History YMMV / JohnCarter

* {{Narm}}:
** One of the Martian cities is called Helium. Try not to think of HeliumSpeech every time it is mentioned.
** The title becomes this when you find out that the only reason it's called that is because [[ExecutiveMeddling studio executives thought a film with "Mars" in its title wouldn't perform well at the box office]]. Because everyone wants to see a film about some guy called John Carter, right? Plus, following the executives' logic, anyone who ''would'' be swayed by the title alone would start watching the film only to find that the action takes place on... Mars!

* TheWoobie: Sola.

** The title becomes this when you find out that the only reason it's called that is because [[ExecutiveMeddling studio executives thought a film with "Mars" in its title wouldn't perform well at the box office]]. Because everyone wants to see a film about some guy called John Carter, right?

* {{Narm}}: One of the Martian cities is called Helium. Try not to think of HeliumSpeech every time it is mentioned.

* NightmareFuel: The cries of the just-hatched baby Tharks are... unsettling, to say the least...

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Woola.

* 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 ''Film/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.

** In the climax, [[spoiler:one of the Tharn's turns the bad guy to that blue weblike stuff. And then his head collapses. And then he almost does it to John.]]

* HilariousInHindsight: Matai Shang (played by Mark Strong) gives the traitor a weapon that acts like a GreenLanternRing. Mark would later play [[Film/GreenLantern Sinestro.]]

* 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 ''Film/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.

* FridgeBrilliance:
** The film's title is simply ''John Carter'', he doesn't really get the title of "John Carter of Mars" until the end of the film. (However fortuitous, the lack of Mars in the title was originally due to ExecutiveMeddling.)
*** The film actually lampshades this by displaying the title on screen a second time at the end of the film... this time in full.
** The first trailer featured the ArcadeFire song "My Body is a Cage" as covered by PeterGabriel. The lyrics start with: ''My body is a cage / That keeps me from dancing / With the one I love / But my mind holds the key.'' At the end of the film [[spoiler:John's Earth body keeps him from being with Dejah, and he uses his wits to find a way to return to Mars. (His Mars body is a duplicate while the original is left in suspended animation.)]]
** The second trailer had a symphonic instrumental cover of Music/LedZeppelin's "Kashmir". Though unused, the lyrics start with: ''Oh let the sun beat down upon my face / Stars to fill my dream / I am a traveler of both time and space / to be where I have been.''

* 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, {{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).

* HarsherInHindsight[=/=]HistoryRepeats: Another Sci-Fi film produced by Disney, ''Film/{{Tomorrowland}}'', also bombed at the box office, leading to the studios giving up on producing Sci-Fi films outside of Lucasfilm and Marvel Comics, and cancelling the highly anticipated sequel to ''Film/TronLegacy''. A lot of ''John Carter'' fans have taken pity on the ''Tron'' fans for this reason.

* PungeonMaster: As usual, Michael Giacchino's titles for the tracks from the score are about twenty percent terrible puns: 'A Thern Warning', 'Thernabout', 'The Carter They Fall', and so on.

* HarsherInHindsight[=/=]HistoryRepeats: Another Sci-Fi film produced by Disney, ''Film/{{Tomorrowland}}'', also bombed at the box office, leading to the studios giving up on producing Sci-Fi films outside of LucasArts and Marvel Comics, and cancelling the highly anticipated sequel to ''Film/TronLegacy''. A lot of ''John Carter'' fans have taken pity on the ''Tron'' fans for this reason.

* PyrrhicVictory: [[FanCommunityNickname Barsoomians]] had to wait just over a century for a film adaptation of the first novel, but bombed spectacularly due to weak advertizing and using tropes that have become cliche, with no hope of a sequel. Nonetheless, fans were rewarded with a near-perfect adaptation and distillation of what made the series fun, Mars' fantastic creatures brought to life with beautiful effects, and awesome battle sequences that made the wait worth it.

* SoOkayItsAvarage: As much as it was panned, no one can say it's the worst film ever.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ1vrNlXmlo The end credit suite.]]

** Needless to say, a unique case of HateDumb.

** The second trailer had a symphonic instrumental cover of Music/LedZeppelin's "Kashmir". though unused, the lyrics start with: ''Oh let the sun beat down upon my face / Stars to fill my dream / I am a traveler of both time and space / to be where I have been.''

* NeedsMoreLove