Mars Needs Moms is a 2011 American animated science fiction comedy film co-written and directed by Simon Wells, produced by ImageMovers Digital and released by Walt Disney Pictures.

Based on the Berkeley Breathed book of the same title, the film was animated through the process of performance capture and stars Seth Green, Dan Fogler, Elisabeth Harnois, Mindy Sterling, and Joan Cusack.

Meanwhile, Milo, who doesn't like to follow house rules and do chores and has been sent to his room for feeding broccoli to his cat, Cujo, sarcastically tells his mother that his life would be better without her, which hurts her deeply.

He escapes and is chased by the Supervisor's henchmen, but he follows a voice that tells him to jump down a chute, and lands in a lower subterranean level.

Milo is whisked away by the creatures to meet Gribble, also known as George Ribble, the childlike adult human who had told him to jump down the chute.

The henchmen realize the Supervisor's cruel nature and arrest her, deciding that they now prefer the loving vision of family life, and the other Martians celebrate.

[7] Elisabeth Harnois stated in an interview that she and the cast were given scenarios by Wells to which they acted out responses in improvised Martian language.

[8] Seth Green described doing the motion-capture as physically demanding work: "A lot of running, jumping, falling, hitting, spinning.

"[7] He previously played Ed, another non-speaking role, in the Broadway musical version of The Lion King (1994): "it's almost like silent film.

[19] Overall, the film debuted in fifth place behind Battle: Los Angeles, Rango, Red Riding Hood and The Adjustment Bureau.

[21] Adjusted for inflation, considering the total net loss of money (not the profit-to-loss ratio), it is the fourth-largest box office failure in history.

[24] On March 14, 2011, Brooks Barnes of The New York Times commented that it was rare for a Disney-branded film to do so badly, with the reason for its poor performance being the unoriginal premise, the animation style which failed to cross the uncanny valley threshold, and negative word of mouth on social networks, along with releasing it on the same week as Battle: Los Angeles which had more hype with the general movie goers.

The website's consensus reads, "The cast is solid and it's visually well-crafted, but Mars Needs Moms suffers from a lack of imagination and heart.

[28] The Sydney Morning Herald labeled the motion-capture animation superior to Avatar (2009), and while noting the story had "pure Disney cheese", Wells "thankfully know[s] precisely when to inject action and humour when the mush-o-meter approaches the red.

"[29] Some critics favorably compared the set design to Tron: Legacy (2010),[29][30] including Tim Grierson of Screen Daily, who opined that the motion-capture "improved significantly since the days of The Polar Express."

However, he criticized the "chaotic" story and two "irksome" protagonists: Milo, whose voice actor "overdoes the character's whiny anxiousness to the point that it's hard to root for him;" and Gribble, a "predictably wisecracking sidekick".

[30] Us Weekly also panned the characters: "[Milo] makes a whiny hero, and Dan Fogler (as his buddy on Mars) fails to amuse.

"[32] Time Out New York called it not that much different from other children's science fiction movies: "After the novelty of these backgrounds and comin’-at-ya bits wears off, Mars Needs Moms has to rely on Fogler's obnoxious Jack Black Jr. shtick, a weak subplot involving a ’60s-obsessed Martian graffiti artist (Harnois) and rote video-game-y action sequences to carry it along—and that simply won't cut it.

"[33] Entertainment Weekly positively described the film as a children's movie version of Avatar: "Enhanced by nimble ad-libbing from the comedy-trained cast, the screenplay is delightful, by turns funny and emotional, as befits a Disney family fable in which, through wacky adversity, Mom and kid reaffirm their love for each other while Dad is nowhere in sight.

"[35] Lael Loewenstein of Variety magazine gave the film a mixed review and called it "A modestly enjoyable performance-capture creation bearing the unmistakable imprint of producer Robert Zemeckis.

"[5] In addition to acclaiming the visuals, SFX also opined gave some praises towards the writing "there are some good laughs, it's pacy enough to whizz us on by the sometimes repetitive narrative [...] and although it's hard to see little boys admitting that they really do love their mummies – as much as the film wants them to – Mars Needs Moms does provoke a few lumps in older throats, for all you may decry its mawkish Stateside sensibilities.