Books2Movies Club discussion

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Few days ago I went to see John Carter – according to enormous amount of 'flop prediction' I was afraid the movie would be huge dissapointment because I expected a lot – and went out of the cinema thoroughly happy! It was really great cinematic experience (and I've seen it in normal 2D version) – awesome story, fully developed and interesting characters, really believable CGI animation, beautiful scenery and great fiction-wise storytelling. Of course we are now aware there are no sentient living beings on Mars, yet for the sake of the story we are made to believe there are. Burroughs did publish the book long time ago, exactly 100 years from today, in 1912, when the writers didn't bother with the scientific accuracy, nor they had any means to make their pressumptions scientifically correct. Costumes though I found a bit weird, but that's Disney – and exactly because it is Disney there wasn't a bit of superfluous nakedness and vulgarity, thank you very much! I really hope there would be sequels too – as Burroughs had made a couple of Barsoom books, they at least won't lack the material :-)

Forget the trailers, they are really good examples of how not to do the marketing, forget all the hatemail and floptrolls who had nothing else to do than to spit all the unexplainable venom on the movie they hadn't even seen, go see the movie and judge it for yourself. Of course you do not have to like it. But at least you'll know you didn't like it because you've actually seen it and know for certain it's your opinion not theirs.

This movie really inspired me to try to read the original novel, A Princess of Mars, as soon as possible. It's available for free online, and there's even one awesome digital reproduction of the first edition on the Library of Congress website.

Heck, I'll suggest it for the monthly book read :-)

Er... I've read the novel a month ago, made a review here, but after a week forgot to put a note or two about it in this thread. The whole point of the thread totally missed :)

In short, I loved A Princess of Mars. I wish now to read all the Edgar Rice Burroughs's books, pity I have so many other books on the TBR list so have no sufficient time to dedicate to only one author! I liked his style, that managed to transport me to another world in the same way as J.R.R. Tolkien. Occasionally I find myself dissapointed in the book after seeing the movie, but not in this case. I really childishly admired every chapter of this book!

John Carter made some minor changes in the plot and descriptions, which were understandable, because some things on the paper are untranslatable (read: easily misunderstood) on screen in today's world. When you hear people talk about this movie as a bad rehash of Avatar and Star Wars, without being aware that those movies were openly inspired by the above mentioned original source, it is easy to understand why director, who was really a fan of this Edgar Rice Burroughs's series, decided to omit some things from the novel and add others that weren't there, just to avoid further blunders and sneers from the modern audience. What I find more important, is that the movie retained the main spirit of the novel, just like Peter Jackson's trilogy of The Lord of the Rings. Same as those movies, John Carter could have been more adjusted to the mind of an average young, modern moviegoer to entice his not-so-pure imagination, but that would miss the whole point of the both series, that put the whole emphasis on the inner beauty of the characters themselves.

Movie seems to have failed in the domestic cinemas, and as I understood it, the major fault was laid on the clumsy marketing which made the audience disinclined to spend the money on the movie they aren't sure they would like. World-wide distribution on the other hand was success, why, I do not really know - was it that the not-US audience does not care for the price of the ticket (or is cheaper measuring with the standard) or that they rather prefer to watch the fantasy magic on the large screen, notwithstanding the logic of the sceptics that they had already seen it somewhere else.

I truly hope that the audience will recognize the value of this movie if they decide to watch it on DVD, and that Disney will appreciate it too, so not to give up completely on the making of the sequels. But - don't make the sequel just for the sake of it, let it follow the spirit of the novels, like this one did, and if it takes time to make it such, so be it. I'll gladly wait.

I saw the movie when it was shown in theaters and I thought it was well-made and highly entertaining.

It made me curious about Burrough's work (have yet to read it) and I was so pleased to discover that it was written in the early 20th century. Wow. Kind of like Frank Herbert's Dune and Tolkien's LOTR. It seems that authors' plotlines were more complex and developed back then.

Reev wrote: "It made me curious about Burrough's work (have yet to read it) and I was so pleased to discover that it was written in the early 20th century. Wow. Kind of like Frank Herbert's Dune and Tolkien's LOTR. It seems that authors' plotlines were more complex and developed back then."

Yes, it's fascinating how their imagination was much stronger - Robert E. Howard is also good example, a man who was living in the middle of nowhere and yet managed to create such fascinating characters like Conan and Solomon Kane. In science fiction there were also Philip K. Dick and Isaac Asimov... And many others :)

Although, I wouldn't write these modern writers off, not yet ;) True, they do have many writing "tools" at hand that the writers of old didn't have, but nothing really can outdo the old-fashioned imagination, so one can feel if they are any good or not :)

I only saw the movie. It was... well, let's say he earned 5 on IMDb, and that's kinda watchable... It could be better, of course. There are some irregularities, but it's okay for killing some time ;))

Elly wrote: "I only saw the movie. It was... well, let's say he earned 5 on IMDb, and that's kinda watchable... It could be better, of course. There are some irregularities, but it's okay for killing some time ;))"

Well, at least you've seen it and know for yourself ;) Although I wouldn't recommend it to some of my friends who didn't like even LotR, I think it is enough entertaining to watch. It is fantasy after all, no need to overthink it ;)

I think book is way better ;))

I saw the movie too when it came out. I dragged my brother along because I had a free ticket. I was blown away with the creative story and the visuals. The acting wasn't overwhelmingly brilliant but it got the job done making it better than most action films. I still don't see quite where all the money went to or why it was so attacked by critics. But then I don't see a lot of things 'pompous critics' seem to see.

I then read the book and it's sequel. Good, classic, pulp sci-fi with a little depth to them but mostly full of 'imaginative fun'.

There's a book out called John Carter and the Gods Of Hollywood by Michael D. Sellers that details the making and marketing of this motion picture. It is available in paperback and in a kindle version. A quote from the Amazon website:

"How did Disney's film become a calamity of historic proportions? Michael Sellers, a Hollywood filmmaker himself, saw the disaster approaching and fought to save the project - but without success. In John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood, Sellers details every blunder and betrayal that led to the doom of the motion picture - and that left countless Hollywood careers in the wreckage."

Interesting book and I also downloaded the Burroughs' book to read.