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Burton manages to entice a remarkable (and apparently disposable) ensemble cast to join the effort. Jack Nicholson may be seen in two roles, first as the pompous President James Dale and then cleverly disguised as the sleazy con man with delusions of grandeur, Art Land (come to think of it, both characters have delusions of grandeur). Glenn Close is the egocentric First Lady Marsha Dale; she's allowed her exalted position go to her head. Somewhat more laid back is their teenage daughter, Taffy Dale, played by Natalie Portman. Annette Bening portrays Art's wife, Barbara Land, an alcoholic who's desperately trying to find her spiritual side. Pierce Brosnan pokes a little fun at himself as the self-assured Professor Donald Kessler, scientific advisor to the president. Danny DeVito is wasted as the Rude Gambler, and has little more than a cameo. Martin Short is the sexually addicted Press Secretary Jerry Ross. Sarah Jessica Parker is brainless talk show host Nathalie Lake. Her boyfriend is Jason Stone, a newscaster played by Michael J. Fox. Rod Steiger replicates George C. Scott's Strangelove role of General Buck Turgidson, here named General Decker. Bomb first, ask question later is his approach; he'll be proven quite right when the president defers to the more laid back approach of General Casey (Paul Winfield).

Tom Jones plays himself; he's such a caricature that parody is not required. Jim Brown is Byron Williams, as ex-world champion boxer reduced to wearing an ancient Egyptian costume and to play the role of greeter at a Las Vegas casino. His wife is Louise Williams, portrayed with all seriousness by Pam Grier. In the middle of the Southwestern desert we find Lukas Haas as Richie Norris, a nice kid with parents from Hell, like his dad, played by Joe Don Baker as a gun totin' right-wing fanatic. More sympathetic is his grandmother, Florence Norris, portrayed by Sylvia Sidney. She holds the unlikely key to the defeat of the invaders. Richie's brother, Billy Glenn Norris (Jack Black), is in the service and volunteers to be at the first landing, much to the disappointment of his horny girlfriend, Sharona (Christina Applegate).

These folks will find themselves the target of Martian malevolence and mindless destruction as the invaders systematically fire on anything that moves. Few will survive to the closing credits. Burton and screenwriter Jonathan Gems are so sly that the underlying comedy of this satirical romp may be too subtle to evoke a hearty laugh. Smiles abound, but the humor simply doesn't garner enough giggles. The single funniest bit in the show may be Nathalie's Chihuahua onboard a saucer after... I should say no more.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film's theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is presented in anamorphic video. This very early Warner DVD, released just three months into the seven- city rollout that began in March of '97, holds up reasonably well. While not nearly as good as Warner's efforts of the last two or three years, the video on this DVD compares favorably with more recent images from some other studios. Edge halos are visible and do intrude somewhat. Small object detail and fine textures are merely average. Colors are rendered vividly to the screen with no visible chroma noise or smearing, like the primary colored Martian weapons that resemble super soakers. Based on flesh tones, hue accuracy is spot on. Other artifacts may be seen. At the start of chapter 15, as a saucer eclipses the terminator, the edge of the spacecraft's hull has an annoying interlace problem for eleven frames, a bad case of the jaggies possibly caused by a loss of cadence in the MPEG-2 interlace flag. And I also noticed a few instances of mosquito noise. But in general, this is a very decent transfer.

On the second side of this DVD, Warner has included a full frame version of the film. Unlike films shot in Super-35, where more of the frame is available above and below the widescreen image, this film was shot with anamorphic optics, requiring that the full frame transfer be derived using pan and scan techniques. Not pretty.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is excellent. The surrounds don't become very active until the first attack in the middle of the desert. From that point onward, the surround channels are used for many directional cues that support the action onscreen. The surround effects are overwhelmingly discrete to either the left or right rear channels and are very directional. Explosions are enhanced with deep bass that will shake the room; a helicopter sequence is also convincing, nicely capturing the deep thumping generated by the Hueys' supersonic rotor tips. Danny Elfman's rousing and satirical score is presented across a broad soundstage with great fidelity. Did I detect a Theramin? It's probably a synthesizer. The dialog remains crystal clear throughout.

Three alternate languages may be found on the menu: French, Spanish, and Martian. The audio is supported by subtitles in French, Spanish, and English, for which Closed Captions are also included.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Even in such an early release date, Warner managed to include some modest extras. Cast lists fifteen of the players and director Burton. For each you'll find biographical notes and filmographies. Production Notes offers eight pages of text describing some of the film's background. There are two 1.85:1 theatrical trailers shown in respectable anamorphic video.  And Film Flash is a static page promoting four of Warner's other DVDs.
 
Most intriguing is an isolated score featuring Elfman's orchestral compositions without dialog and sound effects, but synchronized to the film (expect significant gaps).  The 106-minute feature is organized into thirty-eight chapter stops.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

This DVD was created before DVD-ROM supplements were available; consequently, there are none on this disc.

Parting Thoughts