Mars Attacks!

Mars Attacks! is a 1996 American science fiction dark comedy movie directed by Tim Burton. The movie features a celebrity cast both in major roles and minor roles, with famous actors like Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito.

The movie is based on an almost homonymous (it is named Mars Attacks) series of trading cards from the 1960s, which told the invasion of Earth by evil and politically corrupted Martians who essentially share the same design of the ones of the movie.

Plot
The movie begins with a fleet of UFOs approaching Earth. USA President James Dale is shown pictures of the UFOs incoming. General Decker believes they're hostile and wants to launch a preventive nuclear strike against them but Professor Kessler convinces the president that they're too intelligent to be hostile. After that, President James Dale makes a country-wide announcement that Martians are coming to Earth.

For the next few days residents all over USA react to the news of Martians in different ways. Among them is Richie Norris who is worried about his grandmother Florence; Byron Williams, an ex-professional Boxer who now works in Las Vegas, and Nathalie Lake, a famous news reporter. President Dale decides to welcome the Martians with open arms but still suggests to keep the Army nearby just in case.

The day the Martians arrive on Earth the meeting at first seems to be going well and Martians appear to be peaceful, but when the Martians see a dove they freak out and start killing everyone in the area, taking Nathalie and professor Kessler hostages. General Decker insists that the Martians must be destroyed, but the president claims that the attack was a misunderstanding over the dover.

The Martians are convinced to come back to Earth so they can clear the misunderstanding. However at their second meeting the Martians just kill people again unprovoked. A Martian disguised as a human model sneaks into the White House to spy on the president and try to kidnap him but she's stopped and killed. The Martian leader sees this as a declaration for war and launches a mass invasion all over the planet.

All of Earth is thrown into mass chaos as the Martians kill countless humans and destroy Earth monuments and landmarks. Byron Williams and a group of survivors try to make it to a plane so they can escape from Las Vegas, on the way they run into Tom Jones. General Decker is allowed to launch a nuclear missile against the Martians, but that fails completely and the Martian Leader confronts the president. President James Dale calls out the Martians on them being bullies and offers a truce, but the Martian leader just kills him with a fake automotive hand that eventually impales him with a Martian flag.

Meanwhile, Byron Williams sacrifices himself and is seemingly pummeled to death while the survivors and Tom Jones get away. Richie rushes to rescue his grandmother, but the Martians reach her first. However, the music she's listening to for some reason causes the Martians' heads to explode. Richie and his grandmother rush to radio stations to play the music at a mass scale over the country to kill more Martians quickly. Soon the rest of the world uses music to stop the Martian invasion.

In the aftermath of the invasion. Richie and grandma Florence are declared national heroes and Byron Williams is revealed to have survived the aliens onslaught and reunites with his family.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It cleverly parodies/pays homage to classic alien invasion movies and sci-fi B movies from the 50s, such as "The War of the Worlds" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still", complete with a final surprise escamotage which neutralizes the alien invasion.
 * 2) Exaggerated humoristic violence performed by the Martians consisting in melting and vaporizing people.
 * 3) Convincing acting by several celebrities like Glenn Close, Rod Steiger, Pierce Brosnan, Jim Brown and Jack Nicholson.
 * 4) Awesome soundtrack, especially the opening title theme.
 * 5) Entertaining voice acting for the Martians by the "weird voices specialist" Frank Welker.
 * 6) Over the top design for the Martians.
 * 7) The story gives importance to the underdogs of society since the heroes of the movie are a boy who is overlooked by his family and his elderly grandma, as well as a retired boxing champion.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The concept of the Martians killing everyone they meet can become repetitive.
 * 2) Most of the famous actors are underutilized and only serve to be killed by ironic means, like Danny DeVito's character.
 * 3) The film can be very disturbing for younger viewers.
 * 4) The visuals have not aged well.
 * 5) A lot of the acting isn't great.
 * 6) The tree brain designs for the aliens are REALLY terrifying.
 * 7) Some characters are unlikeable.
 * 8) Some deaths are inappropriate for a family movie.

Trivia

 * Jack Black played an early role as Richie Norris' brother, the soldier Billy-Glenn Norris who gets killed early in the movie.
 * This is the last movie Sylvia Sidney (who played Grandma Florence) took part in before her death in 1999.