Visually arresting and emotionally rich, Mars Needs Moms is another animated triumph from a rejuvenated Disney Animation.

They say with every action comes a reaction, well this is what happens when animation companies keep playing second fiddle to the giant which is Pixar: they step up their game. DreamWorks and their How to Train Your Dragon did it last year. Now Disney is doing it with Mars Needs Moms.

Based on Berkeley Breathed’s book of the same name, the film stars Seth Green (in motion capture form) as 12 year old brat Milo. When his ever suffering mother (Joan Cusack) is abducted by aliens from Mars, Milo gives chase upon their space ship and is whisked away to a world where females are separated from males, nanny bots play mummy to extraterrestrial tots, and a nasty alien who looks like E.T.’s granny (Mindy Sterling) is calling the shots.

Yet Milo is not alone, coming across long time abductee Gribble, voiced by Dan Fogler who channels the spirit of John Candy in girth, heart, and comedy gold. Together they have to save Milo’s mum from certain brain sucking doom.

Mars Needs Moms features a maturity to its craft and characters, especially in its use of 3D and motion capture technology (frequent user Robert Zemeckis is a producer), which are both utilised to their full potential, once again making the case that animation, as opposed to live action, is the medium for such visual effects.

Yet it is story and character that is its real strength. Directed and co-written by Simon Wells (the great grandson of legendary author H.G. Wells), he has created an often thrilling and touching intergalactic adventure which harkens to the sensibilities of 1980s family entertainment, where excitement and depth thrived off one another.

Wells made his mark working on such Zemeckis classics as Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Back to the Future II. That experience has no doubt influenced his filmmaking sensibilities, and in turn Mars Needs Moms becomes a stunning achievement not only visually but emotionally, with a heartbreaking clarity putting into perspective the love and sacrifices good mothers give to their children.    

Mere months into 2011, and a gauntlet has been dropped upon the feet of other animated feature films.