History YMMV / MarsAttacks

** The Martian Leader's angry reaction by the Martian Girl's death. Is he genuione touched by the death of his best spy who was probably a good friend of his (or maybe even more) and thus he wants to avenge her or is he simply furious because the assassination attempt failed ?

*** The "international sign of the donut" was likely a sincere gesture in which the parties agree to war, though it does not seem to matter to the Martians whether the humans understand that or not.

** Also the Martian Leader's reaction to the President's big speech. Was he just fucking with him ForTheEvulz, or did he genuinely gain a bit of respect for the president in that scene. Notice how the Martians aren't overtly sadistic or mean after the speech. Maybe they gave him the closest thing to a noble death they could comprehend.
*** The novelization gives an answer to the above questions: [[spoiler:the Martians are lying through their teeth any time they say they come in peace. Destroying planets is the entire basis of their civilization - it's their reason for living. It is also mentioned in the novelization that the [[SingleTear single]] [[ManlyTears manly tear]] the leader sheds is how the Martians Vomit!]]

** Grandma might not be such a "space case" - she might just have a uniquely mordant sense of humor.
*** She might also be messing with her family a little. She knows that, except for Richie, they all have a low opinion of her mental acuity already, so she might as well have some fun with it.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff and possibly PeripheryDemographic: Released a few months after ''Film/IndependenceDay'', the biggest hit of its year, ''Mars Attacks!'' flopped in theatres in the US. It did much better business in Europe and has since become a regular favorite on satellite movie channels.

** What? No love for Tom Jones' "[[https://youtu.be/7APwFVo8jdo It's Not Unusual]]"?

* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/JackBlack, Ray J and Creator/SarahJessicaParker (to a lesser extent), were not famous when this movie came out and would only later be recognized, making this all-star cast even more impressive.

** The Congress massacre scene, in particular, tends to bring out this response in people. Whenever someone posts a clip of it on You Tube there are invariably comments along the lines of "Why are the Martians the villains again?"

* AcceptableProfessionalTargets: Creator/DannyDeVito's lawyer is gunned down without so much as a chuckle.
* AcceptableTargets: Congress. ''InUniverse'', at least one human finds their slaughter at the hands of the Martians hilarious, as did many of the audience members. If you look at You Tube clips of the scene there's almost always some commenters asking [[UnintentionallySympathetic "how are the Martians the villains again?"]]

* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/NataliePortman, Creator/JackBlack, Ray J and Creator/SarahJessicaParker (to a lesser extent), were not famous when this movie came out and would only later be recognized, making this all-star cast even more impressive.

** Why did this film not get an Oscar nomination? Because the martians look amazing! Look at the texture in their brains. The flying saucers also look great. The best shots are the opening title sequence where the saucers leave Mars and fly towards Earth and that bird's eye view of the saucer landing in the Nevada desert. Of course, even if the film was nominated, they were still going up against ''Film/IndependenceDay''.

** Why did this film not get an Oscar nomination? Because the martians look amazing! Look at the texture in their brains. The flying saucers also look great. The best shots are the opening title sequence where the saucers leave Mars and fly towards Earth and that bird's eye view of the saucer landing in the Navada desert. Of course, even if the film was nominated, they were still going up against ''Film/IndependenceDay''.

* AngstWhatAngst: Taffy doesn't seem bothered at all by the fact that her parents and entire community she grew up with were all just brutally killed as she's giving medals to Richie and his grandmother. [[Spoiler:Especially when [[YouAreInCommandNow you are now the new President of the United States]] as the rest of the Presidential Line of Succession was likely killed off.]]

* AngstWhatAngst: Taffy doesn't seem bothered at all by the fact that her parents and entire community she grew up with were all just brutally killed as she's giving medals to Richie and his grandmother. [[Spoiler: Especially when [[YouAreInCommandNow you are now the new President of the United States.]]]]

* AngstWhatAngst: Taffy doesn't seem bothered at all by the fact that her parents and entire community she grew up with were all just brutally killed as she's giving medals to Richie and his grandmother. [[Spoiler: Especially when [[YouAreInCommandNow you are now the new President of the United States.]]

* AngstWhatAngst: Taffy doesn't seem bothered at all by the fact that her parents and entire community she grew up with were all just brutally killed as she's giving medals to Richie and his grandmother.

** This wouldn't be the last time that Creator/JackBlack and Creator/DannyDeVito would work together, their essences ended up in ''Franchise/Jumanji''.

** This wouldn't be the last time that Creator/JackBlack and Creator/DannyDevtio would work together. Seems like the Martians blasted them into Franchise/Jumanji.

** This wouldn't be the last time that Creator/JackBlack and Creator/DannyDeVtio would work together. Seems like the Martians blasted them into a [[Franchise/Jumanji board game instead.]]

** This also isn't the last time that Natalie Portman would appear in a movie where [[Film/VForVendetta the Houses of Parliament are destroyed]].

*** The novelization gives an answer to the above questions: [[spoiler:the Martians are lying through their teeth any time they say they come in peace. Destroying planets is the entire basis of their civilization - it's their reason for living. It is also mentioned in the novelization that the [[SingleTear Single]] [[ManlyTears manly tear]] the leader sheds is how the Martians Vomit!]]

** There's a part of the fanbase that genuinely wanted the Martians to win. Justified since the humans in the film can be every bit as goofy as the Martians themselves (especially General Decker, whose basically a Martian in human skin), making for a decent BlackComedy.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: The Earthlings getting payback on the Martians after all the crap they put them through...[[spoiler:and later when their planet explodes]].

** Both Portman and Creator/GlennClose would later join the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse as [[Film/{{Thor}} Jane]] [[Film/ThorTheDarkWorld Foster]] and [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy Irani Rael]] respectively. Creator/AnnetteBening would also join the MCU too as The Supreme Intelligence/[[spoiler:Mar-Vell]].

* IdiotPlot: The humans keep trying to seek peace with the Martians, despite them repeatedly making it clear that they are not interested in peace. The first time they give the Martians a second chance can be excused since they believed they misinterpreted the dove as a declaration of war. However, after the attack on Congress, both the French and the president of the United States still try to form a truce with them.

*** The novelization gives an answer to the above questions: [[spoiler:the Martians are lying through their teeth any time they say they come in peace. Destroying planets is the entire basis of their civilization - it's their reason for living.]]
%%*** It is also mentioned somewhere (can't remember where) that the [[SingleTear Single]] [[ManlyTears manly tear]] the leader sheds is how the Martians Vomit!

* UncannyValley: Clearly invoked with the Martian Girl alien disguise. She has a bizarre 1950s sci-fi fashion sense, she is very pale, never speaks, for obvious reasons, and doesn't move like any normal human when she walks. It's hard to feel sorry for Jerry given that he falls for the disguise hook, line, and sinker.

* ValuesDissonance: In ''Saucers Invade China" give us a very racist description of the chinese in the back of the card, treating them like backward people who don't know what an airplane is. The stereotypical art of them doesn't help.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:

** In the ending we get Creator/NataliePortman [[spoiler: giving the movie's true hero a medal and kissing him]]. An apparent reference to ''Film/StarWarsANewHope'', 3 years before Portman became the mother of both characters in that scene in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''.
*** Also this wouldn't be the last time Natalie was in the White House as she'd return to play [[UsefulNotes/JacquelineKennedy First Lady Jacqueline "Jackie" Kennedy]] in a [[Film/{{Jackie}} 2016 biopic about her life]].
*** And it wouldn’t be the last time Natalie was in a movie where [[Film/VForVendetta the Houses of Parliament were destroyed]].