Even though the ’80s had Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, and Batman, there’s a strong argument to be made that the ’90s was the best decade for Tim Burton. Edwards Scissorhands is almost certainly the movie most frequently thought of when his name was mentioned, Batman Returns was fantastic (even if it resulted in him being mostly discarded from the franchise), and Ed Wood was and remains one of the best biopics ever made. Not to mention, Sleepy Hollow was a spooky and entertaining way for him to close out his 1990s filmography. There’s only one entry of his ’90s filmography that is often thought of as a failure. But is it, really?
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That would be Mars Attacks!, based on the Topps trading cards by the same name, which is celebrating its 29th birthday today, December 13, 2025. It’s a film loaded with charm, so much so that it’s become a cult classic. Let’s unpack why that is.
What Makes Mars Attacks! Another Check in the Win Column for Burton?
First off, there was no movie from the ’90s that had so many big names willing to play along with something so silly. Glenn Close, Martin Short (well, he’s always playing silly), Natalie Portman, Danny DeVito (in a role pretty far from the Penguin), Michael J. Fox, Rod Steiger, Lukas Haas, Pierce Brosnan, Joe Don Baker, Jack Black, Christina Applegate, Pam Grief, Jack Nicholson in two roles, was there a more stacked cast in a ’90s movie?
But the massive cast isn’t all that makes Mars Attacks! work. In fact, some of them are so underutilized they barely make an impact at all (e.g. Jack Black and Danny DeVito).
What really helps Mars Attacks! succeed is that it’s a fine mixture of sci-fi horror and comedy. The Martians are creepy looking, even if the CGI used to bring them to life has aged as one might expect. They feel dangerous and hateful. Granted, it’s funny when they cackle after laser gunning half the military or when they put a dog’s head on a woman’s body, but it’s also genuinely frightening to see them having great fun with such evil.
Further examples include the Martians using a shrink gun on Steiger’s General Decker. It’s a scene that works in two ways. For one, it’s formidable tech that is followed up by the Martian leader stepping on the head of the U.S. military like he’s a bug. If there ever were a scene that shows Earthlings beings hopelessly outmatched, it’s hard to imagine one that conveys that situation better. Two, the General is such a stereotypical, violence-loving blowhard that we kind of laugh at the sight of him and his massive ego being put in their tiny place.
Even in scenes that are more scary than funny, there’s still a bit of humor injected so the audience doesn’t take it all fully seriously. Namely, there’s the scene where Lisa Marie’s Martian girl (just a few Martians in the get-up of a ’50s woman) works her way into the White House by praying on the promiscuity of Short’s White House Press Secretary Jerry Ross. It’s a scene that does a great job of building up hair-raising tension, which is only accentuated by Marie’s unblinking performance. We know Short’s going to get it, but we don’t expect Marie to do a goofy quickly paced stalker walk up behind him only to slow when he turns around.
In short, Mars Attacks! succeeds in being a live action cartoon that feels like it has some stakes. It’s a more purely enjoyable movie than Independence Day, which for the most part feels soulless. Mars Attacks!, however, was clearly a passion project for people who grew up collecting the Topps cards. It may have flopped hard at the box office (which was honestly always going to happen, considering it’s an alien invasion comedy with a budget upwards of $100 million in 1996 dollars), but it’s gotten the fanbase it deserves. This was a cable TV hit in the aughts, not unlike Tremors. Sometimes solid genre movies just take time to find the viewers who missed it (or weren’t alive) when it was first released.
What are your thoughts on Mars Attacks!? Let us know in the comments.
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Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
