Yup, Plan 9 is better.It's nice to know that my feelings about this movie haven't changed in the 5 years since I last watched it. Tim Burton certainly has a vision here, and there are parts of his style that stand out, creating a fun little romp.
There are many fantastic elements in this movie. All of the Martian stuff is fantastic and makes the movie worth watching for that alone. The designs, their gadgets, and the gleefully manipulative destruction they exhibit were thoroughly entertaining, and their cute like ACK ACK ACK sounds are truly iconic. Danny Elman's score is one of the best he's written for a Burton film, echoing 50s Sci-Fi with a booming sense of upcoming dread. Some of the characters are fun, with great acting to boot, from performers like Jim Brown, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J Fox, and more. There are some fun critiques of the US government that rival the more patriotic approach of Independence Day, which makes it stand apart, too.
A movie I would compare this to is Jim Jarmusch's overhated film, The Dead Don't Die. It features a star-studded cast in an unconventional genre mixer, but it always feels like it has a central character to focus on. Here, there doesn't appear to be an anchoring character until we see how Lukas Haas and his grandmother defeat the aliens.
This movie is a fun mess that lacks so much focus, but I can't bring myself to hate it. There are so many creative elements going on here, and much of the comedy does land for me. There are some set pieces and moments between two characters (for instance, Martin Short and Lisa Marie) that are so fun to watch.
I wish this leaned more into presenting itself as a 1950s B flick than a bigger Hollywood film, but overall it's still a bizarre, sometimes confused, time.
