On video: 'Mission to Mars' lifts off

In this story: 'Mission to Mars' 'It's the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown' RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Scott Hettrick

(Buena Vista, VHS priced for rental, DVD $32.98, rated PG) 2000. Directed by Brian De Palma; starring Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins, Don Cheadle, Connie Nielsen, Jerry O'Connell, Peter Outerbridge and Jill Teed.

Had Brian De Palma directed "Mission to Mars" before "Blow Out," "Dressed to Kill," "The Untouchables," "Mission: Impossible" or any of his other films, one could have dismissed this sloppy, meandering, unimaginative and sophomoric effort as that of a young and inexperienced director who didn't show much promise.

But coming at this stage of his career, there is no justification for such an unsatisfying movie. One wonders why actors the caliber of Gary Sinise (who here wears ridiculously obvious eyeliner) and Tim Robbins couldn't see how bad this movie was just by reading the trite script.

This "Mission" offers nothing more than an inferior version of the sappy friendly alien elements of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "Contact," "The Abyss" and even some "Star Trek" tales.

	NEW VIDEO RELEASES
Releasing September 12: East Is East Mission to Mars Animal Farm Cats - The Musical (Commemorative Edition) Santana - Supernatural Live It's the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown

Not one of the astronauts who takes these trips to Mars -- first a planned trip and then a rescue mission -- are the least bit interesting. Nor is there any compelling stories surrounding them that would have made the alien encounter so much more potent for both them and the viewer.

The more than hour-plus-long (and we mean long) story and build-up that precedes the encounter is almost completely forgettable, except for a spacewalk rescue sequence with Robbins that provides a few moments of real intensity.

Not only does De Palma rip off many other alien movies and concepts, he also resorts to cheap 1970s film-school techniques, such as showing way too many quick clips of scenes from earlier in the movie to serve as flashbacks.

There is really nothing notable about "Mission to Mars," not even interesting or cutting-edge special effects.

(Paramount, VHS $12.95, DVD $19.99, rated G) 2000. Production manager: Carole Barnes; voices by Quinn Beswick, Ashley Edner, Rachel Davey, Frank Welker, Neil Ross, Pat Musick, Joan Van Ark and Bill Melendez.

Disappointingly, the magic of a couple of the earliest Peanuts specials, such as "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," has never carried over very well to any of the subsequent Peanuts specials or TV series.

Quite different beasts than the Peanuts comic strips, which generated consistent cleverness and humor for 50 years, cartoons such as "It's the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown" rely not on the wit of the comic strips but on sight gags and animation. In this case, large segments of the 25-minute program (that premiered on broadcast TV last Easter) are devoted to showing mice line-dancing, river-dancing and playing all kinds of games -- tennis and soccer and hockey, among them -- in a town that has become overrun with the vermin.

Charlie Brown and most of the Peanuts gang are reduced to bit players, with the round-headed kid narrating the not-too-inspired version of the classic fable in which Snoopy lures the mice out of town with his accordion.

Charlie is reading the story to his little sister Sally, who seems more interested in using the remote control to change the channel on the TV.

The primary attraction to this special is that it was the last written by the late Charles Schulz. But remember, that was the primary attraction to see the late Stanley Kubrick's final, and ultimately unsatisfying, movie, "Eyes Wide Shut."

Although it wasn't available for review, an 11-minute retrospective with Schulz sounded more interesting than the program itself.

Even better, the classic Christmas, Halloween and Thanksgiving Peanuts specials are being released this week on DVD.

(c) 2000, Scott Hettrick. Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate.

Review: 'Mission to Mars' self-destructs
March 10, 2000

Official 'Mission to Mars' site

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.