Gee...how should I review "Mars Attacks!"? From the science fiction perspective, it fails miserably (but then, so would films like "Star Wars" and the "Star Trek" series). From the point of view of story-telling, it also fails miserably, having a barely believable plot with a huge host of actors making it hard to keep track of what is going on, or who is doing what to whom.
But looking at it from the "Tim Burton" point of view, especially in the light of his previous movies like "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Ed Wood", "Mars Attacks!" is a rather passable movie, with its nice and funny points, it's weird sense of humour and occasional mind twisting perspectives on life (and invasions).
Plot summary: martians attack, the US Army hits back. The army is defeated but thanks to an accidental discovery by some civilians, the attack is foiled, the Martians are defeated and life gets back to normal, with Tom Jones singing to the animals. Not much to the plot, is there?
Looking at the film as a series of joined short framed stories makes more sense, especially in the latter half of the story when the martian attack is in full swing. (It also makes sense to look at the movie that way since it was based on a series of trading cards.) There are plenty of 'fun' bits in the movie, like seeing how Godzilla fits into the invasion, a martian flying saucer playing 'tag' with the Washington Monument, a boxing match between man and martian, talking heads (literally), a bowling game with the Easter Island statues, etc. Too bad the bits don't merge together to make the movie more fun to watch.
The music (by Danny Elfman), complete with 'swooping' tones, gives the movie an effective B-grade atmosphere. The movie also pays homage to various monster and space invasion movies with references and hints of previous movies like "Dr. Strangelove" (the attack-maniacal general, Jack Nicholson playing two roles in the movie), and a (cult?) movie whose title I cannot tell here for fear of giving away how the Martians are defeated. Suffice to say that the method is silly, but still more plausible then uploading a virus to the alien's computer.
One thing is for sure. Watching "Mars Attacks!" was still a heck of a lot more fun than watching "Independence Day".