated by the United States Army's 7th Cavalry. This was the same regiment that George Armstrong Custer served in.

 

This was without exaggeration the most impressive movie I've ever seen. It's the stuff cinema and 3-D are made for. I experienced it as a partly breathtaking parade of impressive landscapes, panorama shots, aliens, costumes and sets connected by a complex story about power, resistance and of course love that culminates in a clever ending.

 

The only reason I give not all 10 stars is because I have to confess that I found the story sometimes a little too complex and therefore hard to follow.But this feast for the eye is by any means the money for the ticket worth. I've never seen such a spectacular movie. My dream fulfilled: A new overwhelming sf- spectacular which isn't part of the Star Wars or Star Trek franchise but opens a new rich and fantastic world and which has- in opposite to the SW prequels- a logical and intricate story.All my hopes that it won't bomb but allow new adventures with John Carter on the Mars to be filmed.

 

 

 

John Carter did not get the attention that it needed! This movie should of been more successful and despite what most of the critics and viewers are saying about this movie, "that its a lot like Star Wars and Avatar", that is not true. I have found John Carter to be an amazing movie visually, and the story was actually great. Don't get me wrong, Star Wars and Avatar were great movies, but I believe that John Carter was far much different and slightly better. I saw John Carter in the theaters the week that it came out and I had a lot of fun watching this movie!. So the hell with the critics, in my opinion, John Carter kicked ass!!!!.