The Victorian era must have been an exciting time to live in (if you weren’t poor, of course) as the innovations in practical science took massive leaps, with Nikola Tesla leading the pack by a mile. Not only were his ideas decades ahead of his nearest rival Thomas Edison, but his vision of a better world was thwarted by greedy capitalists. Whilst experimenting with radio waves, Tesla became convinced that there was life on Mars (which makes it fitting that David Bowie should play him in The Prestige, despite the height discrepancy). Tesla was not alone in his belief in life on Mars and that pervasive idea must have had some influence on Edgar Rice Burroughs, the dissatisfied stationery store clerk who started writing pulp fiction stories about the red planet, which he called Barsoom, and his first book about John Carter, the earth hero mystically teleported (another idea Tesla was working on) to Mars was published in 1912. A hundred years on and those adventures have finally made it to the big screen courtesy of Disney and staff from their major shareholder, Pixar.Andrew Stanton, who made Pixar’s sci-fi hit WALL-E amongst others, has brought John Carter to life in a solid origins story that successfully mashes two great genres together – sci-fi and western – to make a movie that invokes the excitement of the original Star Wars. A cracking space adventure filled with action, spectacle, romance, a good share of the humour that Pixar films are renowned for, as well as just the right amount of pathos.

There is no attempt to apologise for the scientific inaccuracies of the Martian landscape and atmosphere, as we are expected to totally suspend disbelief after the gruelling, post Civil War intro where we are introduced to the renegade Carter before his transportation to the alien terrain (Utah with some CGI enhancements) of Barsoom. Appropriately for a planet named after the god of war, there was plenty of turmoil between rival factions that are being manipulated by higher sentient beings under the leadership of the current go to guy for that type of character, Mark Strong, almost reprising his Green Lantern role, but with more subtle powers.

For fans of old-school fantasy sci-fi there is plenty to enjoy about this movie, with touches of the quasi-religious Dune about it. Overlooking the totally unnecessary 3D conversion, the CG settings and characters are extremely realistic and seamless against the actual locations. The acting is just right and the two heroes make a good account of themselves in the action scenes as well as the more dramatic, and romantic, moments, as well as being easy on the eye.

After being subjected to the torturous 3D release of Star Wars Episode 1, this is a breath of fresh air that is leaps and bounds ahead of Lucas’s tired rehashing. It will only be the ill informed that will snipe at John Carter as being too much like the aforementioned Phantom Menace, Avatar or countless other sci-fi blockbusters that will have been inspired by Burroughs’ stories.

A fantastic, fun film that has something for everyone and remains faithful to its pulp fiction origins, while appealing to people brought up in the age of CGI-enhanced action, blockbusters.

John Carter is in cinemas and IMAX from March 9. There is still time to enter our competition to win tickets to see the film at BFI IMAX, London.