DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

Not a fan of the title, but working on it.

This is my latest idea for a pet project. With the recent release of Planet Hulk and Justice League: CoTE, I thought it was time to look back at the progress that the comic book animated movie has made.

The genre is a bit fresher than the whole live-action superhero movie genre, I may be mistaken, but its less than 20 years old, and really has only picked up steam in recent memories. With that said, this is the current list of movies I have.

Currently, the plan is to do them once a week leading into the eventual release of Batman: Under the Red Hood.

I've been having troubles coming up with a proper format for this as I am not a reviewer and never intend to be, but you can expect to see what I like and dislike about any movie.

Also, it will be done chronologically. Which means our first movie is...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wv2FitL0Aw
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

Neat idea :D

Looks like I'll be having a few trips to the video store (dont like watching movies on youtube)

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

Bump!


Looks like this week shall be....


Can our zany hero save his city from the evil PHANTASM?!?!? Or will he be to focused on love?

Join us this week to find out!

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

So uh... Where are the marvel animated list? EDIT: NVM didn't realize it was just movies for a minute. Marvel is pretty lacking in good animated movies.

Also I will say, despise dc as I might, their animated stuff is generally pretty good. Especially some of the batman stuff.

Also Dave: Couldn't you make a trip to the bt store? *HINT* *HINT*

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

Now that someone has bumped I kind of feel compelled to write my thoughts, but been having trouble coming up with a proper format so bear with me if this keeps changing.

Mask of the Phantasm


There's the background.

The Movie
This movie relies heavily on flashbacks to tell the compelling story of how Bruce Wayne finally took up the mantle of Batman. This movie serves as both an origin to the Batman of TAS fame and as a love story. Both stories are interconnected and work so well, it truly is magic on the screen.



Where this movie works best for me is that it shows that Bruce had the chance for happiness even after his parents' death, but as expected, the criminal world once again struck taking all that he held dear.

On the same hand, other than a climax appearance by the Joker, the story also doesn't really focus on villains as there are an assortment of mobsters being picked off, but this is really Bruce/Andrea's story.

Memorable Moments

This movie is clocked full of memorable moments, but the one that defines the movie for me at least, is the first time that Bruce dons the cape and cowl, just the way it is shot and Alfred's reaction are excellent.



Recommendation
Buy it.
If you haven't seen this movie, you owe it to yourself to check it out. It is hands down the best Batman movie animated or live action wise.

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

I disagree. Sub Zero was much better.

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

I'm gonna disagree and say that Mask is much better.

The debate really comes down to Mask and Return of the Joker.

And crap, forgot, I needed to add Turtles Forever!

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

Uhm no, it really comes down to Sub Zero and Return of the Joker. Whatever. Honestly Mask was pretty boring.

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

And here comes the end of week 2



Batman/Mr. Freeze: Subzero

The Movie
Mr. Freeze is one of the most compelling and unique characters during the entire stint of B: TAS, and one of the main reasons was that Timm and Co never used him useless necessary. This marks, his 3rd appearance in the series, and his character starts to turn a bit.



In Heart of Ice, and his second appearance, Mr. Freeze is never really evil, he has some justifications in his actions. In this movie, I mean I know his wife is suffering, but his actions are pretty evil and selfish so there's no way around it.

And Mr. Freeze's attempt to help his wife drives the extent of the movie, which works, but on the same hand, it forces like half the movie to be climax.



And that's what makes it a bit off to me, I think that the Freeze character is watered down just a bit, and his next appearance in TNBA is iffy.

Memorable Moment
Its tough to really pick a stand-out moment for the movie, it was a good movie, just nothing great.

Though guess would lean towards discovering the song that Batgirl's' roommate was listening to when she got called, is the same song Batman sings in This Little Piggy.

Recommendation
Check the movie out. Especially if you can find the double pack with Mask. Also when you consider that this was a companion to Batman and Robin, well yeah one turned out well, the other we avoid talking about.

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

I have to agree with Earl on this one, Mask is a much better movie then Sub-Zero.


Sub-Zero just seemed like your standard action movie or a 2 part episode, good but nothing special

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

Guess should update this thread a bit

First order of business, Batman: Return of the Joker is THIS week's movie.

Due to some suggestions, I decided to add Superman/Batman: World's Finest last week, never made it into the thread.

I'm sorry... with that said.



The Batman/Superman Movie: World's Finest

The first team-up between the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight from the TAS episodes.



The "movie" consists of 3 episodes of the Superman: TAS and one of the reasons was reluctant to include it on my list.

With that said, it does work pretty well on its own. Most people know who the major players are, but as a recap, Superman and Batman are our heroes and Luthor and The Joker are our villains,



Their dynamic is fine, but I think the chemistry/interactions between Harley and Mercy is much better. Though the Joker/Luthor relations shows up again in Justice League.

The threat is well all over the place as it pretty much acts like 3 mini stories connected.



The short and simple of it really is if you own Superman: TAS check it out, but wouldn't go out of my way to find it.

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

Definitely on the Mask is better side. I have a lot of good memories. I even had the comic book the VHS came with back in the day.

Recently watched it again sometime last year. Still great.

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

Gosh, I've been slacking so much with this thread.

Just a few updates, one is I realize I MUST do a Return of the Joker post, as apparently, I didn't do one when I watched it for my Batman Beyond thread either, and that's just wrong since it is such an awesome movie so I will get on that.

Second, is this week's movie was Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman so let's get to that



Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman stands as the final film in the TAS universe to star Batman and the last official product related to BTAS/TNBA. (Justice League was still going on at the time, but that isn't all-Batman focused)

With that said, as the title suggests, the movie revolves around the mysterious new Bat-figure, the Batwoman.


There are several suspects and hints that points towards the identity of the Batwoman. And to me this is the film's biggest fault as the mystery is pretty much ruined by the reveal, which just made all the double-guessing pointless in the end.

I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but if you have, you know what I mean.

Now the Batwoman is a good guy so this movie also needs some villains, and the quality of the villains isn't the best, but it isn't terrible. You have Rupert Thorne, who looked to have slimmed down. The Penguin, who is okay, but never was a huge fan of him after his turn to being more behind the scenes, and later on Bane.



The fights weren't really that great. The plot is iffy. The villains are decent.

All in all, my recommendation is to PASS.

On the other hand, the DVD comes with Chase Me

Instead of reviewing it or offering a PAss/See/Buy, I'll just show you the Youtube. Its only 6 minutes long. And SO worth it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19qdCEPFz4w

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

Next movie.



Closer to the comics than the live action movies. Same character designer as the Spectacular Spider-man

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

This was a somewhat exciting movie for me, as it is the first movie on the list that is/was completely new to me. Also, I don't have much of a history with Hellboy outside of the two mainstream movies. With that said,

Hellboy: Sword of Storms
Does anyone else, think this sounds like a subtitle to a Zelda game?



I wasn't clear on it from the movie or dialogue, but not sure if this is a sequel to the movie or not, but it does assume some familiarity with the characters so there's that.

Now even though the plot is explained in some heavy expository scenes, I'm not 100% sure how Hellboy was teleported to a mystical realm. But in this realm are some really freaky creatures, and Hellboy ends up fighting them all.



I wasn't too thrilled with most of the action scenes, but there was plenty enough that you may have better luck than I did.


Honestly, I watched this 3 days ago, and the fact that I'm having trouble remembering anything of note is never a good thing IMO.

So instead of torturing you with made up details, I shall recommend a Pass, it isn't bad, just not memorable.

This week's movie: Ultimate Avengers.

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

Okay some quick notes.

-One, switching movies for next two weeks, since Iron Man 2 comes out next week, I figured made more sense to watch Invincible Iron Man than and the following week we will do Ultimate Avengers 2.

-Second, been sticking to the schedule for the most part so here are two brief reviews.


Ultimate Avengers

I've read the comics its based on now, and not liking the comic, also makes me appreciate this movie even less if that makes sense. :lol

The movie does too much too fast, and has no real flow. Actually, this is the same complaint I will have about the next movie. :lol

After reading the comics, they pretty much gloss over the aspect of getting the team together. The alien invasion reminds me too much of the JLA's origins, but eh.

All in all, I recommend only checking out if you come across it.

Next movie, just finished watching.


Like I said above, it has the same flaws as the above movie. Its all action with a poor sense of plotting. The plot is almost non-existant with it just serving to break up the 3 fights between Superman and Brainiac.

But the BIGGEST problem I have with this movie is the treatment of Lex Luthor. He is neither shroud businessman nor evil scientist. He is some weird, alternate Lex who is into grand-standing way too much. He even utters to Superman once "Rooting for you pal" not in some sarcastic tone either. It was AWFUL.

My Recommendation is to pass this movie. I can't believe from the same folks who did Superman TAS!

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

Agree with BaB about their horrible treatment of Luthor. Complete bastardization of his character. Didn't like the version of Braniac either. Had too much emotion for his character. He is supposed to be an emotionless machine set on completing his task but here he is determined to destroy superman and such.

Dialogue was pretty shoddy as well.


And for Ultimate Avengers I agree with most of what Earl says though I did really enjoy the comics. The end of the movie was way too rushed but was a somewhat enjoyable film.

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

Our film this week was The Invincible Iron Man

Now this is a hard film to review, I mean it isn't a bad movie, but it isn't really remarkable either.

And I could be mistaken (I sometimes drift off while watching movies), but I swore he wore the standard Iron Man costume only once during the course of the movie. In like 80 minutes, he was able to try out the first costume, the standard one, a lava based one and an underwater one. That element of the film felt like they were trying to get in enough versions of the costume for toy tie-ins.



The main villain was the Mandarin, but you probably wouldn't know it until his last minute appearance, which was a bit hooky or whatever. Didn't care much for the board room drama (kind of reminded me of another movie starring a billionaire turned Superhero, but I'll move on)

I recommend seeing it, if you have access. Wouldn't go out of my way.

Next week's movie: Ultimate Avengers 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTov9...eature=related

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

This week's film is Dr. Strange



I'll start off by saying I'm not too familiar with the character. I remember him making an appearance or two in the Fox Spider-man cartoon and believe he shows up in the Ultimate Spider-man comics, other than that I really don't know much about the character.

With that said, this movie serves as a long long origin tale. Now origin tales are often used for first movies, but being an animated movie with a much shorter run-time, the origin takes up a good 80% of the movie or so, and it really isn't nothing new. I mean the characters are played as expected and their arcs lead to a predictable conclusion.

There really aren't no twists and turns along the way but I guess only so much you can do with it.



There are a parade of characters, but honestly most of them are given enough screen time to be killed off so I assume I didn't need to care for them.

And while on the subject of killing, such an odd movie, it avoids showing blood and things, but has no problems showing people being skinned to the bone so go figure.



There are like two villains in this movie, and neither are dealt with in a meaningful manner. The first is swallowed/eaten by the second, and the second is.. well absorbed by Dr. Strange, don't ask me to explain it. I don't know either.

The animation is nice, but I still feel that Marvel's animation department lags behinds DC.

All in all, I recommend If its On I wouldn't go out of my way to find it, but if its on TV why not.

Next week's movie is Superman: Doomsday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3keu...eature=related

I will also try my best to catch up on the few I missed.

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

Hey guys

Just finished watching Batman: Mask of Phantasm last night. It was good, just not as good as people have been telling me it is.
The main bad guy, the Phantasm guy, is really boring. A vigilante who kills and people are mistaking him for Batman, we've all see that story.

The main hook here is the flashbacks to Bruce's time before and just after he became Batman. The Bruce Timm Batman seems much more human than the comic book version, and it was nice to see some real emotion poured into his descision to become Batman. Even the Joker seems to be a lot more human, still out of his mind but still seems to have have a mind rather than just being this force of destruction. Dont get me wrong, I love the Morrison Hyper-manly Batman and the Avatar of Death Joker, but this is a very refreshing take on all of it.

Art style is gorgeous, and voice acting is top notch as per usual.
If you had taken all the Flashback out of this and sold them under the title "Batman: Origin" or something it would have hit the spot, but instead it gets bookended by boring and sometimes confusing run ins with the phantasm

Re: DC/Marvel at The Animated Movies Thread
 

This week's movie is Superman: Doomsday



This movie could be seen as the starting point for the new DCU as it was the first DTV they produced that wasn't directly tied into anything else in the Timmverse. (Superman: Brainiac, could also be counted, but believe it uses the same designs)

This movie on the other hand, has no such shackles. It uses a different cast of voice actors and a radically different design for the characters, but let's get into the movie.

The movie is based loosely on the Death/Return of Superman arc from the early 90s. Sadly, I've never read the story myself (something I will remedy one day), but based on the bonus feature it was a pretty cool comic and story. Now the movie guts the middle portion of the comic for the most part (the Superman wanna bes who try to fill in the gap in his absence) and the movie works well without it.

First thing that HAS to be said, this movie is brutal.



The movie pretty much revolves around two major fight scenes. The first if the titular Superman vs Doomsday fight, which is big, bad and brutal. It goes across Metropolis and is probably one of the best crafted fight scenes in all of comic book DTV. You feel every blow, and of course the eventual defeat is done so well.

The second fight is the climax between a clone Superman and returned Superman, which again is a pretty nice fight. Something that both fights get right is the feeling of doom over Superman, at times it is difficult to do a Superman fight where you feel he is threatened due to his power limits, and even rarer to do it without K, but both of these fights accomplish that IMO.



In-between the fights, there is also a movie. The crux of it being the relationship between Superman and Lois, who are seen dating at the start of the movie. This comes out of left field, but you find out why it is important after his death, as Lois carries the emotion of this movie. Between her reaction at his death to speaking with Martha Kent, you feel the gravity of the situation.

We also get emotional arcs through Lex Luthor (who is as cold here as anywhere else, but sometimes feels just a bit off), Jimmy (who takes up a glam gig), Perry White (briefly in his scenes) and Ma Kent.

Oddly, my biggest problem with the movie is the whole act that deals with Luthor's cloned Superman, I know they needed something for Superman to fight when he returned, but I just didn't care for it much. And he quickly spirals out of control.

Some of the voices were good, some took getting use to, but none were as horrible as Superman: Brainiac nor did any of the characters feel so out of place like Luthor did in that movie.

My recommendation Check It Out It may be on Netflix Insta-Steam

Next week's movie is, Justice League: New Frontier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lEhVhzPy3c