Fleets of stainless steel flying saucers deliver a race of comically short, hideous alien killjoys to Earth, where they promote peace and brotherhood but then immediately set to disintegrating anything that moves. That includes most of the absurdly star-studded cast, including Jack Nicholson (in two unrelated roles), Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Martin Short, Natalie Portman, Glenn Close, Danny DeVito, Jim Brown, Tom Jones and a very young, crew-cutted Jack Black. It’s camp with a side of chaos, the kind of silly, slapstick sci-fi throwback that could’ve only come from the mind (and, most likely, childhood toybox) of director Tim Burton.

Converting a semi-serious 1960s trading card series into a tacky, darkly comedic motion picture, Burton maintains and expands the original spirit and aesthetic. There’s a sense of aggressive play to these Martians, who delight in exploiting their galactic neighbors’ efforts to appease and negotiate in the face of a brazen onslaught. They’re heavily armed court jesters, one-dimensional beings who exist solely to eradicate and have a laugh while doing so. That their armaments look so thoroughly ridiculous only adds to the irony of their utter domination. They slaughter us with the same gizmos we once hawked for five cents in the _Fantastic Four_ ad pages.

_Mars Attacks!_ is a wacky ride, but an extremely thin one. The cast knows this, embraces and emphasizes it. They’re caricatures of archetypes, narrow roles that are juiced for every last drop of satire and then, often literally, thrown into the fire. Easy to see how much fun everybody had with the project - it’s painted on their faces - but, despite my love for the offbeat and unusual, I felt a little restless by the end. An expert mishmash of kitsch and big-screen bombast can only carry this single-note premise so far.