KYLE M. JOHNSON
STAFF WRITER

If the latest live-action Disney release, “John Carter,” bombs at the box office, the only reason responsible will be the terrible marketing for the movie.

Trailers for the film have advertised it to look like another “Prince of Persia” installment mixed with the arena scenes from “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.” (If it weren’t for the alien creatures featured, “Gladiator” would’ve been a much more suitable comparison).

However, the one arena scene in “John Carter” lasts only about five minutes and is featured about two-thirds of the way through the movie. What remains is far greater than marketing has led audiences to believe.

Based on what is considered the first science-fiction novel, “A Princess of Mars” by Edgar Rice Burroughs, tells the story of Civil War veteran John Carter through a journal following his death. The journal being read by his nephew, Edgar Rice Burroughs, who has just inherited Carter’s entire estate, contains a documentation of the last thirteen years, in which Carter was transported to Mars where he took part in a civil war taking place on the neighbor planet.

The acting isn’t great, but the story is fascinating as it deals with parallelism between civilizations. While many might compare the plot to those of such films as “Avatar,” “Dances with Wolves” and “The Last Samurai,” it is merely timing that accounts for this, as Burroughs wrote the original story in 1912.

There are a lot of comedic moments, which balance nicely with the epic sci-fi atmosphere of the film. Most notable is the miscommunication between Carter and the alien race, leading them to constantly refer to him as “Virginia,” the state where he’s from.

With this being his first live-action film, director Andrew Stanton (director of Pixar’s “WALL-E” and “Finding Nemo”) has lived up to his reputation as a strong filmmaker on both animated and live-action mediums.