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Brett Beach: I am glad to know I wasn't the only one who thought this looked terrible (and it pains me to say that, considering it is based on a book by the inimitable Berke Breathed, whose Bloom County got me through the 80s in one piece). I am always amazed when a film out and out bombs these days, especially because budgets are so high, it seems as if everything has to be a pre-ordained smash. I don't know if I can answer what went wrong but I will answer a question with a question: Can Robert Zemeckis be stopped with his creepy motion capture campaign? Up next: A Yellow Submarine that will be more creepy than trippy.

Kim Hollis: Brett, I think we can all be thankful that Disney seems to have cancelled the Yellow Submarine update/remake today. Honestly, I think audiences respond to the motion capture stuff much the same way you do, Brett. We've seen small level successes, but only Polar Express was ever able to do truly well.

Edwin Davies: I wasn't that surprised initially since it looked awful and tracking suggested that a breakout success was unlikely, so it seemed like our yearly dose of an animated film that opens poorly then disappears (see also: Alpha and Omega). Then I saw how much it cost to make and I was flabbergasted. At least Alpha and Omega only cost $20 million to make, so its relative failure doesn't seem that bad, but for a film that cost $150 million dollars to take less than $7 million in its opening weekend is really spectacular.

The problem seems to be that the film looked really unappealing (based on the trailers) wasn't very good (based on the critical response) and opened at a time when there were already two popular, better animated films out there (though any difference in quality between Mars Needs Moms and Gnomeo and Juliet is probably not that big) so it got shut out.

Reagen Sulewski: Personally, I always find it a little bit of a surprise when a film bombs quite this badly - there's supposed to be adults watching to make sure things don't get this bad. That this particular film bombed isn't that surprising though, as mentioned. Zemeckis' studio's animation hits have all been as a result of 3D and/or a holiday theme, and this really had no connection to anything. Now, for the love of Jeebus - STOP MOCAPPING THINGS!

David Mumpower: My thought all along on this project has been that its mere existence is misguided. The last things mothers want to do when they go to the movie theater is be reminded of their tremendous parenting burden. Movies are supposed to provide escapism, not guilt. Also, I think timing the release of this coincide with Battle: Los Angeles is just plain strange, demographic independence notwithstanding. Finally, I think the biggest issue here is that we all prepare for the impending war with the Martian abductors attempting to corner the market on our most precious natural resource, Earth MILFs.

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