Spooky Movie Month Day #1 – Mars Attacks

October 1st, 2023

Our first official Spooky Movie Month viewing choice was Mars Attacks. Released in 1996, directed by Tim Burton and written by Len Brown, Woody Gelman & Wally Wood.

Mars Attacks! Ack! Ack!

They were both cheering when they discovered Danny Elfman did the music (having seen him in concert this summer) and having been raised on Tim Burton, were super excited to finally experience one of his films they’ve never seen before.

A love letter to the creature feature/Sci-Fi films of the silver screen, Mars Attacks is clever, unique and just good fun with a transportive musical score. In true Tim Burton style, it’s bright, flashy, a little morbid, wonderfully whimsical and boarders on the absurd in all the right ways you hope for in a film like this.

So, what did the kids think?

Lion thought Martin Short’s character was an idiot who deserved to die for threatening national security so he could be inappropriate with someone who was obviously an alien. “If you’re gonna be that stupid you deserve it” were their exact words. …Can’t disagree, kiddo.

Their favorite parts: Dragon literally jumped up screaming and cheering when it turned out Byron William’s character doesn’t die and they both laughed about the “dog’s head on a lady’s body” for at least 20 minutes after the movie was over.

Parts they didn’t like: Lion was furious when they killed the president’s pets. We had to pause the movie and let them cry for a few minutes before we continued. Dragon didn’t outright hate any of it, but there were a few moments, like when they thought the kids were going to die, they almost gave up. They were ready to walk out, only to feel a deep kinship with their gamer brethren as they kicked alien butt. Much rejoicing was heard and that moment, honestly saved the movie for them because the were excited through the end.

Two thumbs up from both. They loved it and would absolutely watch it again!

Tomorrow’s pick is still a mystery… stay tuned in and find out what we’ll be watching next!