I am going to be fair to Marvel . . . this was their first animated feature film. That's okay, but it is still no excuse for Ultimate Avengers. I don't want anyone to think that I absolutely hated this film, but let it be known that it could have been a billion times better.
The first complaint I have is the animation (which was just average.) One could argue the style was just different than, say, good animation, but the key problem was that the actual film animation was just vastly different than the animation promised to me in the teaser trailer. The teaser had things framed like the comic book, but the actual movie had none of those moments in them. What the hell happened to the good animation? Where is my scene of Iron Man crashing the Hulk through Grand Central Station? Let's move away from the animation for a moment though. Let's go to a far more pressing argument of story itself. As a comic book fan and a movie fan and someone who somewhat understands the way Hollywood works, I will not gripe that the comic wasn't 100% accurate to the comic book. I won't even gripe that the comic wasn't 50% accurate to the comic book. In fact, I will even ignore that the movie was only accurate in that the names of the characters were the same. My complaint toward the story was that the movie completely left out any sort of feelings for the characters.
Let's take a film that is considered to be the Citizen Kane of animated features. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. This was a fantastic film that gets better with age. As a child, I found it somewhat boring, but still entertaining. As an older child, I have learned to look for the subtext, listen to the fantastic dialog and I have learned to appreciate the motifs used in this film. That movie makes you genuinely feel for the characters. It makes you wonder why Batman does what he does. It makes you cry out in anguish as you realize that Bruce and Andrea lost something they can never hope to get back. In summary, Batman made you feel for the characters.
Avengers doesn't come close. It is a Jerry Bruckheimer film, but (because of poor animation) it doesn't even make the action look good. Bruce Banner was a somewhat interesting character, but he wasn't painted as a man tormented by the fact he is a monster, but a man who is addicted to being a monster. he searches for a way to control the monster. It takes away from his tragic figure and makes him more of a mad scientist type.
Finally, let's look at voice acting and writing. the dialog was trite and painful to listen to. Cap's voice sounded like a 17 year old asking his dad for the car keys. Geh. It was just terrible all around.
I understand that Avengers was a movie for all audiences, but so was batman . . . and look how beautiful that film turned out.
The first complaint I have is the animation (which was just average.) One could argue the style was just different than, say, good animation, but the key problem was that the actual film animation was just vastly different than the animation promised to me in the teaser trailer. The teaser had things framed like the comic book, but the actual movie had none of those moments in them. What the hell happened to the good animation? Where is my scene of Iron Man crashing the Hulk through Grand Central Station? Let's move away from the animation for a moment though. Let's go to a far more pressing argument of story itself. As a comic book fan and a movie fan and someone who somewhat understands the way Hollywood works, I will not gripe that the comic wasn't 100% accurate to the comic book. I won't even gripe that the comic wasn't 50% accurate to the comic book. In fact, I will even ignore that the movie was only accurate in that the names of the characters were the same. My complaint toward the story was that the movie completely left out any sort of feelings for the characters.
Let's take a film that is considered to be the Citizen Kane of animated features. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. This was a fantastic film that gets better with age. As a child, I found it somewhat boring, but still entertaining. As an older child, I have learned to look for the subtext, listen to the fantastic dialog and I have learned to appreciate the motifs used in this film. That movie makes you genuinely feel for the characters. It makes you wonder why Batman does what he does. It makes you cry out in anguish as you realize that Bruce and Andrea lost something they can never hope to get back. In summary, Batman made you feel for the characters.
Avengers doesn't come close. It is a Jerry Bruckheimer film, but (because of poor animation) it doesn't even make the action look good. Bruce Banner was a somewhat interesting character, but he wasn't painted as a man tormented by the fact he is a monster, but a man who is addicted to being a monster. he searches for a way to control the monster. It takes away from his tragic figure and makes him more of a mad scientist type.
Finally, let's look at voice acting and writing. the dialog was trite and painful to listen to. Cap's voice sounded like a 17 year old asking his dad for the car keys. Geh. It was just terrible all around.
I understand that Avengers was a movie for all audiences, but so was batman . . . and look how beautiful that film turned out.