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1%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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3* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Some people who didn't want to watch the movie said they couldn't buy into the premise of a [[NobleConfederateSoldier former Confederate soldier]] who goes to Mars and dresses like [[Literature/ConanTheBarbarian Conan]]. Furthermore, the source material has been copied so much that the official adaptation succumbed to [[OnceOriginalNowCommon looking cliche]], despite being the TropeMaker and [[TropeCodifier Codifier]] for the vast majority of those. These factors contributed to the movie's BoxOfficeBomb status, and ensured that [[StillbornFranchise the planned trilogy never materialized]].
4* ClicheStorm: A common criticism, despite the book being the originator for many sci-fi tropes. In fact, it being [[TropeMakers the source to so many tropes, cliches and conventions]] is the very reason why it failed to get any reaction from modern audiences, as ''three generations'' had passed since ''Barsoom'' was fresh and unique, and [[OnceOriginalNowCommon countless imitations]] along the way happened -- some of them becoming genre classics on their own.
5* CompleteMonster:
6** [[AdaptationalVillainy Sab Than]] is the [[EvilOverlord ruler of Zodanga]], a mobile city that drains energy wherever it goes, killing countless innocent residents of Mars/Barsoom. Upon being granted a new weapon by the mysterious Therns, Sab Than personally slaughters entire border cities and vows to spare the land of Helium should they give him princess Dejah Thoris in marriage. When forcing a marriage to Dejah Thoris, it is revealed [[ILied Sab Than is lying]] and intends to wipe out Helium and all who live there regardless.
7** [[TheManBehindTheMan Matai Shang]], leader of the spacefaring Therns, has traveled from planet to planet for billions of years, [[TheChessmaster orchestrating wars and the annihilation of entire civilizations]] by uplifting "mindless brutes" he can [[ManipulativeBastard manipulate]]. This is how he introduces himself to the warlord Sab Than. Shang uplifts and molds Sab Than into a city-destroying nightmare capable of annihilating the entire planet of Barsoom, which Shang intends to do by allowing Sab Than to first wed and then murder the princess of Helium; [[YouHaveFailedMe when Sab Than fails, Shang implodes his head]] and moves on. When John Carter demands a motive, Matai Shang admits [[ForTheEvulz there is no greater cause except for the joy of feeding on dying planets and the luxury of throwing their immortal weight around]].
8%% * EnsembleDarkhorse: [[BadassAdorable Woola]] and [[LoveableRogue Kantos Kan.]]
9* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: It had the biggest opening day ever and the fourth biggest opening weekend ever in Russia while the American opening was mild. The Russian first-week gross amounted to $16.6 mln, or 56% of the U.S. gross; given the huge difference in cinema attendance figures and infrastructure between the two countries, it really is a spectacular achievement.
10* NightmareFuel:
11** The cries of the just-hatched baby Tharks are... unsettling, to say the least...
12** In the climax, [[spoiler:one of the Thern's turns Sab Than to that blue weblike stuff. And then his head caves in. And then he almost does it to John.]]
13** And the White Apes. Picture a giant albino King Kong with six limbs, [[EyelessFace no eyes]] and a wide tusked mouth like a hippo, and a vicious temper to boot.
14* OlderThanTheyThink: The source material of this film inspired hits such as ''Franchise/StarWars'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}''. Or inspired the works which inspired them. Yes, the "John Carter"-novels have been around for that long. In fact, Franchise/{{Superman}} was basically a CaptainErsatz of John Carter himself, when he first debuted (just coming from an alien planet to Earth instead of the other way around).
15** The film's marketing, in a last-gasp attempt to drum up interest, played up this trope, with a TV spot that declared "Before ''Avatar''...before ''Star Wars''...there was ''John Carter''."
16* OnceOriginalNowOverdone: Source of many claims the film is a ripoff of more recent fiction such as ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' and ''Film/TheLastSamurai''. The book series it's based on was first published in ''1912'' and in fact inspired many of the works ''John Carter'' was accused of ripping off; the trouble is that by the time the film adaptation came out in 2012 (a century later), almost everything about it had already been done in hundreds of other works ingrained in pop culture.
17* OneSceneWonder: Kantos Kan (played by Creator/JamesPurefoy) doesn't have much to do besides act as NumberTwo to his king, but he gets the spotlight when he helps John escape one of the several times he's taken prisoner or detained.
18* SignatureScene: The scene where Carter fights off an entire ''army'' of Warhoons intercut with [[spoiler: his flashbacks to the death of his family]]. Even people who hated the movie frequently admit that it was an ''[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome awesome]]'' scene, not to mention being extremely [[TearJerker powerful.]]
19* SoOkayItsAverage: The common appraisal of it is that it's by no means a terrible film, but its slow pacing and [[ClicheStorm conventional plot and characters]] don't make it a particular memorable sci-fi experience.
20* TaintedByThePreview: Another reason cited for the movie's failure was a combination of bad marketing decisions -- Disney didn't want to include the word "Mars" in the title because of the bad blood generated by ''WesternAnimation/MarsNeedsMoms'', and Andrew Stanton refused to let them use "From the creator of ''Tarzan'' and the director of ''WALL-E''" as a blurb. Because Stanton didn't shoot scenes that would look good in the trailer or need extensive effects work first, the original teaser trailer was a mishmash of shots that didn't adequately convey what the final movie would look like.
21* UglyCute: While Woola looks like a bear-sized lizard with the face of a bull-dog, his dog-like mannerisms make him incredibly [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/woola_7701.PNG endearing.]] Also, the baby Tharks.
22* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: From the aliens, to the backdrops of Mars, the film packs an amazing visual flair. Appropriate due to the fact that the director is from Pixar.
23%%* TheWoobie: Sola.

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