2012 Summer Comic Book Movie Review

So, the books have closed on this summer's comic book movies. We had Men in Black 3, The Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, and The Dark Knight. So how do they rank? Well, #1 is, of course, a no brainer. I think EVERYONE will agree that not only was The Avengers the highest grossing of the four but it is clearly the superior film as well. So...

Summer, '12 - the Superheroes rule yet again

1) The Avengers - Duh. Nuff' Said. 1LR REVIEW - 17 out of 20! It's a Solid Hit!

2) The Dark Knight - It's a fairly large step down from the Avengers but still a great film. What a great ending to the trilogy... it really left the fans wanting more (which is awesome and sucks at the same time). Did Bruce Wayne die? 1LR says... no. Clearly, the sequence where Alfred sees him is not a dream. 1LR REVIEW - 15 out of 20! It's a Hit!

3) Men in Black 3 - The best of the trilogy, 1LR loved Griffin, the man who can see all potential futures and the fact that this movie actually had a heart and character development. Plus, we're suckers for time travel. But it lost some points because we hate time travel with logic errors. 1LR REVIEW - 14 out of 20! It's a Hit!

4) The Amazing Spider-Man - Coming in at last place, The Amazing Spider-Man. Not that this is a bad film! It just never escapes the gravity of the previous trilogy. We loved seeing a more "realistic" take on Spider-Man and hope the sequel will more fully explore the mystery of Spidey's parents. 1LR REVIEW - 13 out of 20! It's a Glancing Hit!

So, as you can see, there really are no losers on this list. What a great summer to be a comic book fan at the box office!

Avengers Visit York Revolution Baseball

The York Revolution baseball team in York, PA hosted the Avengers tonight. They really went all out. In addition to the heroes in costume they had Avengers prize drawings, showed the trailer and clips from the movie, and included the Avengers logo behind the player introductions.

I saw a lot of kids with Marvel shirts and superhero props. My own kids got a lot of props from the fans for dressing in costume. A good time was had by all. Way to go, York Revolution! Now when can we expect Spider-Man or Batman nights?

The core Avengers united!

Which is the Cap clone?

Cap, Thor and their proteges.

Avengers Next?

The Revolution really went all out to welcome the Avengers!

Great costumes!

York Revolution Hosts the Avengers

Good luck getting THAT ball back!

That's right - this Thursday, May 24, the York Revolution baseball team will host the Avengers Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and even War Machine (even though he wasn't in the movie... what's up with that?). Surely, this is yet another sign that comic books have broken into the mainstream. What's more mainstream America than baseball?

1LR congratulates the York Revolution! I'm looking forward to the game... I just wonder if it's against the rules for Iron Man and War Machine to fly and catch a homerun before it goes over the tallest wall in all of baseball?

The Avengers Surprised Me - SPOILERS

2012: The Year The Avengers Changed Everything

I've already posted one spoiler free review of the Avengers here but the movie has been out for a week and the internet is swarming with spoilers so I'll give my detailed, spoiler-filled thoughts now. I'll try not to repeat too much from my first post. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

The great thing about this movie is that it is able to surprise its audiences. Perhaps this is one of the reasons it got such great reactions. I hope you've saw it before someone (like me) ruined everything for you (like I'm about to do). I was surprised...

1) That Hawkeye and Dr. Selvig got mind controlled right off the bat by Loki.
2) How awesome the Black Widow was. Frankly, she steals the show. When she's fools Loki, the god of mischief, my jaw was on the floor.
3) By the Hulk's confrontation with Loki. Here's the big bad guy and the Hulk just ragdolls him.
4) Agent Colston's death. For someone with seemingly no personality, he was enjoyable. Along with Fury, he was the thread that held the Avengers film continuity together.
5) Thanos, of course. I can't tell you how huge the reaction from the fanboys was when he turned around. Sure, it left some scratching their heads but they quickly asked someone, "Who's that?" I'm guessing there were quite a few internet searches for "Thanos" over the last ten days.
6) Overall, I was surprised how much time was spent with the Avengers feuding among themselves. But the superhero fight is a quintessential comic book tradition so it had to happen. The best was when the Hulk and Thor team up to defeat a huge alien only to have the Hulk sucker punch Thor.
7) The second post-credits scene with the Avengers all sitting around in a Shawarma restaurant starring vacantly into space. The tension builds and builds when you wait for the punch line to be delivered... and it never is.
8) The Hulk trying (and failing) to pick up Thor's hammer!

Frankly, I'm probably missing about 20 things from that list.

Avengers #1,000,000,000

Now will Disney buy Hulk shirt???

That's right. It was inevitable. The Avengers broke ONE BILLION dollars. Check it out over at www.boxofficemojo.com.
So, yeah, those guys over at Disney that paid $4,000,000,000 for Marvel awhile back now look like geniuses. Sure, Disney's not going to see all of that cash but I'm sure Disney is seeing sequel after sequel roll of the assembly line at this point. 

See, make the fanboys happy and the whole world will follow. It's really not a difficult concept.

Avengers Smash Loki, Chitauri, and the Box Office!

Well, the Avengers started the summer movie season out with a bang, grossing $207 million dollars in the opening weekend. That's an all time record, if you're keeping track. Yep. Better than Harry Potter or Twilight (that's actually quite hard to believe). And that's just the opening weekend!

Just imagine a line like this that's about 200,000 people long.

According to www.boxofficemojo.com the movie has grossed over $600 million worldwide through last weekend. Apparently it was released earlier in foreign countries... What's up with that? Not sure, but Avengers is sure to make the top ten list of the highest grossing movies of all time.

Which begs the question... can Dark Knight match this movie at the box office? What about Spidey? Or will the summer start out with its biggest hit and see declining box offices from there?

Marvel Media Mania: The Avengers (Midnight Show Review) - SPOILER FREE

The Avengers is the 2012 theatrical release starring... well, everybody from the previous films in the Avengers movie universe (except Ed Norton who was replaced by Mark Ruffalo). I'll try to do this without spoiling anything for anyone.

The Avengers

This movie is a fanboys' dream come true. Ten years ago if you had told me that Marvel would make a successful movie franchise of individual Avengers movies all tied together and leading into a group movie I would have said you're nuts. The logistics of it are immense. But that's exactly what Marvel has done.

The plot of the movie ties in the origins of the both the original Avengers and the Ultimate Comics version of the Avengers, The Ultimates. The two villains are Loki and the Chitauri. Combining an Asgardian god might seem like an odd choice and, I'll admit, it is. But there are quite a few moments of displacement. At one point, Thor and Loki duke it out on top of a skyscraper. A skyscraper just doesn't seem like the right location to see these two fight it out but once I got past that it worked.

This movie almost feels like two movies put together. The plot starts out pretty slow, introducing character one at a time with lots of talking and not very much action at all. Some scenes just seem to go on a little longer than necessary. The film really takes its sweet time introducing the character, let along forming a team.

The second half really rams up the action. All of the scenes that got huge reactions from the crowd (and I would say there were probably about 15 of them) came in the second half. Overall, the movie felt a little long.

The Avengers remain largely unchanged from the first films. Thor and Cap get a costume upgrade. The Hulk's appearance was altered slightly and to look like Ruffalo. Loki's appearance was made more menacing. I was pleased that characterization from the previous films was maintained almost flawlessly. Banner and Loki were perhaps the two most changed in personality. Banner, under Ruffalo's vision, comes across as a quirky, brilliant loser who simultaneously fears and desires to transform into the Hulk. He refers to the Hulk as "the other guy." "The Other Guy" is more wild than previously show in The Incredible Hulk. He lashes out wildly without any real control or direction. As for Loki, gone is the mischievous schemer who accidentally stumbles onto the throne. This Loki is power mad and willing to become a mass murderer to get what he wants.

One of this film's best qualities is the humor. There are some EXCELLENTLY FUNNY moments that you'll never see coming. There are plenty of insider references that will make fanboys happy and I don't think average fans will feel left out most of the time. Fans of Joss Whedon's sense of timing and penchant for delivering the unexpected won't be disappointed.

This movie will make fanboys squeal with glee and beg for more. Casual viewers will likewise feel satisfied.

1LR Movie Review - 17 out of 20 - It's a Solid Hit!

1LR Midnight Movie: Avengers - TWO Scenes During the Credits

ATTENTION GEEKS:

There are TWO scenes during the Avengers end credits. You'll want to stay to catch both of them.

Even the Avengers think the end-credits scene is funny.

The first comes right after the CGI "stylized" credits. It's a little epilogue to show what the bad guys are up to after the fight ends. I won't ruin it, but it features a very surprising guest star that I guarantee nobody in the theater saw coming. It really comes out of left field - I'll have to go back and rewatch but I don't even think they dropped any subtle hints about this character in the movie. It really sets up future Avengers related films. I'll give you a hint: It's a cosmic-level being that you'd think they would never tap for the Avengers movies.

The second scene comes at the end of the credits. This is a follow up on a joke Iron Man makes a few times in the film. It's kinda like that scene in Spider-Man 2 where Spidey rides the elevator... hilariously awkward.

1LR Midnight Movie: Avengers - The Fanboy Reactions

Who goes to see a midnight show? Fanboys! And let me tell you, there were out in droves! Now, were not talking Harry Potter 7 part 2 here but there was a heavy turnout.

First of all, TONS of people dressed in costume. One clever group dressed as every Avenger from the movie, except the Hulk. So a young girl stepped up wearing all green with toy Hulk fists on. Brilliant! I saw a lot of people with the cheap Thor and Iron Man masks on. There were even some homemade costumes (including one really cool Iron Man helmet). Of course, there was a large sampling of Avengers related T-shirts. Bravo, fanboys!

All right... You all dress up in elaborate superhero costumes
and I'll just wear my suit and sunglasses, and say I'm
"Agent Colston" okay fellas?

The film has a number of in jokes or insinuations that fanboys picked up on. I don't want to spoil it, but there's a surprise appearance in the cut-scene in the middle of the credits that got a HUGE reactions from the fanboys but may leave some casual fans scratching their heads going, "Who was that?"

Joss Whedon's brand of delivering the unexpected got loud approval from the crowd. Whedon definitely had his way with this script and he in particular had a lot of fun with the Hulk.

Walking out at the end of the film, I heard quite a few people voicing their appreciation from the film. Some were weighing whether or not it was better than the first Iron Man. I, myself, wouldn't go that far but this movie was made to make fanboys happy.

1LR Midnight Movie: Avengers Movie Instant Reaction

The Avengers impresses...

Wow. This is one of those movies that is so full you have a hard time remembering everything you wanted to talk about when you walk out of the theater.

I don't want to steal too much of my own thunder for the "official" 1LR review, but I can say that this movie made the fanboys happy. It had to be structured just right to introduce, like, 20 very unique concepts quickly but also to not bore the superfans.

Like all of the Avengers movie leading up to this one, it was FUNNY. You can definitely see Joss Whedon's fingerprints all over it.

Bravo, Avengers! Marvel successfully pulled off a feat equal to that of the simultaneous filming of the Lord of the Rings trilogy - they made a superhero film universe that works.

Simply put - GO SEE THE AVENGERS!

Marvel Media Mania: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is a Disney XD television series that launched in 2010. It is currently in its second season and there was one "micro-series" that consisted of five minute shorts taken from footage of the first season.

"Earth's Mightiest" indeed!

This series is fabulous. The cast of characters that is involved is stunning it its scope. I think this series more than any other explores the entire Marvel Universe. Although it's the "Avengers" and it focuses on Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, The Wasp, Ant-Man, The Hulk, Nick Fury, and various other Avengers, the list of villains and guest appearances is a mile long (we even have a Wolverine cameo). The series utilizes villains that don't get a lot of attention such as The Grey Gargoyle, Wendigo, Zzzzax, The Griffin, or The Living Laser along with big name villains such as Modok, Baron Zemo, Crimson Dynamo, and the Red Skull. The character designs for this series are pretty simple, straightforward, and they capture the essence of each character.

The animation is pretty good with the strong use of CGI. This allows the camera to move freely in scenes to great cinematic effect. There's lots of action and the characters aren't stuck in a static environment. For example, when Graviton is crushing the Hulk and the Hulk stands up, his feet sink into the pavement creating cracks all around it.

Each episode tells a self-contained story but there are a plethora of subplots going on as well. The characters don't live in a black and white world so Nick Fury's SHIELD, although it fights the good fight, doesn't always do the "right thing." Each character has their own storylines. So we see Thor weighing his responsibilities to Asgard vs Midgard. We see Hawkeye set up by the Black Widow and his redeption story. There are subplots with the black market sale of Iron Man's technology and the four prisons set up by SHIELD.

Lastly, the theme song to this series is quite memorable. Something all great superhero cartoons have. Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is a show that young and old fans will enjoy.

1LR Review: 18 out of 20 - It's a Solid Hit!

Avengers Fever!

Three hours until Avengers midnight show and I'm pumped! Look for my review tonight around 3:00 AM!

Going the the movies and I'm... gonna get popcorn... going to the movies and I'm... gonna get popcorn...

Marvel Media Mania: Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow

Next Avengers is a direct-to-DVD animated feature released in 2008.

Finally, Avengers with something to avenge!

The beginning of this animated movie does a good job filling in the viewer on the alternate Marvel future that it exists in. The backstory is that the Avengers ushered in world peace after defeating, for good, a number of supervillains (including Kang, Zemo's Masters of Evil, and, strangly, Korg). The Avengers then retire, get married, and have children only to have Ultron strike, seemingly kill them all, and take over half the world. The future children of today's Avengers, cared for by an elderly Tony Stark, are the focus of the film.

The roster is directly inspired by the adult Avengers - Pym is the son of Wasp and Giant Man. Azari is the son of Black Panther and (it is implied) Storm. Torunn is the daughter of Thor. James is the son of Captain America and the Black Widow. They eventually meet Hawkeye, the son of (you guessed it) Hawkeye. The character designs are all pretty unique, updated versions of the old characters' costumes. I liked how Pym looked like a firefly when shrunken down. Azari is probably the best design (I really liked the "electric Panther) but Torunn's chest armor just looks awkwardly drawn.

The movie wastes no time throwing in the action and doesn't have any lack of style. I liked it when the "sky" is suddenly revealed to be a holographic projection onto a dome - what a twist! Ultron's TV room and trophy room were also very cool. The film didn't a great job of building Ultron up as a real threat.

Each character is given a very clearly defined personality. In the great Marvel tradition they don't always get along or agree. Each character is given his or her own issues and character arc through the story. Seeing James and Torunn deal with their abandonment issues probably really resonates with a lot of kids today who don't see their fathers.

All in all, this film is a strong entry in the Marvel animated library that young and old will both enjoy.

1LR Review - 16 out of 20 - It's a Hit!

Marvel Media Mania: Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther

Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther is the 2006 direct-to-DVD animated sequel to the first Ultimate Avengers film.

Direct-to-DVD animated film

This movie is very similar in style and writing to the first Ultimate Avengers movie. It features the entire Avengers lineup from the first film but also adds the Black Panther as well.

The story gets off on a slow start as each character is reintroduced one by one. Each character is given their own storyarc again. T'Challa, the Black Panther, is out to avenge his father, Thor is sees visions of the dead Avengers, Cap is going on missions hoping to die, Banner is locked up and thought to be insane, Iron Man is selfish, and Wasp and Giant Man are sick of each other. With all of this going on, the film feels a little over-full.

The villains in the film are the same as the first movie - the Shitari aliens, lead by the shape-shifting Kleiser. While there were only three ships in the first film now there is a worldwide invasion. What are the aliens after? Vibranium in Wakanda. I'm not sure why, though, because apparently all of their ships are made of vibranium. They've got literally tons of the stuff! And it isn't even that great since simple gamma rays make it worthless. Ultimately, when the mother ship blows up all of the alien ships shut down... but wait - what about the thousands of invading aliens? What happened to them?

Giant Man dies but I wasn't sad - he kinda deserved it for being a big jerk. The Avengers win... sort of. Every major city in the world is burning to the ground as a result of the alien invasion so I can't imagine the Avengers will enjoy any parades anytime soon.

Somehow, this film manages to make the unlikeable Avengers from the first film even more unlikeable, even if they try to do good in the end.

1LR Review - 9out of 20 - It's a Miss!

Marvel Media Mania: Ultimate Avengers: The Movie

Ultimate Avengers: The Movie is a direct-to-DVD animated film closely based on the original Ultimates comic book limited series (even though it's considered a direct-to-DVD movie it did air on television before its DVD release).

The original Avengers movie

Mark Millar's Ultimates comic book series was suppose to be a gritty, realistic reimaging of the Avengers. So, it follows suit that the movie inspired by the comic series would also be gritty and realistic. Ultimate Avengers doesn't disappoint in that regard. The opening sequence shows a World War II scene where soldiers are getting killed like in Saving Private Ryan. Even the superhero action is more brutal that what is typical of a regular Marvel movie.

The relationships between the characters have many adult undertones. Not only do some of the characters not get along with one another, sometimes they openly despise each other such as Giant Man and Tony Stark. Characters are deeply flawed, sometimes to the point where you wonder how much of a hero they really are. Thor is depicted as a borderline delusional psychotic. Bruce Banner deceives SHIELD for his own selfish purposes and, once the alien invasion is turned away, the Hulk becomes a bigger threat than the aliens ever were!

There are some good character moments in the film such as when Captain America is reunited with his World War II partner, Bucky, who went on to marry Cap's old girlfriend, Gail Richards.

The animation is... serviceable. Sometimes I was distracted by a particularly poor sequence but overall it's okay. The character designs were taken directly from the comics so they had a pretty good foundation from which to work from.

Perhaps the biggest failing of this film is the lack of a substantial threat. I've watched the film several times and I know it has something to do with aliens that helped the Nazis but I can't tell you much beyond that. At one point the aliens destroy a satellite that would have allowed humans to detect them or something and after that it gets a bit fuzzy.

This is an enjoyable enough film, although it may be more appropriate for older audiences.

1LR Review - 11 out of 20 - It's a Glancing Hit!

Marvel Media Mania: Marvel Super Heroes (1966)

The Marvel Super Heroes show originally aired on television in 1966. Although it was only on the air for one year, it aired five days a week and each half hour was divided into three segments, each of which told its own story, so about 200 segments were created for this show!

What a great old ad.

This show is the original motion comic. To meet the production schedule, they lifted art directly from the comics. In fact, the storylines themselves were directly from the comics. Frankly, motion comics today aren't much better than this series was in 1966. The images are largely motionless with only minor elements such as a mouth, a limb, or perhaps a bit of scenery moving.

The result is that, while the show doesn't have very good animation, it does capture the feel of a comic book. It even uses onomatopoeia in addition to actual sound effects. Each segment ends in a typical comic book cliffhanger. The episodes are heavy with narration that would have originally appeared in narration boxes.

Because the stories were taken directly from the comics, the faults of the comics are directly transferred to the  series. Action is energetic but unrealistic. Plots are full of excitement but all seem to be the same. Episodes are filled with pseudo-science terms.

The voice acting is capable at best. You can tell that these guys were churning out these episodes by the scores. The Hulk doesn't sound much like an angry toddler but  more like a man with a sore throat.

The different segments rotated between Captain America, Namor the Sub Mariner, Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk. To me, they're all equal to one another - no one is much better or worse than any other.

As a Marvel fan, these episodes are interesting simply for their historical significance. For many of these characters, this was there first appearance on any screen. And if nothing else watching these episodes provides a cheap and quick way to catch up on some old-school Marvel continuity.

1LR Review - 12 out of 20 - It's a Glancing Hit!

Marvel Media Mania: Avengers: United They Stand

Avengers: United They Stand is a 1999 animated television series that lasted one season on Fox.

What's with the giant-sized Ant-Man? Is he the star of the show or something?

 It's easy to see how this show received its poor reputation. While the animation in general is capable enough (despite some kooky special effects such as cut-and-paste explosions), the series fails on almost every level from general concepts to season-long storylines.

The roster consists of Ant-Man, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonderman, Tigra, Falcon, and Hawkeye. 8 characters is a big roster to carry (plus throwing in occasional guest star) and none of the characters really get a chance to shine in the season. The costumes are almost complete revisions with Vision remaining the closest to his roots. I did like how costumes changed throughout the season. However, none of the designs were great except perhaps for Wonder Man's simple black shirt and large red "W."

Most of the Avengers wear some kind of armor and have two versions of their costumes - their regular outfit they wear every day and there "armored up" version. The transformation sequence is a time-honored cartoon tradition but it just doesn't work in this case since there's not reason for it or explanation as to where the armor comes from.

The voice acting is subpar at best. Hawkeye sounds like he should be Wolverine. The villains all sound the same. Tigra's cat growls are awkwardly placed (like right before she says something nice) and clearly just big-cat sounds. Even the introduction fails as it whispers the word "Avengers" over and over again.

The plots are generally all the same. There are some storylines that go over the entire season (such as what Ultron did to Wonder Man) but the individual stories all fall flat. They even use some major villains such as Kang and the Masters of Evil but they never get beyond the level of comic book cheese.

I can see what they were trying to do with this show - make the Avengers more like the Power Rangers. But they missed just about everything that makes the Avengers great.

1LR Review - 7 out of 20 - It's a Failure!

Marvel Media Mania: Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD

Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD was a made-for-TV movie from 1998 starring none other that David Hasselhoff. What could go wrong?

I remember being very excited before watching this live when it originally aired (don't worry - I rewatched it for this review). Imagine my disappointment when this stinker was what was delivered.

Let's get the bad out of the way quickly: The plot is as flat as the acting. Bad dialogue is littered throughout the movie. I don't know if they were trying to be "comic book-y" but the script comes across as a joke of an action movie. The plot relies on one movie cliche after another. Throw in the stereotypical neo-German bad guys and the weird pasty white Hydra goons and  you've got yourself a real mess. The (apparently) low budget, boring action sequences, and the anti-climatic climax are merely the final nails in the coffin.

Now, it's not all bad. The film is littered with a dozen or so obscure Marvel comics references. They worked in quite a few characters including Contessa Valentina de Allegro Fontaine, Andrea Von Strucker (Viper), Dum-Dum Dugan, Arnim Zola, Werner Von Strucker, Clay Quartermain, Baron Von Strucker, Life Model Decoys, and the "Death's Head" virus. It's always good when a movie goes back to the excellent source material that inspired it!

And despite all of the negatives in this film, in the end David Hasselhoff didn't do THAT bad of a job. He actually kinda looked pretty cool with the eyepatch.

1LR Review - 10 out of 20 - It's a Miss!

Marvel Media Mania: Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers

Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers is a 2011 Marvel motion comic based on the 2004 comic book mini-series. It comes in four parts.

 

Blood Brothers is a character study of Loki. The story focuses on a time when Loki gets his every wish - he is the ruler of Asgard and has defeated Thor. But he quickly finds that obtaining his desires isn't what he had hoped it would be for he has still failed to conquer his own faults.

There is very little action in the story. Loki goes from cell to cell visiting Thor's friends to try and gain the evidence he needs to put Thor to death. Along the way, he encounters a number of allies as well. Each encounter fails to go the way Loki would intend as each character matches wits with Loki. There are some interesting exchanges and wars of wits but for the most part these dialogues fail to produce notable moments. Additionally, because the film is so dialogue heavy it makes the scenes much more static. This worsens the effect of the motion comic being essentially a gussied-up slide show.

While the art is beautiful, it would have been better to have a fully CGI animation version of the story. The motion comic concept shows some promise,but results to date pale when compared to traditional styled animation. There are several iconic images in this film such as Thor on his knees, broken and in restrains and Loki sitting on the throne, clearly burdened by his new position. But these images are better appreciated in their original format where the viewer is not whisked away by the movement of the story but can take the time to absorb the magnificence of the art.

1LR Review - 11 out of 20 - It's a Glancing Hit!

Marvel Media Mania: Thor: Tales of Asgard

Thor: Tales of Asgard is a direct-to-DVD animated film released in 2011, right around the same time as the live action Thor film.

This movie features a much younger Thor than we regularly see. He is viewed as a teenager by his Asgardian peers although we can assume that as an immortal God is is much older than 15 years old or so. Thor does not have his mystical hammer, Mjolnir yet and Loki isn't "evil."

Thor has been coddled his whole life, unknown to him, and he thirsts for adventure after Sif easily beats him in battle with a broken pitchfork. Algrim the dark elf is Odin's long time adviser and aid who hides that fact that Thor and Loki stow away on the Warriors Three's ship bound for Jotenheim where they seek Surtur's lost sword, Elderstahl. Yeah, the Asgardian names can be a bit much at time. But the story manages to have a youthful, upbeat feel to it. There are a few funny moments peppered throughout the movie (such as showing a table of Greek gods at the bar having no fun at all, Thor throwing a common wooden mallet to spectacular results, or Hogun's memorable quote, "I have to say, I'm close to weeping, lads.").

The storyline closely mirrors that of the live action film. It involves the Frost Giants and there's a threat of war between them and the Asgardians. Still, it manages to blaze its own trail by focusing on Elderstahl which corrupts those that wield it. We also get to see the home of the Valkyries. There's no way of telling if this film is in continuity with the movie or not. It simply isn't an issue. Thor stays in Asgard's realms for the entire film.

Visually, the character designs and Asgard itself are nearly identical to the comics. For some reason Loki has a strong anime influence but none of the other characters really do. The art is clean and visually appealing. The action is presented in a dynamic way that is interesting and easy to follow. The artists pay attention to the little details, even having Thor and company leaving footprints in the snow. The Thor/Algrim fight at the end in the dark is pretty cool (Spoiler alert... wait - too late. Sorry.) There are a few cameos for long time Thor fans such as the Fenris Wolf and you can sneak a peek at Mjolnir too.

All in all, this is a very enjoyable movie for old Thor fans and the young alike.

1LR Review - 16 out of 20 - It's a Hit!