My previous exposure to the Green Lantern mythos was the aforementioned Justice League: The New Frontier; the excellent Justice League animated series; and the character’s appearances in the old Super Friends Saturday morning shows.  I’ve never read the comics.  The film opens with a dying member of the Green Lantern Corp, Abin Sur, crash landing on Earth.  His ring seeks out and literally brings the alien’s replacement, someone worthy of becoming a green lantern, to the crash site.  Hal Jordan, a test pilot, is given this gift.  A short time later, members of the Green Lantern Corp, an interplanetary police force of aliens from across the galaxy, arrive on Earth to confront the new lantern.  Hal is taken to Oa where he meets the Guardians.  Long ago the Guardians harnessed the “green element”, source of the Corp’s power.  These founders of the Green Lantern Corp allow Hal to begin his training under the Corp’s most ambitious member, Sinestro.  Their first mission together is to find the being responsible for Abin Sur’s death.

But it seems that there is corruption even in the noblest of organizations.  In a series of scenes similar to any “good cop gone wrong” movie, Sinestro reveals his true motivations and even frames Hal for the death of a suspect under investigation.  Power corrupts and “yellow” power corrupts absolutely.  As I said, this isn’t really a Hal Jordan origin story.  His back story is over and done with in the first ten minutes of the film.   Hal is the rookie.  The young detective on his first assignment, he spends much of his screen time reacting to what’s going on around him.  Fortunately he gets to be proactive during the film’s climax.  But having said that, Sinestro is the driving force of this film.

I liked this movie.  The voice work and dialogue of these DC animated films continue to be first rate.  As for its content in comparison to the comic book’s mythos, I can’t speak for its accuracy or faithfulness to the source material.  There is no mention of the emotional connections the rings have to their wielders.  Green for willpower.  Yellow for fear.  None of that.   I’d be interested to know what a hardcore Lanetern fan thought of the film.  I think most superhero fans will enjoy the Green Lantern’s first solo adventure.

Fears of Marvel being “Disney-fied” seems to be the loudest concern from fans. Marvel already has deals in place with various Hollywood and video game studios. So the effects
of this purchase will not immediately be felt by movie goers and gamers. I’m less certain about Universal Studios (and its Marvel attractions) and the Disney parks (visit The Coaster Critics site for more info). But if you think about it, Marvel has made recent moves in the kid-friendly direction. On the big screen, Wolverine is a PG-13 hero and much less the gritty, brooding, loner from the comics.
The latest animated series, Spectacular Spider-Man and the Iron Man Adventures, are younger versions of their comic book counterparts. It makes sense from a business point of view as Marvel tries to lock in the next generation of boys.

Longtime fans like myself can only hope that Marvel doesn’t forget about us. The direct-to-video Marvel animated movies, The Wolverine and the X-Men animated series, and the upcoming Wolverine and Iron Man anime series in Japan tell me that they won’t. But we will see.

It will be interesting to see how this anthology is received by Master Chief’s minions. The negative feedback I read on the internet from Batman Gotham Knight was not entirely unexpected. These views mostly came from people who don’t like anime or don’t grasp the concept of an anthology. I expect similar reactions to Halo Legends from some hardcore fans, even with Microsoft overseeing the project. Hopefully, most casual fans will give this project a chance.

For more information visit Anime News Network’s article. An official press release from Microsoft is located here.

Halo Legends will be previewed this fall on Xbox Live and a home video release will follow in 2010.

The story is that simple. Upon finding the goldfish on the beach, which Sōsuke names Ponyo, the boy vows to protect his new pet. Of course, Ponyo is no ordinary goldfish. Her face looks human; she is very energetic; and she immediately takes a liking to Sosuke from her green water-filled bucket. Their relationship is cut short when Ponyo’s father, a magic using wizard and former human, comes from the sea to retrieve his daughter. While Sosuke deals with his lost and his mother deals with a husband, a ship’s captain who is still out at sea, Ponyo declares to her father that she wants to be human and rejoin Sosuke. Her father isn’t having any of that. Fujimoto has rejected humanity and has plans to end mankind’s domain over of the planet. Ponyo’s eventual escape and transformation into a human girl throws nature out of whack. The rest of the movie deals with the consequence of Ponyo’s wish to be human for Sosuke’s family and his village by the sea.

Visually, Ponyo is simple and yet amazing to watch. 2-dimensional, hand-drawn, theatrical, animated movies are not dead as long as Studio Ghibli continues to makes visual gems like Ponyo. Nothing against 3D computer generated films, they are the new norm for theatrical releases. But having grown up with traditional cell animation, there is still something special about 2D animation done to this level which is well . . . special. Story wise, it is a simple fairy tale placed in a modern setting. It is what it is. It is not filled with Japanese folklore like the creatures from Spirited Away. And though Fujimoto’s driving motivation is to save the planet from humanity’s carelessness, the film doesn’t raise the environmental destruction to levels that Princess Mononoke did. And for animation fans unfamiliar with Studio Ghibli works, Ponyo does not have the “humor for adults” track that most recent western animated films tend to have. Personally, I find that very refreshing. So your enjoyment of Ponyo hinges on your engagement in the story.

Ponyo won’t go down as one of my favorite Miyazaki films, but I can still appreciate its simple story and visual magic.

Studio: Studio Ghibli
U.S. Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Composer: Joe Hisaishi
Release: 2008
Rating: G
Length: 100 minutes
Audience: children
Official Site: Ponyo Site (English)

The Animated Man is back.

Marvel producers discuss how animated series in the past have created awareness for non-comic book readers and lead to successful live-action movies. They hope the same will happen for the Black Panther.  Another panel previews footage for the animated series.

• Black Panther Movie Discussion
• New Black Panther Footage Debuts

Panelists discuss the Iron Man: Armored Adventures series and the decision to make the cast younger.  i.e. a teenaged Iron Man.  They also mention preliminary work on The Avengers: Earth Mightest Heroes and the Thor animated series.

• Iron Man and Avengers

Marvel Heroes Squad is aimed squarely at the children’s market.

• Iron Man, Wolverine and Hulk’s Squad

Seth Green’s Robot Chicken future plans are discussed.

• Robot Chicken Runs Wild on Comic Con

Batman: The Brave and the Bold upcoming guest stars are discussed.

• Batman’s Brave Future

Thor: Tales of Asgard update plus the future of Marvel Animation titles after next year’s Planet Hulk.

• Marvel Updates on Thor: Tales of Asgard

Footage from upcoming episodes of Wolverine and the X-Men were shown and it was announced that the series has bee renewed for a second season.

• Wolverine and the X-Men Continues

First, the trailer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I was not a fan of the first movie. The action and the special effects were strong, but I hope they remembered to write a better story for the second film. Less unremarkable human dialogue and more robot interaction would be nice too.
[Official Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Site]

Next, the G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra trailer. This film should be easy for Hollywood to adapt. Covert military strike teams and over-the-top terrorist baddies are familiar terrority the big movie studios. I’m curious to see how the movie portrays Cobra Commander. Will he be as memorable as the original? Yo Joe!
[Official G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra Site]

Though it originated as a video game franchise, Street Fighter has crossed media before. Past efforts include the forgettable (and sometimes laughable) Jeanne Claude Van Damme Street Fighter movie to the more faithful Street Fighter 2: The Animated Movie from Capcom. As Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li hits the theaters later this month I will cover the animated media from the Street Fighter mythos.
[Official Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li Site]

And lastly, Dragonball Evolution based on the Dragonball manga and anime series. Well, fans hope it will be. Of the four movies listed here, I knew that Dragonball was going to be the hardest for Hollywood to adapt well. I’m somewhat familiar (but not a huge fan) with Dragonball universe and watching the trailer, I don’t know if they changes they made will make the movie better. Adaptations are never 100% and certain things that work in comics and animation may not work well in live-action. But the filmmakers may have strayed too far from the source material here. We will see.
[Official Dragonball Evolution Site]

For details on all of the winners, visit the Annie Awards website.