Marvin the Martian: Yule Be Sorry (2012)

A while back, some test footage for a proposed live-action Marvin the Martian movie appeared online, along with some for Hong Kong Phooey. Unless watching a CG dog voiced by Eddie Murphy drink from a toilet sounds like fun to you, you'll want to skip the Hong Kong Phooey clips.

But the Marvin the Martian footage is a little more interesting. It's a short - and a Christmas-themed one, no less - featuring the character.

I was going to embed it, but it looks like it's been taken down. The good news is that you're not missing too much. A disappointed kid unwraps a Christmas present and discovers Marvin, who's come to Earth to destroy Christmas. He mistakes Marvin for a toy (understandable, as the martian is packaged as such), and goes to put it on Ebay. Things get uncomfortable when he discovers the error, and Marvin breaks free and nearly vaporizes him. The tree gets hit instead, and the clip ends with the kid extremely excited by the possibilities Marvin's gun could have.

It's actually not bad. I'm not sure I'd call it good, but it's kind of fun as a live-action interpretation of a cartoon. I can only assume a full-length movie would have been painful, but that's a bridge we'll hopefully never have to cross.

I also enjoy the spirit of the thing. It's got some teeth for being about Christmas: the kid is self-centered, has a mean streak, and yet there's no indication he needs to learn a lesson. In fact, the end kind of implies he might be setting out to help Marvin destroy Christmas for the sheer enjoyment of it... and, again, it's not presented as a problem.

It's also always nice seeing a Christmas tree get disintegrated.

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