The Pixar movies that came after equally impressed me.  From the retelling of  ”The Ant and The Grasshopper” in A BUG’S LIFE to Sully’s fur in MONSTERS INC.  to the Super Hero team movie that showed how other team up movies should be done in THE INCREDIBLES to the very adult themes in UP, Pixar has consistently surprised me with the ability to knock it out of the park everytime the studio steps up to the plate.

Right off the bat, I will tell you that, for me, TOY STORY 3 was no exception.   I would never say that Buzz and Woody are part of my childhood.  I was in college when Toy Story hit the scene.  So, there was no way that the gang from Andy’s room could have been a part of my childhood, but they were a big part of the point in my life when movies began to become something a little more than a distraction to me.  Toy Story was part of a time in my life when I began to watch movies a little more critically, when I began to pay attention to trailers a little more closely, when I began to seek out reviews from respected critics, and when I began to truly define my cinematic tastes.   So, Pixar holds a special place for me inasmuch as in the past 15 years or so, I have been able to point friends and other geeks to Pixar as THE movie studio that “gets it.”

Now, confession time.

Confession 1 – I cringed a bit when I heard that Pixar had made and was preparing to release TOY STORY 2.  When TOY STORY 2 came along, we had seen direct to video sequels for animated films and we all knew how much the quality of said films suffered at the hands of money making tyrants trying to cash in on the success of the predecessor.   Thankfully, Pixar refused to fall into that trap and made a solid sequel geared toward showing audiences young and old what it means to go after a friend who may have lost his way, showing us that even when we feel discarded there is hope and friendship out there if we’ll just look for it, and of course, that the world of Andy’s toys is a fun place to hang out.

Confession 2 – I cringed a bit when I heard that Pixar had made and was preparing to release TOY STORY 3.   Everyone knows that when it comes to animated movies, the third time is NOT the charm.  Was this just  a ploy to finally jump into this popular 3D trend?  Had Pixar finally lost it?  Were they so stretched for ideas that they had to go back to the Toy Story well yet again?

Thankfully, Pixar delivered a story that was not only original, but as heart wrenching as it is heart warming.

TOY STORY 3 breaks the mold of it’s predecessors by being a much more grown up experience.  By now, we all know the premise of the story.  Andy is getting ready to go to college and part of that process is deciding what to keep, what to throw away, and what to take with you.    We are introduced to our characters just trying to get Andy’s attention.  They’ve been in the toy box so long, and all they want is to be there for Andy…and to be played with.  Through a series of events and misunderstandings, the gang ends up in box of toys to be donated to a local day care where all is not as it seems and they find themselves once again trying to get back to Andy.

The journey is fun, but not fun filled.  This is a story for all the kids who grew up with these characters and may be headed off to college in the Fall themselves.  This is a story for anyone who’s ever had to grow up.  This is a story about letting go, but not forgetting.

Confession 3 – I’m tearing up even as I write this.

I denied it to those who saw the movie with me, but I will confess openly and freely, I cried…not choked up, not welled up…CRIED…while watching this movie.   Over the past week since seeing the movie, I get a little choked up thinking about it.

In the world of cinema, we’ve seen coming of age stories, stories about adults finding their inner child, stories about the college kid finally letting go and growing up, but there has never been a movie that shows exactly what it means to grow up and let go as well as TOY STORY 3.   Maybe it’s the kid in me that misses me being a kid, maybe it’s the adult in me that still mourns the loss of my childhood, but TOY STORY 3 found the part of me that misses truly being a kid and wrenched every last emotion out of that place.

I would never spoil the end of this movie for you.  I have seen a lot of places talk about one scene in particular that is very moving and seems like it should be in a much more “grown – up” type movie.   I’ve even seen one review that spoils the end of the movie.   I wouldn’t do that.  I would just say take the ride and enjoy it.  Let your inner kid out to play for a while.  Feel free to laugh embarassingly loud and a moment with Mr. Potatoe Head.  Feel free to cry like I did when you see how things wrap up.  If you’re a parent, feel free to take your kids and let this movie be your reminder to not make them grow up too soon.

I can’t speak to the 3D of this movie, I saw it in a regular old theater.  But this movie is not about the technical aspects of the film.   This movie is about the characters and the story.

I can’t speak highly enough of TOY STORY 3.  I haven’t had the chance to see The A-Team or The Karate Kid, or much of anything else yet, and now I’m scared to because I don’t see how any movie this Summer can top what I saw in a darkened theater last week as I let Pixar bring me, one last time, into this amazing world of toys.

If I am going to rate this movie, I give it a perfect 5 out of 5 rating.  Go see it.

I have this friend named Crevice.  Well, his real name is Matt, but I call him Crevice.  He calls me Crevice.  It’s complicated.

Crevice knew that I was going to see IRON MAN 2 at midnight last night, so he stopped by today to ask me what I thought.  His main question was, “Is it as good as the first one.”  My answer?  I don’t know.

IRON MAN 2 is a great movie.  The action is ramped up from the first movie.  The characters are all like friends that have been missed for a while.  The story is…well…it’s an Iron Man story.   The story…moves…

I liked the movie.  I really did.  But I think there are a few factors that may play into me being a bit more critical of the movie than I want to be.  Read on after the jump to see what you think.  Spoilers will be present and heavy, so you may want until you’ve seen it to read my full review.  I DO recommend that you see the movie.   Its one not to be missed…flaws and all.

To be fair, I don’t know that the movie has any flaws.   I guess I need to explain where any negativity about the movie may come from before I go on.

First, I think I’m getting too old to go see a movie at a midnight showing.   I was quite tired by the time the movie got going.  I honestly think I could have fallen asleep right there in my chair.  There was a time when I was disappointed if the theatre I frequent didn’t have a midnight showing for a new release.  I loved going to them.  I loved the atmosphere, the excitement, the struggle to hold a place in the front of the line to make sure I get my favorite seat.  Last night, I was just stressed about it all.  I was irritated at people for chattering during the previews.  It was too crowded for my tastes.  All the things I used to love…kinda irked me now.

Add to that the theatre was HOT.  I mean it was a situation where we were cozy when we first walked in, but by the middle of the movie I was uncomfortable HOT.

So, remember those factors as you read the rest of this review.

IRON MAN 2 is great.  You know the players.  Gwyneth Paltrow returns as Pepper Potts and does just as good as she did in the first film.  Robert Downey Jr. IS Tony Stark.   Even John Favreau  gives a good, fun performance as Happy Hogan.   The original cast is great.

Then there are the new additions.

First, there’s Scarlett Johansson as Natalie Rushman/Natasha Romanoff (aka The Black Widow).  While Johansson looks a little younger than I would expect Black Widow to look, she turns in a perfect performance as a high level spy posing as an assistant that rivals Pepper Potts in her ability to remain unflappable in the face of Tony Stark’s excessive lifestyle.   When she goes full on Black Widow, it is a sight to behold.  She is not someone to be trifled with, young or not.

Don Cheadle takes over the reins of Rhodey from Terrence Howard.  As anyone would expect, Cheadle does a great job.  He’s an outstanding actor.  Honestly, this role was the one I was the most worried about.   It’s always jarring when an actor steps into a role that was originally played by someone else, especially when Howard brought such a likeability to the character.   However, Cheadle turns in a performance with the right amount of light-heartedness, gravity, and toughness to the role.  It’s to be expected though.  Cheadle is quite an accomplished actor.

Not necessarily a new addition, but a role that wasn’t explored at all in the first film is Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury.  This becomes the first sticking point to me.  I LOVE Samuel L. Jackson.  I love his look as Nick Fury.  However,  there was just something with Jackson’s portrayal of Fury that felt off to me.  It was too much of what we’ve seen from Jackson before.  He was Sam Jackson…and Sam Jackson’s bad…but he just carried himself differently than I would expect Nck Fury to.

Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko (aka Whiplash) was scary.  A physicist that can kill you with his bare hands?  Seriously.  I never gave much consideration to the character of Whiplash.  In fact, the only comic I remember seeing HER (yes there was a female character called Whiplash in  the comics) was a Spider-Man comic in which he fought a group called the Femme Fatales.   There was also a male Whiplash, but I always considered both the male and female versions of the characters pretty throw away characters.  In fact, I don’t know that Whiplash or Backlash (same character different names) have had all that many appearances in the comics.   However, kudos to the writers of  IRON MAN 2 and Mickey Rourke for bringing this character out and making him scary and a worthy opponent to Tony Stark.  In fact, Whiplash becomes one of the more compelling villains that I’ve seen in a super hero movie to date.   He is a classic Marvel “I had a bad day and I intend to make people pay for it” type bad guy.

The story of  IRON MAN 2 is a great follow up to what we’ve already seen.  Essentially, Tony Stark has used Iron Man to bring a security to The United States that hasn’t been seen in years.  While I’m not sure how I feel about this aspect of the character, it certainly fits in with the Tony Stark we’ve been given throughout Civil War and it’s fallout in the Marvel comics.

Not only has Stark been doing great things as Iron Man, he is secretly dying because of Iron Man.  The element he uses to power his mini arc-reactor is poisoning his blood stream and slowly killing him.  So we are introduced to a Stark who is living like every day is his last.  He’s drinking it up, living it up, and eventually it all catches up to him.  It’s through this riotous living that Rhodey obtains the armor that is equipped with the weaponry of War Machine by Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer.

Rockwell, turns in a good performance as an industrialist who tries to be everything Tony Stark is, but seems to always fall just short of the mark.  This leads him to team up with Vanko to try and adapt Stark’s technology and turn it against him.  This is the classic Super Villain team up with a twist.  We don’t necessarily have two super villains in this movie, but we have the villain and his financier.

From the trailers, I could never quite tell how this movie was going to play out, and I really enjoyed that aspect of it.  After Whiplash first reveals himself to Tony and is arrested, you may think the rest of the movie is one big Hammer versus Stark kind of thing.  You would be wrong.   Thankfully, the trailers do NOT give away some of the best action beats or too much of the story.

I was pleasantly surprised at Whiplash’s evolution through the film, as well as Tony Stark’s.   Each character moved forward in their development appropriately, and the film felt like the natural next step.

The only issues I had with IRON MAN 2 had to do with pacing and editing.  When things are moving, they are moving, but when it’s time for dialogue and exposition things seemed to get very boggy.  There wasn’t the snappiness to the scenes that the first movie had.  I’m not sure if this is due to the nature of the scripting process of the first movie or the editing in this film, but there were moments where it felt like the movie slowed down too much, but wasn’t trying to.

A perfect example of this is Tony’s senate hearing.  What seems to be a great “gotcha” moment for Tony in the hearing in the trailers is actually a lot longer and Tony has a little less control than it would seem in the trailers.  The scene, while important, could have been edited to be a bit sharper.   This was true of many of the dialogue  scenes.

The other issue I had is just how much everything revolved around Stark’s technology.  We’ve already had the “dark reflection” of Iron Man in Obadiah Stane’s Iron Monger from the first film.  It felt like a bit of a retreading to use the tech all over again as the central point of conflict.

That said, what a great movie that I can’t wait to see again.  I don’t know if it’s better than the first, but it certainly is a great second outing.  I look forward to seeing it one afternoon in a well air conditioned theater with less people attending, and in a few months on Blu-Ray from the comfort of my own home.  If for no other reason that the awesome climactic battle.

IF NOTHING ELSE, Favreau and company nailed what the end of a super hero movie should be.  There was no action beat earlier in the movie that outdid the final “battle.”    That’s as it should be.  Too many movies focus on big visuals and spectacular fights early in the movie only to have a bit of  a disappointing ultimate climax.  Not IRON MAN 2.  From the appearance of War Machine to the take over by Vanko to Vanko’s Whiplash taking on Iron Man and War Machine, and then the explosion…OH MY LANTA!!!! Good Stuff.  Better than the first movie?  I have to go see it again.

Overall, I give the movie a solid 4 out of 5…which very well could change once I get to see it in a way that appeals to the old fogey in me.

Some of the best football coaches in the history of the game are masters at underplaying their team’s ability.  They do this so as to not have everyone in their conference gunning for their boys.  It’s usually a pretty sound strategy.   Fly under the radar.  Stun everyone with your on field ability.  Don’t overhype.

It was said again and again and again that AVATAR would be the game changer as it pertains to cinema.   James Cameron said repeatedly that he had to wait for technology to catch up with his ideas.  Everyone waited with bated breath for the next STAR WARS.  Then the movie was released…

The problem with reviewing a movie like AVATAR is the hype that surrounded it.  One can’t separate one’s self from all of the bold statements made by James Cameron and the studio.   I, for one, tried to go into this movie with as much separation from the hype for what has been touted as THE game changer in cinema, and just get ready to see a movie.  As much as I tried though, the thought was always tickling the back of my brain, “This doesn’t quite live up to the hype.”

As has been said ad nauseam, the story is not new.  It’s been used and used again.  Why? Because it’s a story that resonates with us all. Entering into a situation with preconceived notions that are shaken and shattered, and ultimately finding a cause worth fighting and dying for.   However, just because the story isn’t new doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be used.  As I said, it resonates with the viewer.  It works.

However, if one is claiming to change cinema as we know it, one can’t use such a familiar story in such a familiar way.

Then, there’s the technology.  I find it odd and somewhat hypocritical that the same critics who attack George Lucas for letting story suffer in the name of the technology he wants to use in his films are the same ones lauding this technology as the greatest thing ever.  Why? Because you put on some glasses and the images separated a bit?

That’s overly-snarky.  The truth is, I wasn’t too blown away with the CGI used in this movie.   It was CGI.   I think I tend to accept it more readily than some, but at the same time, the environments looked way too CGI.  A lot of attention was put on the making the digital characters work, and I have to give the team at WETA credit there.   Some enhancements to the way motion capture is done was used to get a full range of emotion from a face more we’ve ever seen.  The eyes were alien enough that they didn’t suffer from the “dead” look associated with many CGI characters out there today.

However, game changing?  I honestly can’t say that it was.  We’ve seen fully realized digital characters before, and in some instances just as good.  Let’s compare WETA with WETA and point to the character of Gollum.  He was realized as a fully digital character using motion capture technology to get all of the movements down, and there are very few people who would argue that he didn’t work.   When you look at “the other” big effects company (ILM), this is something they’ve been doing for ten years.  Whether you love him or hate him, Jar Jar Binks was realized as a digital character interacting with real people and while we’ve all heard the arguments against Jar Jar, one I’ve never heard was how he didn’t hold up interacting with other actors.   Then there’s Yoda.  There are moments in REVENGE OF THE SITH when I would swear to you that there is an actual little green guy right there on screen.   ILM also did the work on the first HULK.   Again, like the movie or hate it…there are moments where the Green Goliath looked like there was actually a gigantic man with green skin standing there.   Heck, even the Transformers looked awesome on screen.

The design of the movie was pretty enough.  The colors were bright, and the world was alien enough, but the designs of the world just didn’t set completely right with me.  Adding an extra set of legs and a few antenna like growths to earthbound animals serve only to make the universe that has been set up feel a little too bound to the rules of our world biologically.  The creatures all felt too familiar.

(I hate to keep coming back to this.) When a movie is hyped as being the movie that will change how movies are made, it gets compared to movies that DID change the face of cinema.  In the instance of Avatar, it may have expanded what has been done, but I would be hard pressed to say that it has “changed” anything.

Having said ALL of that.  I really liked this movie.  I truly did.  My biggest problem with the movie was simply Sam Worthington slipping out of his American accent a little to0 much.

The story, though predictable, worked for me.  It’s a simple three acts.  In act one we are introduced to the characters and the situation.  In act two, the protagonist grows from his presuppositions about the world around him to become a part of it and suffers for it.  In Act three, we get the resolution to the conflicts set up in acts one and two.  In this case,  I am a sucker for the oppressed rise up to defeat the oppressive type stories.  Jake Sully’s speech to the Na’Vi was one that got me excited for the fight to come. AND WHAT A FIGHT! (more to come on that)

The sense of fun and adventure for which I go to a movie like this were there.  If you can’t enjoy seeing a dude tame a wild flying dinosaur, then you have lost touch with the kid that fuels the geek inside of you.

I liked all of the characters (cookie cutter though they may be), and the conflicts and their resolutions worked.

And quite frankly, the ending battle scene was fantastic.  Ground battles, air battles, explosions, last minute rescues, and a final showdown all worked together to make a great climactic battle scene.

WETA continues to establish itself as a top dog in the movie making industry.  James Cameron can still make a movie, and as of now the film has grossed over one billion dollars worldwide.  So from a money making standpoint, the hype paid off.  People had to go see this thing.  I don’t know if the audience that filled theaters for AVATAR would so readily fill the theaters for a sequel, but I’d be there.   If for no other reason to run with Na’Vi again, to climb floating mountains, and to try to learn to “see.”

When this movie is released on Blu Ray, I’ll buy it.  I’ll watch it again and again.  It’s that good.  It’s just not the cinema shattering second coming that we were told it was.

If you like sci fi and fantasy and haven’t seen AVATAR yet, get to the theater and see it.  It’s definitely worth the price of admission and then some.  However, hold on to your Lord of the Rings boxed set, keep Star Wars on it’s pedestal, and have a great time with AVATAR.

Watchmen.

Lame. Lame. Lame. Boring. And more lame.

I wouldn’t say LAME.  It is a movie and a graphic novel that is full of it’s own self importance, but what a story.  It is one of the fullest, richest stories to come out of any comic that I’ve ever read.  Of course, I’m referring to the graphic novel.  The movie, while a good adaptation of the comic did have to strip away many of the elements that caused the comic series to be so layered.

Yesterday, when I went out to check my mail, I found two red envelopes in the box. Whoohoo for Netflix! I love getting fun things in the mail. (Agreed) One disk was part of the “True Blood” series and the other was “Watchmen.” So far, I think “True Blood” is … meh, but perhaps I should wait to talk about that another time. I was ready to watch “Watchmen.”

And after three long hours, I have to say this girly geek really hated that movie.

(It was the naked blue guy wasn’t it?)

I hated how Rorschach imitates Batman’s deep, raspy voice and how the ink in his mask kept moving around. It just made me want to smack someone. — Hey, special effects guy, get over here!

Before everyone jumps on Kaci, she’s read the comic, she knows the ink is supposed to move.  She just didn’t enjoy how it looked on film.   That’s the point she’s making.  I do have to say however, I can’t think of any other way for Rorschach to speak.  When I read the comic I imagined that rough, raspy, “Batmanish” voice.   I DID have a little problem with the mask effects though.  I thought the ink moved to swiftly.  I would have preferred a slower more subtle movement to the ink because I think that would make Rorschach a little more intimidating to his enemies…a little creepier as it looks like his face may be slowly coming apart or drooping or melting.  The effects crew just decided to move it faster than I imagined it is all.

I also hated how Dan Dreiberg sounded like a cheap imitation of Reeves’ Clark Kent; Ozymandias was laughably too skinny; and all the outfits and costumes were terr-i-ble — the 80’s were not nice to adults, apparently. Laurie’s hair was eww. — I really hope that was a wig. And Dr. Manhattan was pathetic. I understand I should feel bad for him since he is so tragically falling out of touch with humanity, and the women in his life eventually leave him because of his emotional distance, but I feel nothing for the guy.

Well, I think this is Alan Moore’s most blatant point with this book.  I don’t think the guy particularly cares for superheroes.  So everyone in the movie was a deconstruction of sorts of several different (what have become) archetypal superheroes.  Dan represented the altruism of characters like Superman coupled with the adventure seeking of characters like Blue Beetle.  Ozymandius is that Lex Luthor type who fancies himself the hero of the story when ultimately he’s the villain.  (His character is a lot more gray than that, but just go with me for the sake of argument.)  Dr. Manhattan represents the alien side of some of the more powerful superheroes like Superman or Martian Manhunter.  I honestly think that Moore, for all his genius, can’t wrap his mind around the simple concept that someone as powerful as a Superman or Martian Manhunter would actually be concerned with humanity.

But I should not have been surprised that the movie was lame. I read the graphic novel a few months ago because I heard the writer was a genius, and it was torture. Actually, there you go military folks. Heck with waterboarding. Just stick that terrorist in a cell with nothing to do but read “Watchmen,” and he’ll give you answers. I think Alan Moore writing was egotistical and self-indulgent. And the movie came across the same way. I guess in that respect it was an accurate portrayal of the graphic novel.

I totally understand where you’re coming from.  I agree to a point.  I didn’t like WATCHMEN on my first read either, but as I think back on the story, I can’t deny how well-crafted it is.  However, there are a LOT of people that worship at the altar of Alan Moore.  I can’t say that I’m one of them.

This movie was very highly praised when it opened, although I don’t understand why. Maybe all the critics watched were the opening and closing credits. Perhaps they were like, “Wow, that was a really great movie. I haven’t slept so good since ‘Titanic.’”  BAAA-ZING!

For me, the best part of the movie was listening to “The Times, They Are A-Changin’” playing over the opening credits. But I mean, who doesn’t dig Dylan. Now that man’s a genius. (Agreed.  In fact, he’s playing as I’m preparing this blog article.)

So even though this is not a timely review this probably matters little, but I would still give this a one-star rating at best. And I would tell anyone who hasn’t seen the film to consider him/herself lucky. The only thing you’ve missed is one seriously lame and boring flick.

I have a different take on the film on several levels.  The movie does something that only a handful of superhero movies have done to date – it strays very little from the source material.  The choices of what to leave in and take out were reasonable and understandable.  The costumes WERE the costumes of the characters in the comics. In my opinion, the casting was just right.  I can’t think of any other actors I could see in those roles.  However, as well executed as this film was, I can’t get past the fact that I didn’t really like the premise of the story or the presuppositions about superheroes that Alan Moore brings to his story.  So that detracts from my enjoyment of the movie.  It’s not the movie’s fault.  This was as nearly a flawless execution of any comic book adaptation that we’ve seen.  So I would give it 2 and a half stars.  It’s half perfect and that comes from the people who worked so hard to give the fans of this comic a great movie.  They succeeded in pleasing fans of the Watchmen comic I think.  However, I came to the party not a fan so my opinion was tainted before they ever started playing Dylan.

Check out the movie, the graphic novel, and the soundtrack, and help support the site:

I am admittedly a geek, but what I’ve found since making my foray into the blogoshpere/podcasting world is that I am far less versed in all things geekdom than I once thought.

My first exposure to The Green Lantern was through Challenge of the Superfriends reruns on Saturday mornings.  As a kid I totally bought into this guy’s awesome powers and even his one weakness…yellow.  As a kid it just made sense.

A few years later when I began reading/collecting comics, I found myself falling on the Marvel side of things for some pretty silly reasons.  But I was happy being a Marvel zombie.   It wasn’t until 1997 when I was in a comic shop and saw Grant Morrison’s JLA number 1 that I began to broaden my horizons into all things DC a bit.  You remember the cover don’t you?

It had S

uperman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, an as yet unknown to me Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern all on there looking ready for action.  As I saw that cover I knew I must have that comic because there were the Superfriends all looking pretty awesome in a 90′s kind of way.   What I wasn’t prepard for was just how foreign the characters of Wally West and Kyle Raynier would be to me.   As I read the panels of those two discussing how out of place they sometimes felt as the “rookies” of the group, I got curious and began to seek out what had happened to the Flash and Green Lantern that I had known as a kid.   What I found was a whole other Universe that was just as rich and as fun as the Marvel Universe I had played in for so long.   In fact, DC offered something quite different from Marvel at the time.  I remember telling a friend, “Marvel has heroes…really good character, but DC has LEGENDS.”  I had become a bit of a DC nerd trying to uncover the history of these characters, who were their predecessors, just how cataclysmic has this Crisis been.  I learned to love the DC Universe, and I kicked myself for not paying more attention to it for the years before that I had been collecting.

So it is, that I bring to the table limited knowledge of certain DC characters when I watch these animated movies or even the big screen adaptations of the characters.   While I know the characters and enjoy them, my limited history with them makes such experiences a lot more fun than it may be for someone who has been completely devoted to a character for a while now.

It’s that way with The Green Lantern.  I know the origin of Hal Jordan.  I know how he went nuts and became Parallax.  I really enjoyed how Geoff Johns brought him back in “Rebirth,” and “The Sinestro Corps War” was one of the coolest things I’d read in comics in a long time.  I’ve really been looking forward to following “Blackest Night.”  However, I don’t know all the names of the Green Lantern Corps.  I recognize faces, but if a character is done slightly different than he or she is done in the comics, I miss it, and it doesn’t bother me.

Having said all that, I really enjoyed GREEN LANTERN:  FIRST FLIGHT.  As I watched it, I was impressed with the pacing of the movie, the animation was pretty good, and while I had some issues with the voice work and choices for voice acting, the story and characterization of the players involved made for yet another successful outing from the crew at WB and DC Animated.

The first thing that I noticed  about this film, and liked, was the pacing.  There is no time wasted in getting the ring on Hal Jordan’s finger, and while we are privy to his personality (fearless), and a little bit of his relationship with Carol Farris, there’s not a lot of time spent exploring that.  This is a movie about the rise of Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern of sector 2814.   Honestly, I like that.  While I love a good character piece and appreciate delving into a heroes psyche as much as the next geek, I also like it when the writers of a story move confidently forward realizing that it’s not necessary to explore romantic relationships, daddy issues, and egos to show what a character is made up of.   FIRST FLIGHT flows so well as not only an origin story but also an all out sci fi space movie that moves with very little slowing down from start to finish.

While some might complain that Hal figures out the ring a bit too quickly, let’s not forget that Hal didn’t become a test pilot because he’s stupid.  It takes a certain amount of intelligence to become a pilot, much moreso to pilot prototypical aircraft.  For me it’s not a stretch given how much the ring does for the wearer coupled with Hal’s own intelligence.  Also, as Hal learns, he does a lot of mimicking what he sees other Green Lanterns do.  Thus making the moments of his own ingenuity with the ring that much cooler.  Can you say fly swatter anyone?

There were a few moments in this movie where some animation took me out of the movie for just a second or two.  The use of computer animation was there several times and it was apparent.  In my opinion, when using computers to add effects or certain elements to animation, it shouldn’t stand out too blatantly as to separate itself from the rest of what’s going on.  It looks great, but it does have a bit of the off color brick in Scooby Doo going for it at the same time.  You know the brick I’m talking about…just different enough to differentiate itself as something that will be moved.

However, those few moments weren’t enough to turn me off to the animation as a whole.  The character designs were great and I really liked the fact that classic characters like Kilowog had a certain realism to their look.   Sinestro has less of the look of The Leader from Marvel comics with the big forehead, and looks more akin to his design from the “Justice League” and “Justice League Unlimited” series.  The Guardians, while at times hard to differentiate looked like…well, the Guardians, and Hal Jorda was Hal Jordan no mistaking him for any other Green Lantern we may have seen before.

The only thing that really bothered me about the movie was the voice acting.  There were, as with other DC Animated projects, so great actors put to use in this movie.  However, Christopher Meloni sounds a little too much like Robert Patrick to me, and I couldn’t shake that image while watching.  I really thought they should have tried to get David Boreanaz again, but I understand why they didn’t.   Michael Madsen is one of my favorite actors.  He has a subtle charisma about him that causes the screen to light up whenever he’s on it.  However, I really felt Kilowog’s voice was a little understated.  I guess I feel like someone that big should have a more booming quality to his voice.  All in all, those are really the only voices that bothered me.  So, I guess the voice work isn’t such a sticking point.

What really drives a movie like this, though, is story.  GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT is the story of Hal Jordan’s rise to the role of Green Lantern of sectot 2814.   It is also the story of Sinestro’s descent into evil.  It’s a very well crafted story with moments that are dark and horrifying, and those moments that…well…those moments in movies that I am a complete sucker for.  SPOILER WARNING:  When all is lost and Hal steps up with no ring on his finger to save the day, then saves the day with a ring on his finger, I absolutely love it.  The final battle is big, the build up to the final battle is tense, the stakes are high, and the good guys kind of win in the end.

All in all I give this movie a very solid 3 1/2 green whatever I give 5 of  out of 5.  I don’t go full on 4 or 5 because I watched the sneak peek at SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES before I watched FIRST FLIGHT and OH…MY…LANTA…IS THAT THING GONNA ROCK!!  However, if you’re a Green Lantern fan, or a fan of Superhero movies…pick this one up.  It’s totally worth it.