Before you guys say it, I didn't do this because I thought Doctor Strange was DC, I knew he was Marvel from the start. The next DC animated movie I had plans to review directly followed the first one I just reviewed (HINTHINT can you guess what it is?!) so I thought I'd take a look to see what Marvel animated has to offer as a sort of interlude before I continue my journey into DC. Enjoy!
I'm going to admit going into this - I know nothing about Strange. I remember he was that guy dressed like a fucking ass clown (thankfully he has a much better outfit in this film) in the 1994 Spider-Man cartoon who seemed to be there to simply provide plot convenience and that was about the extent of my knowledge. When I was still regularly reading comics at the tail end of last year, he certainly impressed me with his appearances in New Avengers and in the Ghost Rider comics, but my interest in comics dwindled before I had a chance to explore him further. So I'm thankful for the films opportunity for me to learn more about him.
The animation is great, it may be relying a little heavily on a bit of Eastern flavour, but I'm not complaining it still looks better than the last three DC animated movies I watched. Although is perhaps a little over reliance on bad CGI. And it isn't without its QUALITY moments either - especially towards the end, the animation seems to get worse as the film progresses.
The same can't be said for the voice acting though, it isn't bad so much, but not only did it look like I was watching an animé, it sounded like I was watching one too. And for all you dub fans, dubs aren't bad, it just always sounds like they are half into what they are doing, they also sound so awkward like they really aren't comfortable. Although it isn't all bad, Kevin Michael Richardson voice acts here and he is a great voice actor.
Actually anime is probably the operative word, with the outfits people wear, the powers they use and just the way battles play out in general, it has that very comicbook feel but never really feels like a costumed superhero affair it feels much closer to something like Bleach - I personally found this refreshing and I don't know if the Doctor Strange comics are the same but I could understand if you came looking for a superhero film and got this, why you'd be disappointed. When it isn't like something straight from the pages of Shonen Jump, The Sorcerer Supreme is much more like a horror movie that anything else, superheroes seems to be the last thing on the creative teams mind.
Wait wait, so Doctor Strange is actually genuinely a doctor and his second name is Strange? With a title and name combination like that, he was destined to be a superhero, let's be honest. Shame he is such an asshole... And has a rather creepy relationship with his sister...
I normally don't really pay attention to things like direction or cinematography in animated movies, I know I know, it's awful of me but I find it much harder to wrap my head around when I know there are no cameras, it's just drawings - but this has noticeably good direction and cinematography, good enough for me to notice it at least. I really digged how the different dimensions looked.
Doctor Steven Strange is a brilliant but arrogant neurosurgeon, he gets wrapped up in the supernatural and loses the ability to use his hands after a carcrash. After this point Strange starts turning into a sort of Bruce Wayne knock off on a quest to get back the use of his hands.With all his riches spent on him trying to get back the use of his hands and with no avail he is driven to suicide however he is approached by the mysterious 'Wong' (it's okay to laugh, I did too) who sends Strange on a quest to Tibet with promise of healing at the end. It then moves on more to a story of magical protectors and a war with shadow monsters - with the coming of a great demon.
Did he put his sister under for brain surgery? I thought you were meant to keep them awake when you did it to make sure nothing was going wrong - no wonder he killed her. Jokes aside, this is a dark and moving origin story. And it is absolutely epic.
This does become one of the major problems of the film - it is an origin story and this part works fine. The problem is, it feels like two movies squashed into one another. The whole death of the Sorcerers, the coming of Dormammu and Strange's rise to Sorcerer Supreme felt like it should have all been done in a sequel, rather than squashed into the last fifteen minutes of this origin story. It's a shame because this shitty ending rather taints an otherwise great movie. It is also a shame we'll probably never get the sequel it is bating for at the end.
So do I recommend this? There is some spotty writing and animation, pacing issues and the voice acting blows. I also really wish they'd stop using so much shitty CGI. I also can't comment on how well this adapts the comics but this isn't the usual superhero fare, which I could understand alienating people. But even with all this problems, it doesn't stop The Sorcerer Supreme being a great movie.
Think About It!
-Locke
The animation is great, it may be relying a little heavily on a bit of Eastern flavour, but I'm not complaining it still looks better than the last three DC animated movies I watched. Although is perhaps a little over reliance on bad CGI. And it isn't without its QUALITY moments either - especially towards the end, the animation seems to get worse as the film progresses.
The same can't be said for the voice acting though, it isn't bad so much, but not only did it look like I was watching an animé, it sounded like I was watching one too. And for all you dub fans, dubs aren't bad, it just always sounds like they are half into what they are doing, they also sound so awkward like they really aren't comfortable. Although it isn't all bad, Kevin Michael Richardson voice acts here and he is a great voice actor.
Actually anime is probably the operative word, with the outfits people wear, the powers they use and just the way battles play out in general, it has that very comicbook feel but never really feels like a costumed superhero affair it feels much closer to something like Bleach - I personally found this refreshing and I don't know if the Doctor Strange comics are the same but I could understand if you came looking for a superhero film and got this, why you'd be disappointed. When it isn't like something straight from the pages of Shonen Jump, The Sorcerer Supreme is much more like a horror movie that anything else, superheroes seems to be the last thing on the creative teams mind.
I normally don't really pay attention to things like direction or cinematography in animated movies, I know I know, it's awful of me but I find it much harder to wrap my head around when I know there are no cameras, it's just drawings - but this has noticeably good direction and cinematography, good enough for me to notice it at least. I really digged how the different dimensions looked.
Doctor Steven Strange is a brilliant but arrogant neurosurgeon, he gets wrapped up in the supernatural and loses the ability to use his hands after a carcrash. After this point Strange starts turning into a sort of Bruce Wayne knock off on a quest to get back the use of his hands.With all his riches spent on him trying to get back the use of his hands and with no avail he is driven to suicide however he is approached by the mysterious 'Wong' (it's okay to laugh, I did too) who sends Strange on a quest to Tibet with promise of healing at the end. It then moves on more to a story of magical protectors and a war with shadow monsters - with the coming of a great demon.Did he put his sister under for brain surgery? I thought you were meant to keep them awake when you did it to make sure nothing was going wrong - no wonder he killed her. Jokes aside, this is a dark and moving origin story. And it is absolutely epic.
This does become one of the major problems of the film - it is an origin story and this part works fine. The problem is, it feels like two movies squashed into one another. The whole death of the Sorcerers, the coming of Dormammu and Strange's rise to Sorcerer Supreme felt like it should have all been done in a sequel, rather than squashed into the last fifteen minutes of this origin story. It's a shame because this shitty ending rather taints an otherwise great movie. It is also a shame we'll probably never get the sequel it is bating for at the end.So do I recommend this? There is some spotty writing and animation, pacing issues and the voice acting blows. I also really wish they'd stop using so much shitty CGI. I also can't comment on how well this adapts the comics but this isn't the usual superhero fare, which I could understand alienating people. But even with all this problems, it doesn't stop The Sorcerer Supreme being a great movie.
Think About It!
-Locke
4 comments:
Another amazing review as always, I found no errors this time.
No errors at all?
I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
^ woah!
And nope I found no errors, I usually find grammar errors but this one is fine.
Although I could have missed some seeing what time it is?
but yes an overall great review (:
Yeah I done goofed, I deleted rather than erased.
You make my grammar sound awful!
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