Two years ago precisely, John Carter was released in France!

Two years ago, day for day, I was walking in the streets of Paris, from my work in the 17^th district to the Place Clichy in the 8^th district. I had already done this walk many times, and I would do it many times more in the future, but never before did it seem so long.

 I’m heading right ahead via the boulevard des Batignolles to the Pathé Wepler theater, Place Clichy, Paris, France, to see John Carter. I had taken my afternoon from work to be at the first official showing on the first day of the movie’s release.

 In my bag, my dear first volume of ‘Le Cycle de Mars’ by Edgar Rice Burroughs, quite simply my favorite series of novels, which I began to read again before the movie came out. It’s the new edition by Omnibus, which was published just a month before, almost twenty years after the last one, published by Lefrancq! Needless to say, since I fell in love with A Princess of Mars in 1988, I had already a mental image of what was to be the movie.

 Unfortunately.

 Two hours and a half later, I get back from the theater, dumbfounded. What was this mess? John Carter was bland, Dejah Thoris became Xena Warrior Princess, Barsoom was just a mundane desert, the Therns had Jedi powers… Come on! The rythm of the movie was odd ; during the scene in the Therns’ secret temple, one of the viewers behind me pretended to snore. He was right, this scene broke completely the rythm of the movie. But I also heard this same viewer, at the end, saying to his friend "it was better than I expected". I was like, seriously?

 Here I was. That was it, and that was depressing. The best chance to see a good adaptation of the works of my favorite writer was gone, forever. The movie, already announced as a failure by the American press way before its release, wouldn’t have a sequel, and that was a good thing. Who would want to see a sequel to that?

 Then across the weeks that followed, something strange happened in me, that never ocurred before. I not only changed my mind, which can happen, but my opinion made a complete 180 degrees loop. All things considered, I imagine it was not unlike a mourning process, that of the "perfect adaptation" I had in mind. No, John Carter wouldn’t be this Virginian gentleman, Dejah Thoris this strong and indomitable personality, even if physically weak, the Green Martians wouldn’t be these heartless monstres, the Red Martians wouldn’t have their code of honor, Barsoom wouldn’t be covered in ocre moss with its moon roaming the skies, yes the warriors would have armors and helmets, and Martian buildings would have stairs, and yes, the magnificent love story would only have a few days, if not hours, to blossom from first meeting to wedding…

 While waiting for the DVD release, I found on the net a downloadable file of just terrible quality, where was missing the whole beginning of the movie! The video only started when the Therns gave Sab Tan its powers. The sound was lousy. And yet I watched it numerous times, seeing on the way not what felt wrong, but everything that was great.

 Nowadays I can safely say that I love this movie, and that it’s one of my favorite, if not MY favorite movie, and that I never desired so much a sequel to a movie. All my hopes are in Andrew Stanton’s will to tell the rest of the story he built with his fellow authors, Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon.

 Please, I beg you, take me back to Barsoom!!