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Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1 Review

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Let’s take a look at the 2008 run of Guardians! Volume 1’s cover is pretty iconic even if the roster is certainly a little different from the film’s. Good ole Groot is still around, but he evidently could not make the cover. No loss there and Warlock is really the team’s power hitter anyway. It’s a cosmic adventure so the plot is very dynamic and keeps on changing throughout the run so a static summary can be a little tricky. Try and keep up!

The Guardians disbanded a long time ago, but Starlord wants to bring them all back together again to save the universe. There are quite a few threats that have risen up like the Badoon, Blastaar, and the Skrulls so the universe really needs the team. That being said, none of the members really like Starlord and by the end of the collection, they like him even less than usual. I didn’t think that was possible, but he does have a way with teammates. Can he keep the team together long enough to make a real difference or is he going to die first?

Debatably, the plot that takes up most of the collection is the Skrull one. The Guardians are currently based in Cosmo’s home. It’s a large Celestial head that also houses a small army of other people who aren’t thrilled that Starlord has decided to open up shop here. As tensions rise, someone is murdered and there seems to be a Skrull on board. The problem is that there is no longer a way to detect them (Even Professor Xavier could not do so in Secret Invasion) so everyone is a suspect. Drax quickly becomes the lead suspect because he keeps disappearing from time to time and even shows up with a bomb. It’s a rather drastic strategy that he uses and I don’t think I actually buy it (Involves everyone “dying” for a quick minute) but Drax was never one for subtlety.

That storyline wasn’t my favorite, but Skrulls can always lead to intriguing plot developments. We even saw Adam Warlock take on Cosmo. I’m confident that Warlock would have won had he kept on going. Another plot involves the Church of Universal Truth. These guys are fairly powerful and they believe that Adam Warlock is their chosen champion from prophecy who will lead them to conquest. That’s why they are a little confused. Adam Warlock may have appeared, but they still hold the cocoon where he is supposed to wake up from. One of the Warlocks is evidently a fake, but which one?

This was definitely my favorite plot. The church warriors have very cool designs and could actually fight quite well. Their powers stem from their belief so the stronger their convictions are, the stronger they become. Warlock was able to fight on par with these guys, but the other members didn’t fare so well. The Guardians were able to escape though and now Warlock is aiming to become their leader. We’ll see if his plan ends up working.

The reason why the members are separate is due to a plot twist from the Skrull arc. The reason why it seemed odd how the Guardians would all be willing to come together so easily..is because Starlord had Mantis telepathically mess with everyone’s minds to make them want to join up. Obviously this is very unethical and a terrible move on the leader’s part. No matter what his hopes and aspirations for the team were, there’s never a good excuse to invade someone’s mind like that. The team is right to be upset with Starlord so they are all having their own adventures. Unfortunately, I’m sure that they will join up again, but Starlord should definitely be kicked from the team after something like that.

Another plot involves Phyla and Drax going to stop an evil magician who had kidnapped Moondragon. The guy’s a decently tough sorcerer and he puts up a good fight. I’m confident that he could probably beat Drax, although I’m not sure about Phyla. Phyla was Quasar for a while and her energy abilities are second to none. When you consider her super speed, flight, and energy projection, she’s easily one of the Guardians’ strongest members. Even better is the fact that the real Quasar returned at the very end so we may see him more in the next few volumes. I was always a fan of that guy so it’ll be great to see him back.

Starlord’s plot involved being trapped in the Negative Zone along with Blastaar and being forced to act as a delegate for him. Starlord has to try and get the prisoners to team up with him to face off with Blastaar, but prisoners aren’t the most trust worthy of people at times. It’s a pretty interesting battle and Blastaar is definitely a tough opponent, although I see him lose a lot more than he wins. Things don’t go all that well for him this time either.

The PC (Politically Correct) police jump in at the end though with Moondragon’s pairing with the new Quasar. I don’t believe that this is a new development, but in the older comics, she was interested in characters like Warlock and a few others. Being a flirt’s a bad character trait, but the twist of her being bi, or in Iceman’s case, ignoring his whole comic industry, is always regrettable. DC and Marvel have definitely been adding in more gay characters in their comics and hopefully this isn’t too frequent. It will likely increase as the agenda goes further and it’s too bad. How many more characters will be turned gay or bi are the years go on? I feel like the number is only going to increase and that’s terrible. As a Christian, I still don’t believe in the gay movement and seeing it in the comics is no fun.

As far as the characters are concerned, Adam Warlock is still my favorite. He believes that the Guardians should not have a boss and delegating with other groups slows them down. His personality has changed somewhat and he’s a lot more eager to fight at all times. Mix this in with his great character design and he’s easily the best character here. I liked Quasar a lot as well and it’s great to see him return. Every character returns at some point so the waiting is the tough part. ( A few exceptions) Rocket Raccoon is all right I suppose, but he still can’t fight all that much, which is always a little dicey when in battle. He talks a good game though.

Groot…is Groot. He doesn’t have a whole lot of personality anyway. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I liked Gamora or Drax this time though. Gamora’s scene with Nova really says it all and technically that’s not even out of character. We’ve seen her have flings with many different characters, but it just makes her look so bad. There’s no way I can take her seriously after such a scene. As for Drax, I still miss the real incarnation of him. This warrior version just doesn’t do it for me. He’s barely even pretending to be a hero at this point and really just does whatever he feels like doing. If he was a little stronger, then that could maybe have helped him as a character.

For the most part Starlord’s a decent character. He’s charismatic, which is important for a leader, but he did mess with the minds of his teammates and that’s a big no no. He didn’t seem like the type of guy who would pull something like that. I suppose he was desperate, but it will make you lose a lot of respect for the guy. Mantis is just as guilty for agreeing to such a thing of course. She can fight a little, but she typically just acts as a communications officer so you won’t see her in the field all that much. Cosmo is cool since he’s a Dog, but he sure does like to play all of the angles and doesn’t take the right side often enough.

The art is very good. It’s like a mix of the current art with some early 2000’s where the colors were very bold. I didn’t like the cover art so I’m glad that it didn’t look like that in the actual comic. Iconic or not, the live action style just doesn’t work for any comic book. It doesn’t feel right if you ask me. This way, we can still get a lot of good action scenes and easily read through the adventures.

Overall, This was a good Guardians comic. There was certainly a lot action throughout. The Moondragon part at the end is regrettable, but besides that, the setup is certainly getting ready for a big volume 2. I look forward to seeing Warlock’s plot play out and Oblivion actually stepping into the ring will be great. After all, cosmic entities usually talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. It’s about time one of them decided to stretch his muscles a bit. I hope Nova appears some more because he only got a very brief cameo here. After seeing his teenage days, it’ll be great to see him in his prime. Maybe we’ll even get some cosmic guest stars since Marvel has so many of them at their disposal. Will the Guardians actually get back together or is the group gone for good in their own title!? As you ponder this question, just remember that the group needs Warlock to survive.

Overall 6/10

Big Hero 6 Review

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It’s been a while since I saw the film so it’s near to quickly relive the adventures over in manga format. The series was only 2 volumes so it makes for a quick read. It’s a fairly straight adaption of the film so it’s a good way of rewatching the film if you want to accomplish the task in about 30-40 minutes instead of the film’s run-time. Alternately, you could also do it for the action scenes since they’re a little better in the manga.

Hiro was having a good ole time showing off his science skills at a new school while his brother showed him around. He didn’t have many friends, but that never bothered Hiro. Unfortunately, everything changed when his brother was murdered and his invention was stolen by a mysterious villain. Hiro realized that the only thing he could do now was use his brother’s invention to beat the new villain black and blue. The problem is that the invention is a Marshmallow looking robot that has no real combat experience. Time to see if his big brain is just for show or not!

So, it’s partially a revenge story, but along the way Hiro realizes that he has to beat the villain by the book. His brother’s friends decide to help Hiro out and in exchange they receive power suits, which simulate powers. The friends can definitely hold Hiro back at times, but it’s always useful to have some backup for the big battles. One of the kids can roller skate, another one has a monster suit, etc. Some abilities are more useful than others of course, but Hiro can’t make everything appear to be super brilliant.

Fred’s the one with the monster suit and he’s always joking around. Turns out that the guy is rich, which is certainly useful and he’s the comedy of the series. None of his jokes are remotely funny, but he’s a good character and you need someone to mess with the team dynamic at times. GoGo is the roller skates girl and probably the only member who’s always ready for a fight. She does a good job of fighting back against the mysterious villain, but there’s only so much you can do with hockey pucks and roller skates.

Honey Lemon’s the most bland character of the bunch and as a result, she doesn’t really get any powers. She had something to do with bubbles or lights I believe, but her ability was not impressive. Wasabi easily had the best powers even if he didn’t use them to their fullest extent. He had Ice blades, which could really deal some massive damage if they could ever hit. Don’t underestimate good tech, but the problem is that the villain had the best tech.

The villain went by the name of Yokai although I never remember anyone actually calling him that. Using the nanobots at his disposal, he can essentially do just about anything. They can lift, move things, transport him around at high speeds, etc. He essentially had the upper hand against the heroes a lot of the time and whenever the heroes would come close to defeating him, they’d stop Hiro and remind him that they’re supposed to be heroes and must play by the books. Yokai gets a sob story as you might have expected. It’s a touching story I suppose, but it doesn’t really excuse the fact that he went about obtaining his goal in a very iffy way. Let’s face it, Hiro and Tadashi (Hiro’s brother) would have been glad to have helped him.

Sadly, the after credits scene of the film isn’t in the manga version, but that’s okay. It’s harder to do a twist ending in a manga although it would certainly have been awesome if it was included. The ending is rather complete and the mission of saving Tadashi can be considered as enough of a cliff hanger. I think another 2-4 volumes would have helped the series pacing wise though. It would have given the team more time to train, fight other villains to gain experience, and then they could have tackled the final boss. As it stands, the manga moves at a very high speed and that’s a good thing, but it also means that the adventure is over that much sooner. There’s not a whole lot of time to get to know the characters.

For example, Hiro’s a main character, but there’s not a lot of time to get to know him. He comes across as a little generic, which could have been eliminated had the series been longer. Still, he’s a good hero and someone that you can root for. I’m not a fan of Baymax though. I don’t find him charismatic or likable and I was just never able to get into the character. I would have preferred the comic design or a more aggressive personality. His A.I. is just a little too limited and the personality doesn’t match the character design. He can fight a little, but typically only as a last resort and by then the odds are stacked against him. He puts the heroes in a tough spot a few times.

The art’s a little cluttered during the fight scenes, but pretty good otherwise. In a sense, it has that “adaption” feel to it so you can tell that it’s not an original story. Most manga series have that effect like Kingdom Hearts or the Pokemon movie adventures. It’s probably intentional or perhaps the artists are trying really hard to emulate the movie’s style, which is how that happens. Either way, the art is fairly good and I was glad that the manga tried to stretch out the fights as much as possible. More action is always a good way to pad the volumes.

Overall, Big Hero 6 is a fun manga. It’s not very deep so don’t expect much more from it than a quick action adventure, but that’s all it needs. You know what you’re getting into from the get go and there’s not a whole lot that you can do in 2 short volumes. There are no really bad characters and no really big negatives. It’s a lack of positives versus having negatives that limits it from a higher score, but a solid seven is the end goal that should always be desired as a minimum. Getting lower than a 7 is what’s a cause for worry. This score is certainly a lot higher than my next few manga reviews so…prepare yourself!

Overall 7/10

Nova Classic Volume 1 Review

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Boooo, the cover image is small, but it’s the best I could do this time. Richard Rider’s always been a pretty fun cosmic character so when I saw his classic comic on the shelf, I knew that I had to snag it. Another incentive was the debut of Megaman in the Marvel comics. I’m happy to say that the comic ended up being a blast and I never would have suspected that Nova turned out this way. There’s always time to learn something new after all!

Turns out that Nova used to be a normal kid who attended school and had rivals/friends just like Peter Parker. You can draw a lot of parallels between the two characters and it’s cool because I always assumed that Nova had started out as an adult. It’s always interesting because some characters like him and Spider-Man are currently adults while the guys who were already adults like Iron Man and Ant Man haven’t aged nearly as rapidly. It’s just how these things go I suppose. Nova has to quickly wrap his head around his new powers since evil never rests. The origin is similar to Green Lantern’s as the original Nova is destroyed while following a criminal and quickly transfers his powers to Richard.

Richard avenges him and decides to be a superhero, but he still has to deal with his real life dramas. There’s a bully who likes to pick on him and Richard’s “friends” don’t really do a whole lot to stop him. It’s probably the friendliest bully that I’ve ever seen though because everyone still talks and hangs out with each other even though the guy’s a bully. It’s all very intriguing to say the least. The main heroine is Ginger, but she hasn’t done a whole lot yet. There’s a slight chance that she figured out Richard’s true identity, but I we certainly won’t know for sure for quite some time.

Richard does have two friends though. A little kid who ends up getting kidnapped by Megaman and is one of the weaker supporting characters, and the kid’s pal. The pal is the trickster of the group and I have to admit that he gets a lot of really good lines throughout the comics. One of them was something along the lines of (When talking about the bully to Richard) “Don’t let him bother you Rich. Just remember that if you take away his smarts and his strength, then you get us…whoops!” He’s constantly insulting himself and Richard through his comebacks which makes for a very interesting style of humor. I can’t say that I’ve seen it done before or maybe I simply haven’t seen it done this effectively before. Either way, it’s definitely a blast.

Other supporting characters include Nova’s family. His brother’s a self proclaimed genius who can’t get any of his inventions to work, but he likes to remind Nova that he’s the smart one of the family. He’s always acing his tests. Nova’s Dad is usually busy with work drama so he’s always rather upset. Nova tries to keep him in check, but since he’s failing his classes, it’s been very difficult so far. The Mom is reasonable, but she only helps Nova in secret so as not to make the Dad more irritable than he already is. It’s tough being Nova, but Richard knows that he can take it.

He’s already amassed a bit of a villain’s gallery as well. Condor is the brains of the villain group, but he’s not as tough as you can think. He’s essentially the Vulture with Forge’s energy gun and 10% of Iron Man’s intellect. He puts up a good fight, but that’s mainly because Nova still isn’t very experienced. Once he gets his powers under control, he should be able to beat this guy with ease. Powerhouse is easily the worst villain of the trio. He’s constantly whining about how everyone is using him, but he’s the one who’s standing there and taking it. Now, blaming the victim is one thing, but I can’t even call this guy a victim since he’s clearly stronger than Condor. Yet, Condor slaps him about 40-50 times and it happens so often that it’s practically a comedy subplot by the end. The various heroes and villains keep commenting about it, but Powerhouse always ends up choosing the dark side over the light. Well, he made his choice and he’ll likely keep getting slapped around.

Diamondhead is the only true threat of the three and he’s impressively tough. His whole body is made of diamond so his physical strength is very impressive. Nova essentially broke his hand just by punching the guy. Even once Nova is more experienced, this guy was able to give him a good fight and he’s easily my favorite villain of the group. One thing that the three villains had in common was that they were all deathly afraid of another villain, the mighty Sphinx. It was cool to see the villains wage war against the super being and he easily bested all of the characters. If only Nova’s Power Cosmic had been a little stronger during his early years. It was a great ongoing plot though and it’s a shame that it ended so abruptly. As it stands, Sphinx was very overpowered compared to the rest of the characters, but it was always a blast to see him. He also wasn’t afraid to show his fear once in a while as his underling always tried to make him look at the future. (The villain is a mirror who shows you things that you don’t want to know) The other underling was a traitor who tried to destroy Sphinx so the villain placed him in a painful illusion.

What separates Sphinx from the average villain is that he inflated the body count right away. He punched Diamond Head so hard that he was partially merged into a Pyramid and supposedly he is effectively dead. Condor was turned into an actual bird so he’ll never mess with anyone again. Sphinx wasn’t playing games and he was definitely cool. The final notable villain was Megaman. For obvious reasons, I was very hyped to see him appear. Unfortunately, the guy is fairly petty and just wants revenge because his nephew ran off and left him to die. It was a salty moment, but a better man would have just kept on going. He doesn’t get to really have an ending in his fight because a futuristic being takes him away, but it was cool to see Marvel’s take on the iconic character. Nowadays, this kind of move would definitely generate a lot of headlines.

There were also two storylines for guest stars. The first had Thor appear to help Nova. Naturally, what’s a team up without a quick fight right? Thor was being mind controlled by a villain (I call plot hax here. At least it didn’t work on him a second time) and had a brief scuffle with Nova. Nova wasn’t doing too well, but at least he slowed Thor a little. The two of them fought a demon and then called it a day. The villain wasn’t great, but just seeing Thor and Nova go at it made the comic worthwhile.

The other team up was with Spider Man and that was cool. It was a classic mystery case as Nova’s uncle was murdered and one of the people in the room must have been the culprit. The suspects included an A.I.M. agent, a member of the Mafia, a corrupt business man, the Butler, A co-worker who believes that he was cheated out of fame, The Detective, and one more. Ironically, I think I may be missing the actual culprit in this description. Peter Parker is a suspect as well, but readers will know that it wasn’t him. It was a good feat for Spider Man though since he was able to endure a punch from an enraged Nova. Spider Man’s been in the game for a while so he held his own and I was glad that Nova listened to reason although I wouldn’t have minded an extended fight. Those are always a blast.

As always, Marvel’s retro art is really good here. It really helps reinforce the atmosphere that they were going with here. You’d think that this was a 60’s comic from how the characters talk and act. It can be hard to properly make a comic feel old without it also feeling old in a negative way, but the comic pulled it off quite well. The character designs are all on point and you’ll definitely be eager to keep on reading. I essentially read most of the comic in a single blast and it does have that Spider-Man feel where it’s all very interesting. I can never get enough of the retro adventures although they aren’t all equal. (For example, retro Fantastic Four comics were usually not quite as interesting) If I had to make a tier list, I’d put Spider-Man, Nova, Blue Beetle, Superman, Batman, Daredevil, Green Lantern, and Iron Man comics at S rank. A rank would be titles like Thor and Avengers. (Mainly due to the drought once the main members left) B would be some random titles, but it’s hard to think of them. C rank would probably be Fantastic Four, Captain America, Hulk, and most of the others that are remaining. They’re all essentially good comics, but some are just more fun than others.

Overall, I highly recommend reading the Nova comics. If you liked the old Spider-Man comics, then you are certainly going to like these. For the most part, Nova’s a very good character. He has one passing line that’s pretty wince worthy, but by and large he’s a noble hero who does his best even if it takes the kid a long time to really use his powers. He can take a hit and that’s the important thing. He even gets a lot of hype against Sphinx as he keeps on getting up after each blow. I hope that my library gets Nova Classic Volume 2 someday so I can wrap up the saga. Who knows, maybe Megaman will return since the series is running low on villains. Watching his ascent into one of Marvel’s toughest characters will definitely be intense!

Overall 8/10

Pokemon: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages Review

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It’s time to take a look at the latest Pokemon film! The hype around this movie was that many different Legendary Pokemon would get to appear. I’m always up for seeing the titans come up, but was admittedly disappointed in how it was handled. A good film overall though and Pikachu isn’t nerfed this time around, making for some good power feats. It reminds me that I still need to go play Pokemon X/Y!

The film starts out in a desert as we see a village looking up to the all powerful Hoopa. In Hoopa’s true form, he’s essentially a giant Genie. He warps other Legendary Pokemon to the village via his inter dimensional rings and then fights them for a little while before sending them back when he’s in danger. This cowardly fighting style gains him many fans, but then the power corrupts him and the village is essentially destroyed. Fast forward a few centuries to the present where Hoopa is now in his chibi form being escorted by two allies. They are looking for the bottle so that Hoopa can regain his true form once more. Surely he is ready for this now…right?

Ash and friends were enjoying a nice vacation when Hoopa decides to snag a donut. The odd thing is that the real donuts look like French Crullers while the fake donuts look like the real deal. I think Ash and friends are essentially getting scammed. Ash follows Hoopa through the portal and then gets his friends across as well. The odd thing is that the friends still don’t trust Ash and actually try to stop him, but he is able to overpower their combined might. Ash and friends decide to help Hoopa out, but then the city comes under siege thanks to Hoopa’s true powers. He has split into his dark self and the chibi form. Can Ash muster up the will to defeat the evil Hoopa or will his feelings of friendship and camaraderie overpower him!?

To start the analysis off, I was underwhelmed by the opening. For starters, I have to say that Hoopa’s design is one of the worst Pokemon designs of all time and probably top 5. The genie looks nothing like a Pokemon and is hard to properly use in a fight. The voice likely doesn’t help matters either. He also comes across as very petty in the intro as he is clearly going to lose against the Legendary Pokemon so he warps them away, but not before getting his cheap shots in. This happens during the entire film and it can be a little annoying. The Pokemon were minding their own business before getting thrown into these fights and never get any closure since they are just tossed aside. It’s the issue with having fighters who can’t talk, they don’t get much of an ending when they’re cheated out of a fight.

Most of the fight scenes also aren’t actual fights. It was cool to see Lugia flying rings around Hoopa and landing some good shots in, but that was probably the only real fight scene that we got. The rest were “action” scenes which are essentially just long chases throughout the city. I’m fine with having action, but not at the expense of fight scenes and that’s exactly what happened here. The sad part is that the TV show has a lot of fights consistently across the episodes, but then when the movies come…it’s like there’s not enough budget for it. The budget is instead used for things that aren’t quite as important like the backgrounds or adding extra layers to the dimension effects. I’d trade all of that for a quick 1 on 1 fight in an instant. I’d say that most people watch Pokemon for the fights anyway.

Character-wise, the new original characters weren’t bad. The guy was pretty weak willed since he was possessed so easily and he probably should have expected the situation to happen, but it’s not totally his fault and he rebounds from the whole thing. Likewise with the heroine who is fairly similar to the guy personality wise. Both of them don’t have much personality, but they have powers in the form of Force blasts from Arceus. They don’t get to fight all that much, which is why another villain would have been really good. It’s always neat to see a human with some kind of super ability though so I’ll give some extra props for that.

I didn’t like Hoopa’s normal form, but I liked his mini version. His gimmick is that he always says “Were you surprised?” throughout the film for many different contexts. I can work with that and Hoopa’s actually very likable unlike some of his predecessors who could be more annoying like Manaphy. His abilities are fun as well even if he didn’t use them properly. Why not call out Mewtwo or Deoxys? That’s actually another critique with the film. From the legendaries, it’s mostly just the scrubs that are called. Latios, to an extent Lugia, etc. Where were the big guns like Mewtwo, Arceus, Deoxys, Ho-Oh? Let’s face it, those are the fighters that people wanted to see. We’ve seen Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and fans a lot. They also got the new Legendaries from Black and White so it’s almost like they didn’t want to have to go and animate the older Legendaries with the exception of Lugia. I feel like that cheapened the whole point of the film to an extent because I was looking forward to seeing my favorite Pokemon fighters. Of course, if Lugia is more than a match for Hoopa, those guys would have crushed him without much effort.

Luckily, this is where the Pikachu hype comes in. His thunder blast is able to match up against a combined Legendary Pokemon onslaught and the whole film goes out of its way to show that Pikachu should not be taken lightly. The bond between Ash and Pikachu was also proven as Ash was able to recognize him instantly even when surrounded by dozens of other Pikachus. I was surprised at this since I was sure that Pokemon would want to use this as a joke, but the writers resisted the urge. It was a good move since Ash and Pikachu should definitely pass a test like that. Ash also admits that he wants to be a Pokemon Master on his own and he won’t take any shortcuts. I’d expect nothing less from such a hero.

The animation was crisp and sharp as you would expect. It’s a shame that we didn’t get any big fight scenes to really see how the animation fared, but that’s how it goes. It may be easier to animate scenes of just walking around, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that the scenes are all very clear. Pokemon makes a large sum of money so the animators likely have the best equipment and staff to work on these projects. As a result, you’ll be hardpressed to find any scenes that don’t look good.

Unfortunately, the soundtrack is not very good. I don’t think I’ll call it downright bad, but it’s very uneventful and there are no good battle themes. That’s a shame since the video games are known for their spectacular soundtracks and the film should have just borrowed them. Instead, most of the music is very peaceful and that’s definitely never been my style. I want some quick battle music themes that rock you to the core. The Mega Evolution Acts succeeded with this so the movie should have been able to as well.

Ash’s new partners definitely have less personality than his old ones and that’s shown in the film. Their role is very small and none of them have a critical game changing moment. One of them picks out the donuts and one of them has “The future is now!” catchphrase, but is that really a personality? Granted, the dubbing is so over the top and forced for the catchphrase that it can be funny in a retro outdated kind of way. I don’t think that kind of way even counts though to be honest. Ah well, Ash is a great main character and that’s really what counts in the end.

So, where does this film rank in the end? I’d say that it beats the last one, but get roflstomped by Victini, all of the Dialga and Palkia trilogy, most of the classic films through Hoenn, (Beats Manaphy and Zoroark though) and that’s not too bad. I don’t want to bother looking at the full list of films, but it’s likely on the lower side of the half, but think of it this way, 1 film less than half is the destiny for many films no matter how good they are since there are just that many. This film had a lot of flaws and was a big missed opportunity like Battle of Gods, but had enough positives to send it over the hill.

Overall, This is definitely a film that I would recommend. It’s not the most inspired Pokemon film and I miss my action scenes/insert song from the older titles, but I have to accept that with modernization comes a decrease in quality at times. The new Mewtwo film was amazing though so maybe Pokemon will get right back on the saddle in the next film. Otherwise, the TV show crossover arc with the Mega Evolution Act is liable to feel more like a movie than the actual movie series. Team Rocket is around, but their role is very small. Still, keep an eye out for Wobbuffet since his true powers are finally given their due credit!

Overall 7/10

We Ski & Snowboard Review

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I didn’t really care for We Ski after I had bought the game. I only gave it a 4/10 and the game simply wasn’t all that much fun to play. The controls were bad and the game lacked any real heart to it. So when I saw the sequel, I knew that I had to instantly buy it. After all, there’s no way that it could be any worse than the first right? This game is an improvement, there’s no doubt about it. But if people said that this game still wasn’t good…well…they’re not wrong. They’re really not wrong! Still, I like to see some improvement.

The Snowboarding angle is really what hits it home for me this time. I didn’t like Skiing and I still consider it to be a little dicey although it is certainly possible to make a good video game around it. That being said, Snowboarding is a lot more fun and an instant improvement as far as the gameplay is concerned. Once you go with the board, you’ll never go back to the original way to play. One of the improvements is that the hub world has changed to a more structured mission system. You can still have fun in free roam, but it’s not as mandatory to scour all of the mountains. You simply talk to someone for a mission set and then you work to beat all of the difficulty levels for each minigame. Racing is naturally the best one if you ask me. That one actually had some thought put into it.

Furthermore, the soundtrack wasn’t all that amazing in the first game. Luckily, the developers realized this and acted accordingly by adding in some classic music from various Namco games. This includes Pac Man and I may as well say that this was a very good move on their part. Nothing beats listening to good music if you’re riding around the world right? So, that was definitely a solid improvement. Not to mention that the free roam was also a lot more fun. The areas were bigger and more varied. When you fall down, you even do a quick bounce on the snow and you can fall into large fissures. It’s pretty awesome and adds a level of danger that the first game simply did not have.

Unfortunately, I’m not here to gloss over the negatives of the game so let’s take a whirl at it. For starters, the gameplay is still really bad. Being better than We Ski is a slight start, but it’s certainly not everything. It’s still hard to make any real traction at times and you will often find yourself struggling to keep your balance. I always think about greater things while waiting for the game to end. Still, I did play a good amount of it to ensure that I was ready for the review.

The sad part is that the gameplay for the multiplayer events actually isn’t that bad. Likewise, that includes when you play the minigames in single player mode. It shows that the game at least has a little hope, it simply gets thrown to the wayside when things get rough. If you’re just playing it for the multiplayer then you have gotten your money’s worth. If you’re just going to play this for the single player, then you may as well be eating Cinnamon Crunch because you’re in for a long ride. The difficulty levels almost seem unfair in how they’re handled and it makes me wonder if you need some kind of level ups or power ups in order to actually take the win.

There are a few different minigames to be found here like races, Curling, Slopes, Tricks, and I think there’s another one that I’m forgetting. Moguls is fun (Basically the slopes game) because you have to navigate your way through the hills and have a blast while doing it. Keeping your balance is pretty tricky though. Races are definitely the best minigame for sure, but make sure to keep on swinging your Wii Remotes to stay at full speed!. After that, you’ve also got the tricks minigame which isn’t bad, but I kept on performing the same trick over and over! I still appreciate the dedication though. So….not a bad array I suppose.

I actually like the graphics though. They tend to grow on you after a while and that’s always a good thing. The characters are clear and the snow is fairly exciting…….well, there’s not a whole lot of other things to see here! Still, I stand by my theory that this is one of the better animated cash in games. That’s a start even if you can’t see a whole lot of difference between this game and the first installment.

This game actually has a level of replay value thanks to the multiplayer games and the fact that there actually is a lot to do here. It may not be the ultimate game in that area, but it serves its purpose and for that reason, it’s certainly worth the 2-5 bucks that you would have to pay for the experience. It’ll also bolster your Wii collection and that’s always a good thing.

Overall, I guess this game is a fine purchase, but make sure that you don’t get wrecked by the price. Make sure you get it for the 2-5 dollars that it is worth. Otherwise, you’ll feel bad and the game will make you feel even worse. Honestly though, the game can be a little amusing even if I’m struggling to write enough for this review to reach 1000 words. That’s my target for just about every game, but it can be tough to reach sometimes so I’ll just let it end naturally this time. Just know that it’s better than the first We Ski and actually a fairly decent game. It’s not bad, but it’s not good either. It’s a way to spend 30 minutes, but you may prefer just using it as a CD via Free Roam. These Pac songs basically write themselves! Spoiler Alert: I reached the 1000 heh heh

Overall 5/10

Super Mario Sunshine 4-Koma Manga Kingdom Review

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So, apparently Nintendo has a Manga Kingdom lineup (Or had) where various Nintendo games would get some little 4 koma anthologies. It’s a neat concept. I don’t care for 4-Koma all that much and it’s basically the equivalent of stop motion for TV shows, but it can be entertaining if handled right. Considering that the whole “series” for Mario Sunshine is only about 20 comics long (20 pages) it goes by quickly and I didn’t grow tired of the jokes. Mario could be a little out of character at times, but that’s simply how things are supposed to work here.

Mario actually talks in one or two of the comics, which is intriguing. It turns out that Mario isn’t actually very smart as seen in many of the comics. He takes everything literally and gets himself into a whole lot of trouble this way. You will also feel bad for Fludd since Mario really puts the squeeze on the poor guy. Fludd wasn’t ready for this and now he won’t get to really enjoy his vacation time. It was probably the most emotional part of the series.

Back to serious matters for a second, this manga still illustrates the problem with 4 koma. As mentioned earlier, this is about as short a 4 Koma “series” as you can expect to find. And yet…..they already reuse some jokes. Mario spraying people who don’t want to be sprayed because he misinterpreted what they said happens a few times and likewise with the Fludd squeezing jokes. I mean..if you’re already reusing jokes during a 2 chapter title, just imagine what would happen if this was a whole volume long like Shugo Chara Chan. You can end up reusing the same joke dozens of times over and over again. You don’t want that and you know what…the fans don’t want it!

Luckily the jokes were good though. This wasn’t another Rock Lee or the disgraceful Sasuke series. Another factor to consider is that Mario Sunshine is still one of the greatest Mario games of all time. It’s very nostalgic to see all of the old elements and I’m definitely ready for the rumored Sunshine 2. If it ended up coming out the same day as Galaxy 3, I’m not sure which one I’d pick up. It would be a very tough choice, but Sunshine 2 would have to win out on principle.

The art is nice and clear. It’s not world shattering of course, but I like the art and it holds up well. Mario is typically drawn accurately unless the gag is for him to look tall. The artist got to draw a lot of various Mario elements and while they were not all that detailed at times, clarity of art is always important and definitely what I am looking for in a title like this one.

Overall, Good Job Nintendo. I’m satisfied with this 4 Koma Adventure and would definitely recommend it. After all, you can read the whole thing in about 8 minutes so if you can’t spare that much time for a Mario manga, you need to reevaluate your lunch break. Hopefully we’ll get some more Mario 4 Koma adventures since I believe most of the other games got some. Who knows, they may already be online somewhere. It’ll be tough to beat Mario Sunshine though since that game had it made. Too bad Bowser didn’t appear in any of the comics, but maybe next time!

Overall 6/10

Maze Runner The Scorch Trials Review

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“You wouldn’t last a day in the scorch!” That line still cracks me up since it’s practically a parody of a line. Seriously, I can’t imagine anyone saying that without laughing immediately afterwards. It’s a very transparent way to build up hype for the scorch since it’s apparently so much tougher than the Maze. Is it tougher? Nah, I’ll take Zombies over super fast creatures of destruction any day. You would too I assume! Unfortunately, this film’s pretty bad honestly and reminds me why I was never afraid of lasting a day in the scorch!

Thomas is still the main character and he’s as unlikable as ever. If you remember, the kids survived the maze only to find out that it was a government installation of sorts so they have joined another government in hopes of defeating the original organization and now they can spread peace and harmony across the cosmos. There were a lot of other mazes apparently so these guys mean business. Every day about 10-20 kids are taken away to freedom….or are they!? Thomas finally realizes that this whole thing is very sketchy so he decides to escape with the others. Turns out that the outside world has been contaminated so everyone is a zombie now. The kids are the only ones who are immune to a slight extent, but not all of them are immune…just some. They must now find the resistance and try to stay alive since plot isn’t one of the film’s strong suits.

Then again, what is the film’s strong suit? I’ve never been a fan of zombies as the villains in a film so that didn’t do it any favors. They’re about as weak and slow as you would expect and aren’t really much of a threat. The resistance introduces us to quite a lot of new characters since there’s the fake resistance and the real one. The fake version brings us two new characters. A romance character and an old man who makes the tough calls. Unfortunately, they don’t end up being all that good. The old man gets one good moment where he rams a truck through the villains. The girl seemed to have just been included for the party scene towards the end where she gets drunk and we have a forced scene between her and Thomas. They both look terrible and the romance comes out of nowhere. They have the excuse of being drunk, but it’s not an excuse that holds any water with me. They were still in control of their actions.

I’d say that part of the problem with the film is that they’re all teens. This means that none of them are actually all that interesting and they’re all pretty whiny for the most part. The guys are pretty cheap and the female member of the group turns out to be a Mami (Madoka) in the end. She can’t take the pressure and always makes the wrong calls. Thomas has a good plan at the end of the film, but it’s effectively foiled when he freezes up in the clutch moments. The ending would be hype if the characters were more exciting since they’re planning to finally take on the offensive for the first time in the series. That will definitely be novel even if they seem to be pretty doomed the whole time. The organization is clearly a lot larger and more advanced than the resistance, but the heroes will try to pull something off I suppose.

The villains are all fairly uninspired. The best one would probably be the main guy I guess. He talked tough a lot and even got a good shot in on Thomas when the kid wasn’t expecting it. This guy plays for keeps and he’s certainly more original than the old lady who talks about how noble the mission is. Didn’t we just see that in the Hunger Games after all? Didn’t the Giver also involve an old lady? I’m seeing a trend here and you don’t want to see trends so easily. It’s not a great way to show off a writer’s originality.

Films like these also make you feel bad for the resistance. They’re always doing very well against the tyranny that they are resisting until the main characters show up. Thomas and friends basically lead the villains to the first base, which they promptly blow up and then lead the villains to the Resistance main headquarters which is also blown up. Seriously, nobody should want to hang out with the main characters since it means that they are basically doomed. They bring a trail of death and destruction in their wake. It helps that they’re not likable of course.

I’d still say that this film is better than the average Hunger Games Adventure though. At the very least, I’d say that this one beats the last two Hunger Game films even if this isn’t one of the more enjoyable adventures out there. At the very least it was a little more interesting although only marginally so. There’s not a whole lot left to fight for in this world and the villains are pretty overpowered. With the human race essentially extinct, you’re essentially just going to prolong your existence for a few decades before the zombies take everyone down. I don’t see any way that the people can rebuild based on how utterly destroyed everything is. At least they don’t seem to be stretching the series so the next film is supposed to be the final one to end the era.

Overall, The Scorch Trials weren’t all that bad. If not for the government looking for the main characters the entire time, it would actually be a breeze. Finding food and such wasn’t all that hard. Water’s more of an issue, but the Scorch Trials really did not live up to the hype of how tough they were supposed to be. It was still funny to see a character wish he was back in the maze. No sir, you don’t want to be back in the maze. If anything, the maze makes you a sitting duck since the main characters can get sniped at any moment. There’s going to be a lot of tension in the next film since one of the characters ended up cracking, but hopefully it’s pure tension and doesn’t delve into romantic tension. After what the character did, I hope they don’t even try for an emotional appeal. A lot of people died directly due to the decision that was made so there’s no way to spin that into a good thing, but let’s face it…the film’s going to try. I’ll have my popcorn ready for the attempt! Instead of watching this film, go watch the Super Smash Bros Brawl cutscenes…you’ll thank me later!

Overall 4/10

Creed Review

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I saw this film quite a while ago when it first came out so this review has been on the shelf for a while. Well, no longer! It’s time to discuss this film, what it did right and what it did wrong. I can say now though that Creed did live up to my expectations for the most part. It’s a fun film and I liked some of the modern twists that the film added to the franchise. Conversely, there were some modernizations that didn’t turn out so good. Rocky lived up to the hype as being the best character in the film by far and it’s good to see him get his props.

To think…I started this review in November, but it was placed on the backlog for a very long time. That’s how it goes I suppose, but let’s wrap this up. Adonis has had a troubled past and is no stranger to being in fights. He is eventually adopted and treated to a very luxurious life. He even gets a nice financial job with a lot of money, but it’s not enough for the guy. Adonis wants to fight so he quits his job and gambles away his car on a match where he is soundly defeated. The main character was forced to move into a very small apartment building, but also decides to meet up with Rocky. Rocky is reluctant to train the kid, but eventually relents and now Adonis must work to become the strongest fighter of all time!

Well, let’s talk about one of the modernized techniques that I did like a lot. Whenever a fighter would walk into the ring, the screen would quickly freeze and show off the guy’s rankings. It was like a little power level system that you would expect to see in a Shonen Jump crossover film or something like that. It was definitely a lot of fun and I hope that they keep this in for the sequel. It’s the little effects like this that can really amp a film up.

Unfortunately, another effect of modernization is that there is definitely more language to be found here than in the original. It can definitely get a little tired. The boxing matches are solid as you would expect. They’re not as good as the original Rocky films, but few fights are right? They can be a little violent with one random blood scene, but they’re still relatively tame when compared to the average fight. Certainly nothing that should frighten you if you’ve seen any action film recently. Since this is boxing, there are rules to the fights, which helps a lot. The fights feel real and have no cheap shots.

My other big complaint with the film would certainly be the romance. It’s a textbook example of how you should not do a romance plot. It makes both characters look rather bad. Adonis hears some music coming from a downstairs apartment so he goes there to tell the occupant to keep it down. Turns out that the occupant is a girl who appears to either be rude or simply doesn’t realize that her music is super loud. Turns out that it’s partially the latter, but he has no way of knowing that. Doesn’t matter though since looks apparently do and he asks her out on a pseudo date almost immediately. He claims that it’s not a date and that they’re just friends, but I don’t think either one of them bought that for an instant. It’s a sad stereotype. After all, there are probably some guys and gals who just want to be friends, but you can never trust anyone who says that because 90% of the time, there are ulterior motives. Adonis clearly did not want to be friends from the get go even though he acted as if he was. They knew each other for a few minutes before effectively going out and then they show no restraint as we have some wince worthy romance scenes later on. You never saw this stuff in the original Rocky scenes!

Still, romance aside, this was a good film. I still enjoyed it as I was watching and I could see it again easily enough so I’d say that it deserves to be in the positive side of the scale. As mentioned earlier, Rocky’s easily the best character in the film. The film did a good job of keeping his character true to himself and making Rocky defeat all of the other characters in verbal battles. I’m fine with his decision not to fix himself either since when I’m old, I won’t bother pulling out all the stops. Why prolong the inevitable if you’re super duper old? Of course, I’m sure our treatment plans will be better by then. If they are and there’s a high success rate, then I’ll go for it. If not, I’ll upload a final blog post about the end of my era.

Adonis has some good qualities, but he was ultimately lacking as a character for me. Obviously, the romance played a large role in this. Aside from that, I just felt that he was a little unrealistic in how extreme he took his love for fighting. Ditching his super high paying job and mansion for a broken down apartment in a sketchy neighborhood so that he could fight a little? A love for fighting is great and I’m glad that he bet the car away since it showed some confidence, but he definitely did not need to quit his job. At least let them fire you if you show up with a lot of scrapes! Still, aside from the constant drama with Bianca, he was fine I suppose. In the next film, I hope they focus on his love for fighting and the drama can take a backseat.

Bianca is about on par with Adonis, I’m not really a fan of hers either. Obviously she’s just too easy and ignoring the romance plot, it was a little rude to have the noise so loud. A less charitable neighbor could have filed some big complaints and gotten her into a lot of trouble. I’m also wondering if her hearing loss is going to be a big plot point in future films. Hopefully not though. She’s supportive at least. Conrad was the main villain and while they try to make him seem like a nice guy at the end…he seems pretty sketchy. There’s a reason why he’s going to jail after all, but at least he got to have one last fight.

The ending of the film definitely isn’t very satisfying, but it’s how it goes I suppose. Even real boxing battles have anticlimactic endings like Floyd Money Mayweather and Manny. While I may not have been the biggest fan of this film, it was still a good one even if it sounded like there were more negatives than positive. The training scenes were a little more soulless than the original Rocky’s, but that’s because newer films can rarely grab that S rank soundtrack to help push things along. This one borrowed a tune or two, but for the most part it was definitely a step below in that regards. It was cool reliving the Rocky vs Creed fight on the big screen at the beginning of the movie of course and we even got an ESPN homage on the IPad. Those moments were definitely a blast and we also got to see that Rocky’s restaurant is still doing well.

Overall, If you enjoyed the Rocky films, then I think that you will like Creed. It’s essentially a modern take on the franchise and has a lot of good fights. More drama than you may have expected, but that’s how it goes. The main way that the sequel can improve upon this one is with a better main cast and that could easily be achieved by introducing the President of the USA…as a fighter. That would be a very ambitious plot, but it can maybe be done. Give us a likable President like in Airforce One and we’ve got ourselves a solid sequel!

Overall 6/10

Batman’66 Volume 3 Review

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I always liked Adam West’s portrayal of Batman. It felt on point and moreover..it felt natural. This is the Batman that I remembered, making lots of puns and having a good time while taking down villains. That being said, the serious Batman from New 52 or the DCAU is certainly a classic as well. Both versions certainly work well when given a good story to back themselves up. Volume 3 of Batman’66 plays out as you would expect it too. It doesn’t take any risks and simply follows the formula along. As such, nothing’s unexpected, but it’s still a good story like the first two volumes.

This one brings 6 issues so let’s take a look at hoe they fared. One of them saw an old Egg themed villain return, but he has now evolved to a level where he can use his mind for abilities like telepathy. Batman and Robin must now figure out a way to defeat this foe since the guy can basically defeat them with a glance. This won’t be easy…that’s for sure. My problem with this issue is simply the fact that the villain was portrayed to be way too powerful. Defeating the heroes with a glance is just too much and as a result, it’s hard to really believe the ending. It felt like plot hax was everywhere. That’s why you never want to make villains too powerful unless the heroes get some kind of power up as well.

One of the better stories definitely involved a big Batman robot that will help make Gotham city a nicer place. Batman trains the robot and decides to leave it to its own devices. The moral involves how robots can’t adapt to the situation, which you probably could have guessed from the get go. It’s obvious, but still fitting and I was glad that the robot didn’t randomly turn evil. I was actually expecting that the entire time so I was glad to be proven wrong. Maybe this was the best story in the collection.

Another issue involved a team up between the Penguin and Widow Black. These two are a dangerous tag team and actually defeat the heroes rather easily. The part that I don’t really buy is how quickly the Penguin betrayed her. Sure, Batman reminded him that he would be betrayed eventually, but didn’t he realize that from the get go? I feel like the writers had no idea on how to save the heroes since Batman and Robin were literally put in a sticky situation. Regardless of how realistic that ending may have been, it was good to see a new(ish) villain to the series. This isn’t her first appearance in media or anything like that, but I definitely don’t remember this villain so it’s probably been a while. She’s not the greatest, but more variety is a good thing.

Another all star is definitely the issue where a TV show of Batman and Robin is produced. This leads to a lot of dicey moments for the heroes since villains are beginning to fear them. They don’t want that. This isn’t the 90’s after all! They decide to shut down the program, but find out that it is being run by a villain. This was certainly an entertaining story and I always like the idea of villains using TV to wreck the heroes. It is a solid strategy and almost worked. If anything, the villain should have stayed undercover a little longer. The heroes wouldn’t have dared to have attacked him. A running gag was that the heroes would do “The Bat Business” to the villains, which makes them cower in fear. Considering that the heroes reluctantly hit the villains a little, it could be anything. I feel the comic was hinting towards tickling and that used to be a big joke back in the day, but thankfully that era has passed.

Next up, we saw the return of Batgirl! Batman and Robin are always eager to have another hero to help out, even if it makes Robin look a little worse in comparison. The Joker and Catwoman are teaming up this time so that means double trouble for the heroes. I’ll admit that this comic was surprisingly uneventful though. I can’t really remember the plot even after seeing the cover and the summary. I just remember Batgirl being in it and the quick team up as the heroes had to break up some fights. Not a bad comic, but not really a very good one either. Still, it is a Batman’66 comic that basically follows all the tropes so it’s your standard stuff.

Finally, Marsha decides to leave the Brady Bunch and make a name for herself. She wants all the jewels in the world and actually manages to enter the Bat Cave!!! Luckily for the heroes, She decides not to go for his secret identity since the cops could have been alerted. Not her best decision, but now the Dark Knight can rest easy as he takes her down once and for all. The villains weren’t actually that tough as Marsha can’t fight, but the tension of her possibly knowing his identity (Or coming close) really makes the issue.

It was a fine collection of issues. This volume’s definitely not as good as the Green Hornet crossover, but that…was a crossover. You can’t expect the normal volumes to come close. As far as going against volumes 1 and 2, I’d say that 3 is more of less the same. The thing with Batman’66 is that almost all of the issues are essentially interchangeable. It all comes down to whether you like the style or not. I still love seeing all of the puns and Batman ends up putting everyone in their place even when he only fights reluctantly. He wants to help all of the villains out after all. He makes for a great lead. Robin’s mostly just here to get humiliated and you can feel bad for the guy, but I suppose that he tries. He just tends to almost let the secret identity out a lot, which can certainly be disastrous.

The cover may be very underwhelming, but the art in the actual issues is still solid. It’s easy to really get into the flow of things and you’ll feel like you’re back in the 1960’s. The art does a good job of emulating the classic style and the overall comic is better off for it. I doubt it’s very difficult to draw from the artist’s perspective compared to other styles, but the finished product is really what counts.

Overall, This is a solid continuation from the first two volumes. At this point, you know whether you like the comics and its premise or not. It’s a lot of fun and is filled with many puns, but some Batman fans may still not be used to this happy version of the character. It’s a comedy over action volume as that is the direction that the series is typically focused on. It works quite well and I know what I want to happen in volume 4. We need Superman to appear. This series is typically very realistic, but now that it’s in comic format, I feel like adding Superman wouldn’t be super out of place. It could actually work if handled well…don’t you think?

Overall 7/10

Justice League Starcrossed Review

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Justice League Starcrossed is a film that I’ve seen countless times in the past. It’s a classic that has withstood the test of time and still proves to be one of the best western films of all time. It makes sense as this film ended the Justice League (pre Unlimited) series and that was the greatest American cartoon of all time. It’s about time that I give this title a proper review.

Hawkgirl’s people arrive on Earth and let its inhabitants know that the Gordanians are planning to attack Earth so the Thanagarians (Hawkgirl’s people) will protect them. The Justice League agree to this, but Batman never trusts someone without having a plan in motion. He quickly figures out that this is all just a ruse, but is unable to help the Justice League escape. They are all kidnapped and upon breaking free they must figure out a way to retake their planet. The governments have been taken down and Earth is virtually defenseless. Not to mention that Hawkgirl is a traitor and can no longer be trusted. Things will have certainly changed when this is all over.

It’s a great plot and the film never breaks stride with its quick pacing. I’d also like to point out that the opening credits were very well done. It was essentially the main theme of the show and in the background you got to see a quick recap of the show for new viewers who could be tuning in. Of course, this is the Justice League so there’s no need for a very detailed recap. Everyone knows who the main characters are after all.

The film continues to start off well as the Justice League quickly try to stop the incoming alien threat before the negotiations begin. The first epic scene of the film is definitely when the Thanagarians betray the League so then the first fight occurs. Obviously, I’m going to call for a good amount of plot hax as the heroes should have easily crushed these aliens. I don’t care how much prep time they had, it wouldn’t be enough to take out this powerhouse group of heroes. Don’t even get me started on Wonder Woman losing while on the Watchtower!

That’s to be expected though so by and large I’ll let it slide. Having a depowered Superman for part of the film did help the drama angle since he couldn’t just fly in and wreck everyone. His fight against one of the Thanagarian soldiers was definitely solid. Once he was back to full power for the climax, I figured that the villains were definitely toast. Superman and the others really laid waste to the army with ease. If anything, Hro Talak is lucky that Superman had to go save Batman since he would have been crushed otherwise. At least against Green Lantern he was still able to stand in the end. Few can hope for much more than that after fighting the Man of Steel.

The Justice League had to go undercover for a little while so it was nice to see Clark Kent back in action. It’s times like these where having an established alter ego is so useful. Batman and Superman would pass the Thanagarian security checks. Green Lantern and Wonder Woman would have a tougher time if they don’t have some kind of ID. I feel like the Flash is the best off in this case though. With his speed, he can be in the next country the instant that someone spots him. The effects of the gravity wore off rather quickly after all. If anything, he could have ran everyone back to Batman’s place, but I suppose that this is more discreet.

As mentioned, Hawkgirl’s betrayal is one of the pivotal parts of the film. The League takes a vote on whether to allow her back in or not and my vote would certainly be on the nay side. Hawkgirl had a chance to be one of the Justice League heroes and blew it. Now she must deal with the consequences for that. It’s one thing to be confused and not take sides in the fight during the beginning (Which is still murky) but Hawkgirl’s been fighting alongside the League for a very long time. She knows that they are not villains and has no reason to doubt them. When the Thanagarians explain that the League is not being cooperative, Hawkgirl should have immediately helped the League. With or without her, they should have won the initial skirmish, but siding with the Thanagarians was the part that sealed the deal on Hawkgirl’s status as a traitor. That was when she crossed the line.

On a side note, I don’t like how she was able to find the Batcave. That’s a little too much hype. Sure, she’s a spy, but this is Batman that we’re talking about. You can’t find his base so easily. Hawkgirl may have tried to help in the end, but that’s what we call “Too little Too Late” It’s one of the main reasons why Hawkgirl is my least favorite member of the core Justice League. Still way better than Green Gullible Arrow though. I was never able to root for her again after this.

I’d also like to note that I was thrilled by the fact that the Justice League was able to get free without Hawkgirl’s help. It would have been a little insulting if they had needed her to break free and instead it was Wonder Woman who was able to initiate the escape. It’s also in character since Wonder Woman is a warrior born and raised. The next best candidate would have been Batman and he’s always pulling off things like this so I’m fine with the switch. Notice that Wonder Woman freed Batman first. The scene where the Justice League broke out was one of the best parts of the film. It was a great fight scene and definitely the moment where the League began to get the upper hand.

Back to Wonder Woman, her role here was really good and she actually outshone most of the League. In one scene, the Thanagarians are picking on some humans and Wonder Woman decides to step in. Similar to the time travelling adventure in Unlimited where she broke someone out of jail. Being impulsive is always a good trait for a hero and you’ve always got a duty to protect people even when it’s tricky. Batman is usually willing to let the villains have their way for a little while before stepping in so that he can win in the end, but that’s not Wonder Woman’s plan of action. Of course, it helps when you have god-like abilities. She’s certainly the MVP here.

Of course, this is the Justice League. They all look really good in the film with the exception of Hawkgirl. Green Lantern may have been suckered, but he does a good job of getting past that and helping to save the world. I really don’t think that his Power Ring can be sliced in half like how it was in the film though. Power Rings don’t break, no matter what kind of magic disruptor hits them. It doesn’t even run on magic after all. Flash’s role is a little smaller than some of the others, but he’s a solid hero as always. When he actually lets loose with his speed, he’s able to take down a lot of the fighters at once.

Martian Manhunter actually looks a little bad as well when you consider that he never told anyone how Hawkgirl’s mind was impervious to telepathy. A little sketchy eh, but trusting in your comrades is not necessarily a bad thing. He also went all out against the general and nearly broke him as he figured out how to use the controls. Running straight into a laser was a little iffy and he didn’t do as well as the other League members, but he did fine. Batman is Batman. As always he came up with the plan of action and even provided the safe hideaway for the heroes. Without Batman, the heroes would not have known about the Thanagarian’s true purpose for a little longer. (Again, it makes Hawkgirl look uncharacteristically naive not to realize what was happening though. I just can’t buy the explanation that she thought she was in the right)

Superman was sadly taken out of the first fight right away, but he bounced back and showed the Thanagarians why they call him Superman. He could have probably taken out the whole army on his own if necessary. This is still the greatest portrayal of Superman and seeing him in the DCAU universe is always great. Of course, his big character arc would soon start in Unlimited so the character won’t be going anywhere. Hro Talak’s a fine main villain I suppose. I like the character design although I naturally think that he could have been cooler without the romance with Hawkgirl. The film had quite a bit of romance with Hro Talak, John Stewart, and Hawkgirl, but luckily it didn’t take up too much of the film. It was also mostly the drama part of the romance that was in the film as well since tensions split them all the whole time. That’s the best way to handle romance so I’ll give the film some props for that.

Finally, I’ve got to give the government props for trying to fight back. They didn’t look so good and it would have been cool for them to have done some major damage, but they didn’t hesitate and went to back up the Justice League once and for all. It makes you wonder how things changed so much for the Cadmus days. For all we know, it had already started though. Whether the government trusts the Justice League or not, they were the best chance during the Thanagarian Invsion so it makes sense that they would team up. Still, I’ve always liked how the government aides the Justice League and it’s definitely the ideal situation. When an alien invasion comes knocking, then you have the government along with the Justice League. Again, I feel like the government should have been able to put up more of a fight since they’ve been shown to have some really high tech armaments in the past. It’s a mild complaint though and the general did his country proud.

This won’t come as a surprise, but the soundtrack is very good for this film. I believe that it’s the first time that the big opera theme comes into play. It happens in this film during the final fight with Green Lantern and the leader of the Thanagarians and it also played in Justice League Unlimited when Doomsday was kicking Superman’s can. Seeing the main theme is also good and the theme that plays when the Justice League are evading the authorities is classic. I’ve seen this film so many times that I can basically play out any scene in my head and even remember the music. It’s the sign of a true classic.

Naturally, the animation is also quite good as well. Like the show, Starcrossed’s animation has really held up through the years and I still consider it to have some of the best animation in all of somics. It’s definitely hard to top and you can really feel the action scene. Each blow has weight behind it and that’s something that newer films have a hard time of matching at times. Apparently one scene has some recycled footage, but you definitely wouldn’t notice that while watching it. The character designs are all on point as expected.

Overall, Justice League Starcrossed is a superb film and one of DC’s all time best. It loses to Justice League Crisis on Two Earths, but that is probably it. I’d put this at second followed closely by Batman/Superman Public Enemies. This was the perfect way to wrap up the Justice League series and start the Unlimited Saga. I’m sure that everyone was saddened to see the end of an era but it signalled another bright time just about to begin. If you’ve never seen this film before, then I highly recommend that you fix that transgression. All comic book fans should watch this film to see how you handle an alien invasion and why the Justice League shall never be surpassed as the ultimate comic book team. It’ll also get you hyped for the upcoming Batman vs Superman film since that will be a prelude of sorts to Justice League.

Overall 9/10