(EW.com) -- Does invoking the mighty name of "Avatar" to describe the pleasures of "Mars Needs Moms" sound presumptuous? Hear me out: "Avatar" is a great, myth-minded adventure about a human guy able to project himself into the beatifically peaceful world of the Na'vi from Pandora. Despite an earthbound script, the movie, with its computer-generated imagery and 3-D effects, is visually magnificent, proudly so. Also long. In a parallel universe, "Mars Needs Moms" is a great, jaunty adventure about an unruly kid named Milo (Seth Green, the right guy for the job) who had no plans to go to Mars but finds himself there anyway.
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"Mars Needs Moms" is a great, jaunty adventure about an unruly kid named Milo
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Screenplay is delightful, by turns funny and emotional
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3-D technology blend sboth animate and inanimate subjects in one magical landscape
(@placeholder surveillance has verified that Milo's mom is good at nagging her boy to take out the trash.)