Mars Needs Moms (2011)

Mars Needs Moms (2011) is an American animated sci-fi movie co-written and directed by Simon Wells, produced by ImageMovers Digital and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Unbeknownst to humans, there exists a highly advanced society of Martians living beneath the surface of the Red Planet. The Martians’ Supervisor, while observing Earth, witnesses a mother encouraging her son, Milo, to complete his household duties. The Martians decide to bring her to Mars to extract her “mom-ness” and implant it into their next-generation nanny-bots. Meanwhile, Milo, who has been sent to his room for disobeying rules and feeding broccoli to his cat Cujo, makes a sarcastic remark about being better off without his mother, which deeply wounds her. Later that night, Milo goes to apologize but discovers that his mother has been taken away. He chases after her but ends up in a different section of the Martian spaceship. On Mars, Milo is imprisoned in an underground cell. He escapes and is pursued by the Supervisor’s minions until he hears a voice urging him to jump down a chute. He lands in a lower subterranean level where he encounters a trash-covered landscape inhabited by furry creatures.

Milo is quickly taken by the creatures to meet Gribble, also known as George Ribble, the childlike adult human who had directed him to jump down the chute. There, he learns from Gribble about the Martians’ plan to extract his mother’s memories at sunrise using a lethal process. Lonely and afraid of losing Milo’s companionship, Gribble pretends to assist him in finding his mother. However, things don’t go as planned and Gribble ends up being captured while Milo is hotly pursued by the Supervisor’s henchmen. Luckily, Ki, one of the supervisors responsible for raising Martian babies, comes to Milo’s rescue. As they journey together, Milo shares with Ki the importance and depth of a human relationship with a mother – something she and her own kind are not familiar with since they were only raised by nanny-bots and supervisors.