‘John Carter’ Takes Sci-Fi Back a Century

Friday Night Lights’ Taylor Kitsch plays a Civil War veteran transported to Mars for all sorts of interplanetary fighting in John Carter.

Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote the original story 100 years ago. Now it's a 3-D epic from the folks who brought us WALL-E.

John Carter is a small man compared with the 12-foot-tall, four-armed creatures around him, but he does have his own superpowers on Mars.

If you haven't read the book, there is a lot to keep track of:

• Carter wants to go home.
• An alien species wants him to marry the queen.
• Another alien is smitten with him.
• Another group wants him to save its people.

Toss in some shape shifters and, well, it's kind of confusing.

I’m a big fan of science fiction, and the CGI monsters are remarkable for the most part. But with so much going on, so many conflicts, so many different aliens and monsters, you almost have to keep a scorecard to sort out the good guys and the bad guys.

The film has some funny lines and some thrilling moments, but the 3-D is almost nonexistent, the story line is silly, and the lead actors aren't exactly household names.

So the flick-o-meter gives John Carter three out of five.

Instead of dinner, go to and get a Mars bar to sneak into the theater. 

See it in Canton at ‎1, ‎4:05, ‎7:10‎ and ‎10:15 p.m.‎

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