John Carter

Superheroes, spaceships and strange creatures from other planets — John Carter pretty much has all the fanboy bases covered.

It’s a big-budget science fiction adventure based on a novel by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs (who is referenced in the film) with plenty of 3D visual spectacle to help compensate for a narrative that tends to be both too simplistic and too convoluted.

This special-effects bonanza has an ambitious concept of fantasy worlds along the lines of Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark or Avatar, except it never quite reaches those lofty heights.

The story tracks the time travel of Carter (Taylor Kitsch), a disenfranchised young Civil War veteran from Virginia who finds himself transported to a distant planet, where he is given enhanced powers of strength and agility. He lands in a Martian world of clones and shapeshifters that includes a race of 12-foot-tall, four-armed green warriors with tusks and narrow heads known as Tharks.

After being taken prisoner, Carter later becomes an ally of the Tharks during a series of battles against various other groups. Carter’s loyalty is tested, however, when he meets a young Heliumite princess named Dejah (Lynn Collins) who desires to escape her life of servitude.

The film marks the live-action debut of director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E), who also co-wrote the script with Mark Andrews and Wonder Boys novelist Michael Chabon.

The filmmaker certainly is up to the challenge, staging some taut action sequences and seamlessly weaving together live action with animated elements and tons of visual effects.

The screenplay tends to bog down, however, when the action doesn’t fill the screen. The romantic subplot between Carter and Dejah lacks much spark, and the cheesy attempts at comic relief (mostly courtesy of a rotund dog-like creature who becomes attached to Carter) tend to fall flat.

Kitsch (TV’s “Friday Night Lights”) and Collins (Wolverine) seem chosen more for eye candy than chemistry. The eclectic cast of alien voices includes Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church and Samantha Morton.

Still, John Carter is an imaginative exercise in style over substance that should appeal to a wide audience and spawn a sequel or two. A generation ago, action figures would have been flying off the shelves.

Rated PG-13, 132 minutes.