I know that John Carter is the creation of Edgar Rice Burroughs, but I haven’t actually read the books. I spotted them, but never picked them up. I’m not sure if this is a good or bad thing yet. Because I loved the movie. Normally, I hate the movie but love the book. (Like Timeline by Michael Crichton — good heavens, if ever a book was murdered by a movie, it was that one.)
I will read the books, but for right now I’m happily hoping that they resemble — at least in part — what the movie showed. And this movie showed a strong, capable man whose major flaw was his compassion. That compassion of his got him in more trouble than his mouth ever did, which was refreshing. And he had a seriously tragic event lining his history that explained why he was desperately trying to kill off that compassion.
But aside from the hero — who I fell in love with as a writer — I have to admit that I loved the monster dog creature, too. And the aliens … I guess I can call them Martians since they live on Mars.
I’m not going to give spoilers to the movie or anything, but I will say that I loved it and highly recommend it to any science fiction/ fantasy fans out there. Ignore the science, suspend your disbelief, and watch the very human elements in the story.
AJMaguire 