the mars rover mission has undoubtedly given me a renewed interest with the red planet. when one of my colleagues offered me two mars-related dvds, i was all over that idea. the first was mission to mars.

brian de palma's mission to mars is so true to the notion of what we know -- physically -- of the martian planet. mars has a cold, unforgiving surface, and the makers of the movie really portrayed it as such. the movie had a lot of credible scientific aspects to it as well. from all appearances, it was made to have a certain level of credibility amongst the space.com crowd. too bad the realism was the only good part to the movie.

the schmaltz factor was high in this movie. (over) sentimentality is fine in small doses; however, the amounts poured out in this movie proved too much for me to have high regard for it. in one scene gary sinise's character, jim, en route to mars, was in his quarters watching a video of when he and his now-dead wife (kim delaney) were being toasted at their home. jim' s wife made a speech in the video that eventually reinforced jim's mission to continue the quest for other intelligent life in the universe. whoa. too much poignancy.

in another scene the rescue crew held hands with an e.t. in a moment of martian kumbaya.

super-size my science order, but hold the soft underbelly of sentimentality. and make it to go please.

np: The Scientist, from the album A Rush of Blood to the Head by Coldplay, which I rate: 4/5 stars