Mars Needs Moms and Rio, both released Friday 8th April 2011.
Pointless is a word that seems to crop up more often than not when considering this week’s sh*t – Mars Needs Moms. If that title alone doesn’t send you into a fit of wailing “Why?!” then at least we can guarantee that Seth Green, wherever he may be, is asking that very question. After spending six weeks in a special sensor-equipped performance-capture suit, acting his ass off for the 3D computer-animated big-budget blockbuster, the producers realised his voice didn’t really convince as a 9 year old boy, despite casting him for that very part. It doesn’t get much more futile as an actor than having your voice removed from an animation. Needless to say, the production’s estimated $150m budget has not even come close to being recouped and the film is swiftly turning into one of the biggest box office bombs of all time. Go and see it if you can take somebody with a lisp, and watch how they handle the abundance of the letter s in the tongue-twisting title.
On the 3D computer-animated flipside, in what appears to be ‘Avatar’s Footsteps Week’, the voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Jamie Foxx and many others remain intact for the dream project of Brazilian-born director Carlos Saldanha (most known for the Ice Age films) – Rio. Following a small-town macaw’s adventure to Rio de Janeiro with the bird of his dreams, this looks to be the most appealing choice from the week’s relatively slim pickings, and not just because of the huge marketing push behind the film. With video game tie-ins aplenty, for Playstation 3, Wii and DS, perhaps the most interesting is an edition of the hugely popular mobile app Angry Birds – a brand that has reportedly taken more than €50 million, despite the original app costing just €100,000 to make. Go and see it if you can’t resist getting caught up in the bird- and technology-oriented zeitgeist.
