This movie was an absolute train wreck. It was simply awful. This was so bad that it was the first movie in 12 years that i got up and walked out of the theater. The pacing of the movie is out of control, it moves so fast that that all the scenes feel rushed. Despite the frantic pace it feels like your stuck in a boat without a sail or paddle. The movie feels like your in stagnant water. The dialogue was terrible and very very boring. The acting left much to be desired. The movie made me cringe because you could tell how awkward the Actors felt during many scenes. The action sequences had a lot of flash with zero substance, no emotion or suspense, all in all the action was very . . . . . bland and uninspired. Towards the last 3rd of the movie i just couldn't handle this snoozefest anymore and i thought to myself, "do i really want to put myself through any more of this torture. . . . Hell NO!" So i got up and walked to the lobby and played Galaga in the arcade until my buddies gave up on the movie too and left early. Don't waist your money and this shameless cash grab.… Expand

Even with its gorgeous special effects, numerous set-pieces, and massive budget of $250 million, John Carter leaves me with a booming thought in my mind: "That's it?"

A mess. It is pretty amazing that an established director, with Disney as the studio and 200 million dollars can actually make a movie that is this disorganized.

How can you have quality like A Separation or The Hurt Locker for 10 million dollars and a mashed up piece of whatever for 200 million?

A dull Prince of Persia/Avatar clone. The only thing that could have saved this movie was if David Lynch wrote the script and Takashi Miike directed it, now that would be a messed up movie I'd actually want to see.

A Virginia Civil War soldier is transported to Mars, where he helps the good guys fight the overlords. As imaginative as that sounds (actually from a series of Edgar Rice Burroughs books), there's nothing original about the story, the style, the action, the look or the direction of this tedious bomb. So much is derivative that it feels like a really awful, long-lost "Star Wars" spinoff.

So strange. You have brillant director, yet this film is a formula. It is like the producers and writers all ganged up to make a known quantity; that is really much better as a novel (exposition that never stops, just tedious). I was disappointed to say the least. Way too many story lines that have you more confused than interested. Only die hard fans of this type of genre will like it.

Great CG cannot save an excellent original story line which is drowned by needlessly long, unnecessary, boring, scenes. The trademark "Disney" is synonymous with excellence,..but in this case, no.

"Trust me" said Andrew Stanton a self-proclaimed fan of the books. I wouldn't trust him if he told me the sun would rise tomorrow after seeing the way he pulled the book apart. Maybe he read the same book as Rogosh, but it definitely wasn't A Princess of Mars. I was introduced to the books over 30 years ago, aged 10 and have read and re-read them many times since, most recently the last few weeks I re-read the 1st 3 books.
Others have given a synopsis, the trouble is there are so many changes to the book that this is not much more than a reworking. From minor details such as Carter not staying with Burroughs when he 'died', to pretty major changes in plot and timeline.
Stanton has introduced characters that we don't meet until the 2nd book and changed character status around with no apparent purpose. Then there are pretty major characters that are missing.
I can understand missing parts from books as they may not work in a film or there isn't enough time, but to rework a book to such an extent and never once mention that it is a reworking is basically lying to the legions of fans out there. I will not be watching any further films in the series unless Stanton is thrown out.
As for the characters, John Carter did not give me the impression of a man of honour who would fight for what he thought was right, more a depressive that wasn't really interested in anyone but his own self pity. Dejah Thoris waxed briefly, then waned. She had a strong opening and displayed some of the royal pride and standing I would expect, only to wither into a flaky weak woman.
As a fan of ERB's books, I am thoroughly disappointed with this film.
As a sci-fi romp I would only give it a middle score as it is ok based on that, but there are no really strong characters nor a solid story line. Even the effects are just ok. Ignoring the books for a moment, nothing about this film stands out as original or innovative.… Expand

Disney has yet again failed to deliver an original movie. It's as if they got the worst parts of Star Wars (Jar Jar Binks mostly) and all of Avatar, and fed it to the viewer after being processed by a geriatric Warthog. Epic Fail.

Little more than a collection of puerile fantasy 'bits' cobbled together, with relentless, falsely dramatic muzak. So pretty much, the usual recipe for almost every other sci-fi / superhero movie that's emerged from the bowels of Hollywood over the last decade or so. Add in some truly uncharismatic lead acting talent (sic) and eradicate all traces of plausibility and humility.... et voilà!!… Expand

From the very beginning this looked like utter stupidity. Nothing special about special effects. So what if some computer designer drew some stupid creature on his computer. Big Deal! Other than that, lame plot, everything and anything is as out of touch with reality as it can get. Like humanoids on Mars? Martian airships? Seriously? Technologically advanced Martians/aliens that act as if they had the disinterment of a 5-year old? And they wonder this load of nonsense was a commercial failure!… Expand

One word I keep reading in relation to John Carter is inconsistent. I felt that choice of word was excellent because the biggest crimes of John Carter is that it buries the fact it actually has emotional resonance underneath cheap thrill action sequences and comedy sequences designed for the Disney family (the Disney family that in the end, didn't go to see the film). The character of John Cater is a conflicted one having suffered severe loss prior to his transportation to Mars. However this issue is glossed over as he begins leaping around the planet and getting involved in a war that's justification is NEVER given. In fact the film explores different parts of John Carter's personality at different times in the film so you have to struggle through his problems with wars in general before you really get to why he is the way he is. There is a sequence halfway through that is so powerful and poignant that it almost saves the film because it finally gives the viewer someone to support, someone to root for, but then the film returns to its predictable action and linear storytelling and everything that was good is bad again. Taylor Kitsch does a decent job portraying Carter regardless of the bad script and storytelling but he is let down by most of his supporting cast. Lynn Collins puts little effort in and never seems comfortable in the role making her scenes irritating, Dominic West tries to get by on charm but he fails to realise he doesn't have any and Ciaran Hinds looks as bored as he must have felt. The films 250 million dollar budget is evident in some truly stunning visuals but at times they can be a bit jarring in that the humans and creatures never really mesh when they are on screen together. However the CGI and the world created by Andrew Stanton is beautiful in the way Avatar was despite the large amount of sand. The film at times borders on cute because its a Disney film but overall it doesn't provide enough character to even pull that off. It's a shame as they advertised the film as '100 years in the making' as Edgar Rice Burroughs published the first of his John Carter novels in 1912. I wonder if it was made sooner, would it have been any better than this uninvolved yet beautiful mess of a picture?… Expand

One of the worst movies I've ever seen at the cinema, with the possible exception of Indiana Jones IV. Its only saving grace were the special effects and only when it came to scenery, not the aliens, who all looked like Jar Jar Binks wannabes. The lead actor was just awful, his acting was beyond bad, it was so horrid many people in the theatre were laughing when he delivered the cheesy one-liners with the earnesty of 5-year-old at a school play. Sure, he was pretty, like a Bravo-girl poster pretty, but is that really what it takes to be a fantasy lead? Where are the Han Solos of this generation? The lead actress was better, but not astonishingly so. The story was needlessly complicated and the emotional background for the main character was pointless and forced. The jokes were childish and not very amusing and the dialogues... dear lord, I want those two hours of my life back. I'm actually a life-long sci/fantasy fan, and I admire Burroughs and his fantasy balls of brass, so I wouldn't be so hard on the film (some of the CGI was nice), if it weren't for the amount of money wasted on it - 250 mil, plus 100 mil marketing - do you have any idea how many good movies, even only within the sci-fi/sci-fantasy genre, could've been made for that amount? But no, it was poured down this drain.
And worst part - there's idiots everywhere claiming the movie is awesome and anybody who doesn't like it is a "hater". I don't know what their motivations are, but their like die-hard McDonalds fans - the more you support it, the worse your health is. Let go of this tripe and try a decent sci-fi story once in awhile. Asimov will do for starters, Lem, too. Your choice though.… Expand

If I were capable of encapsulating how awful this film was, I'd have invented a new language based around the word "bad". The trailers looked terrible, but I suppose at that point the marketing budget had already been spent and two-thirds of the way through production there was no turning back, but surely the most prudent decision would have been to postpone the release and continue the test/edit process until a satisfactory cut was found like Into the Blue. John Carter was simply horrible.… Expand

"John Carter" is just a mess. It's story is incompetently told, the characterization is ludicrous, the motivation of the different fractions diffuse, and the casting is all wrong. Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins are very pretty, but lack a whole lot of charisma. And using the original terminology of the novels just adds to the confusion. I'm all into challenging movies, but this is just bad, stupid writing, and there are more silly scenes than in some comedies. "John Carter" is just a huge bore.… Expand

Beyond bad. Where the heck did they dig up Taylor Kitsch to star in this I saw him in 'Battleship' which bombed as well, and he was one of the main reasons. He has absolutely NO charisma, and that in turn makes each and every one of his lines...laughable. This entire movie is a nauseating mess, where one scene is worse than the next. Anyone who sits through this deserves a medal of honor.

My roommate took this film home last night and I decided to watch it with him despite hearing that the film had flopped at the box office. Well, I wish I hadn't. Someone's cooking the books, too, on the average user score of 7.1 average. Total fantasy. I found myself laughing at the serious parts, groaning at the "funny" parts and yawning most of the rest of the time. How can a movie be so predictable and yet take so long to get where it's going? A horrible combination. The one surprise? That Disney made an ultra-violet action film devoid of any moral or inspirational message. I kept thinking to myself, "Disney made this?" Biggest disappointment? Taylor Kitsch. I really like this guy in Friday Night Lights, but he's just not ready for a feature film. Do yourself and favor and rent something else.… Expand

I knew that John Carter was a big failure. Disney done it last year with Mars Needs Mars and now John Carter. When I saw the commercial for the movie, it was supposed to be the "first big blockbuster of the summer," but they blew it. 3 Disney movies that have the with or without the word "Mars" on it and I can't take it anymore. Once they making a sequel soon, I hope I will not see it in 3-D. It's even worse than Green Lantern. Disney, I'm very disappointed at you. John Carter is one of the worst movies of 2012 for me this far.… Expand

John Carter was pretty terrible. Everything felt completely out of place. The characters were drab and uneventful. The plot was cliche and boring. Good attempt but horrible product.

What the film makes up with interesting plotting, it fails in creating something new, exciting or different. Subpar alien people, mediocre visual effects, and some bad dialog characterize a film in which Disney put all its eggs ($250 million) in one basket. Too bad they were rotten eggs. Feels like a cross between National Treasure and Avatar, not a great combination.

Andrew Stanton has directed two amazing movies; Finding Nemo, and Wall-E. These pictures are both masterpieces, and favorites of mine. Now, Andrew Stanton directs his first live-action movie, John Carter. John Carter is based off of an older-novel, that inspired Star Wars, Avatar, and others. We owe a lot to John Carter, but this movie adaption certainly doesn't pay any debt. John Carter is, simply put, a cheesy, melodramatic, overlong, cliched, unfunny, predictable, non-thrilling "adventure." Some aspects of the film seemed promising, but crashed and burned. There was potential here, but in the end, it all burns out. The beginning does a decent job of making us wonder what's going to happen, what did happen, etc. In fact, the beginning was pretty entertaining, albeit predictable. But after John Carter gets to Mars, the whole story drags. However, there's a lot of incredible visuals on Mars, and though that doesn't make up for stale characters and confusing plot, it helps a little. The CGI is incredible. Amazing. Absolutely gorgeous. If John Carter has one strength, it's the visual effects. Also, the score by Michael Giacchino is another winner. Giacchino never disappoints. Unfortunately, the more important aspects of the movie, like the plot and characters, are less polished. The plot (in addition to John Carter) focuses on the princess of Mars, who wants to avoid marrying a villainous man, but feels she must do it to save her people. Sound familiar? Almost any Disney Princess movie has the same or similar plot. Also, the characters have no personality. Aside from John Carter and limited other characters, there is no one with a true personality. And even those who have one are usually generic types. The action scenes are bland and predictable. The CGI and musical score make up for the awfulness, but a movie can't run on looks and sound alone. Also, there was a lot of potentially good space ship scenes that never truly happen. HOWEVER, the last 10 minutes are amazing. There's an incredible twist, and that was easily my favorite part. Andrew Stanton is a force to be reckoned with, but John Carter makes me rethink that. You saw my list earlier, the film is long, cheesy, predictable, cliched, none of the jokes are funny, etc. Aside from some visual thrills, the score, and a wonderful ending, John Carter fails. I feel like if some of the violence and revealing garments were cut out, this movie could've been PG, as opposed to PG-13, which would allow it to become a family or kid's movie. This would've worked much better, because the movie is too silly to work as an adult/teen movie. There will be at least one sequel to John Carter, but don't expect me to tell you how it is: I'm avoiding John Carter for life, and it's probably best if you did too. Edit: Due to disappointing box office performance, there will not be a sequel after all.… Expand

The movie starts off good. It's funny, interesting, and looks very different from most other sci-fi movies. But after the first half hour it starts to regress into worn out cliches. The effects are the only things that is consistently good throughout the movie. The middle of the film is it's weakest point. It spends a lot of time developing a very stereotypical romance between the hero and the heroine, it doesn't really advance the plot, but it goes on for so long that the climactic battle is kept far too short and feels like a let down considering the movie spent two and half hours building up to it. Then there is the "twist" ending that seems like it was thrown together at the last minute. Of course by then I was so ready for the movie to be over that I didn't end up caring much. My advice to director Andrew Stanton: stick to Pixar movies, because you're great at making those.… Expand

"Aside from a few inspired vistas and alien life-forms, John Carter is as deadly dull as its basso-voiced, beefcake slab of a star, Taylor Kitsch." - Keith Uhlich nailed the review.

Once upon a time, the folks at Disney wanted to make a movie that combines the qualities of Westerns, War Epics, and Science Fiction. 250 million dollars later, and we are introduced to the vast and zealous vision of â

Not bad, But for a film encompassing the character John Carter, it is ultimately depressingly mediocre. Good Points; - Awesome visuals; - John Carter's, pseudo-super powers (It's not a spoiler, it's in the trailer); - Interesting character dynamics; - Intricate world; Bad Points - Goddamn DISNEY-ISMS! (a cute animal does not a good movie make!) - Ridiculous dialog at points; - Lack of story coherence (feels like The Phantom Menace)

Overall;
Don't waste your time… Expand

Based on a book series considered to be the father of modern day space operas (from Star Trek, to Star Wars, to Avatar), John Carter had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, and ironically, it was vastly inferior to the very films that it inspired. With a story this traditional and recycled, it was important that filmmakers made extra efforts to give the movie a voice of its own, they however failed to do so. Everything on the screen has been done before, and better. Coupled with cheesy visual effects (especially considering the size of its budget) and clumsy direction, the film had very little to offer. Some of the action sequences (particularly the white ape scene) and it's pulpy qualities were fun and the characters were very easy to root for, but in the end the film misses, bringing its epic premise down to mediocrity.… Expand