Pixar Is Going to Barsoom!
Some of my favorite books growing up were the so-called Martian Tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the pulpy adventures of a Civil War veteran from Virginia named John Carter who is magically transported to the dying planet Mars (Barsoom, to the locals), where he encounters all manner of creatures, monsters, beasts, villains, lunatics, arcane technology, ancient civilizations, and, of course, beautiful, scantily clad women as seen in the wonderful artwork above. (That painting by Michael Whelan was used for the cover of the first book in the series, A Princess of Mars, during the 1970s and '80s, and is the imagery I automatically associate with these stories. Click to embiggen.)
For an adolescent boy who had moved beyond childish things but hasn't yet hit the full flush of puberty -- say around 11 or 12 -- those books were like catnip for the imagination, amazing, swashbuckling stories in which swordplay mingled with anti-gravity technology, and adventure and feats of derring-do were always in the offing. Oh, and did I mention the scantily clad women?
There has been talk of a movie version of Princess of Mars for years, but nothing has ever come of it, probably because special effects technology just wasn't up to the task of depicting what Burroughs described without coming off as impossibly cheesy. At least not at a halfway-reasonable cost. And an animated Barsoom movie, while always possible, probably would've been prohibitively expensive, too, certainly if it was going to be as eye-popping as it deserves to be.
That's no longer a problem, however, and it looks like a John Carter movie may finally be happening. Even better, it's being developed by Pixar, a film company with what I would consider to be a flawless record.
Even their projects that are less interesting to me personally -- A Bug's Life and Monsters, Inc. -- have been worth seeing, and the studio's best work -- the first Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and the utterly awesome The Incredibles -- are deserving of the overused term "instant classic." They're not just great animated films, they're great films. The folks who run the place understand how to make a movie that genuinely appeals to all ages. (I would actually argue that Nemo and The Incredibles were made for grown-ups, and it just so happens that kids like them, too.)
I write a lot about upcoming movies on this blog, and most of the time I'm pretty pessimistic. But not this time. This is truly exciting news. I'm especially pleased by a quote in the article I linked above:
“All six members [of the Pixar creative team] expressed a deep commitment to the project, acknowledging that they had been inspired by Burroughs’ creations from a very early age. This is evidenced in the excitement held for the John Carter property and the plans for a film trilogy faithful to the Burroughs books.”
A film trilogy faithful to the Burroughs books. That's music to this old curmudgeon's ears. I can't wait to see John Carter strutting around the plains of Mars with his giant, green, four-armed companion Tars Tarkas on one side, and his his beauteous lady love Dejah Thoris on the other. I wonder if the look of the movie is going to be similar to the Whelan artwork, or the equally famous Frazetta depictions, or in an altogether new style?
Oh, and here's a strange thing: Pixar is apparently planning to use "a combination of live action photography and computer animation." What the heck does that mean? Real actors walking around virtual sets, a la Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow? Or that creepy mo-cap effect that Bob Zemeckis seems to be so fond of? (I'd prefer the Sky Captain approach, myself; I really don't like that Polar Express stuff... too far into the Uncanny Valley...)