Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

As a huge fan of animation, I'm not sure what to think. It's just sad that with so many great ideas that could be made into an animated theatrical film (Infinity War??!?), they go with something like this. But then I have to temper my disappointment. I love animated films, but history shows that general audiences just don't seem to. Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm is arguably one of the BEST Batman films ever period. Yet many people don't even know it exists, and it did have a theatrical run in December 1993. (Also this was not a film made for video and converted for a short run like The Killing Joke - MotP was always intended to be theatrical).

Now that being said, I want to get a couple of *PC* issues out of the way...

1. All the people complaining that Spider-Man should not be black are idiots. This is a new character, Miles Morales, he has been around for a while, even an old fogey like myself can acknowledge this. I'm totally ok with this. The trailer shows Peter Parkers tombstone, as established in the original storyline from this take on Spider-man THIS IS NOT PETER PARKER... This is a story about Miles, and apparently different characters all donning the guise of Spider-Man. Also while I may not care for many of the new characters Marvel is creating (Amadeus Cho Hulk, Riri Williams Ironheart etc...), I am ok with them all, because they are new characters. What would irritate me is if an established character such as Peter Parker, although being fictional, was changed to be something he is not. Some people want this, and that's what irritates me. Fortunately this is not what the film is portraying so people need to calm down.

2. The animation (hopefully not finished) doesn't have a cinematic quality. A lot of people are actually asking if this IS a film that is intended to come out on DVD and just getting a limited theatrical release, that's people expectations based on the trailer. Sony really needs to step up their game and hopefully deliver something significant, because with a solid MCU Spider-Man out there, there is not going to be much draw for fans of these characters, or of animation in general.

All that being said, I'm probably going to go see it. I just hope I don't have the same experience I had when I walked into Star Wars the Clone Wars back in 2008, to a half empty theater on opening day. At this point, this is what I'm anticipating. I hope I am wrong.

The animation looks gorgeous. I mean, wow, if this is a representative sample it may be the prettiest superhero movie from the current cycle of superhero movies.

- and if they're serious about doing this 'Spiderverse' thing we might get neat stuff like Emma Stone returning as Spider-Gwen, maybe Tobey back (wasn't satisfied with how his series ended), and maybe.... JAPANESE SPIDER-MAN?

(CHANGE LEOPARDON!)

Neat (I guess) to see Morales finally, but gimme black Peter Parker.

^It's making the animation look like stop motion, like in Lego Movie. I think it's totally cool.

Sorry. I've been torturing myself by watching Transformers: Titans Return on go90, which is filmed at a very low frame rate, and seeing a lot of that recently, when the animation *glitches* in this trailer it reminds me of that other show.

This actually looks pretty good. I have no problem with a Miles Morales Spiderman animated film. In fact, instead of Sony pushing for stand alone movies about Venom or Silver Sable, they should focus on a Spiderman animated film series and bring in Venom and other characters.

I hope this does well so we could see more in the future. I would also love an animated Spiderman 2099 film as well.

That first teaser trailer did nothing for me. But this one actually looked pretty good. I’m totally unfamiliar with the source material so I’ve got zero bias or expectations. Hopefully it’s good. Definitely enjoyed the positive/strong father. As a dad myself, I pick up on that so much more now than I used to and it is very very much appreciated. All kids deserve a strong father role model.

The animation style still looks a little off to me, but it is looking better than the first trailer. Animated films like this are really a once in a generation thing. I was 17 when Mask of the Phantasm came out, and missed it because I thought it would be in the theater longer. I don't intend to miss this.

I like the premise of the movie, and the writing seems like it's pretty good too. But the animation still seems really choppy. When I saw the first teaser I figured the choppiness was something to do with the upload, then I saw it again in the theater it and it was still choppy. I'm a disappointed that the lack of smoothness is still around in this latest trailer because the visuals look good otherwise.

Couldn't disagree more about the choppy animation. I think it looks amazing.

This movie looks incredible. Adding the captions and sound effects and motion lines of comics makes me think this'll take the tradition of Batman '66 and Scott Pilgrim to the next level!

I'm with The Shadow on this one. The animation looks terrible. I thought it was initially a stop motion film.

It’s weird, the action all looks to be pretty smoothly animated, but the characters themselves are choppily animated. Artistic choice, I guess. I find it distracting. The show itself looks cool, though.

The choppiness reminds me of stop motion, so I'm actually on board with it. Makes it feel distinct.

I'm getting used to the animation. I thought it looked like butt the first time I saw the teaser, but it's growing on me slightly.

I mean, it’s clearly meant to look like classic stop motion kids shows. And it does. It looks exactly like animation from stuff like Rudolph, Gumby, Wallace & Gromit, etc.

I’m fine with it. I even think it’s kinda cool.

I'm just appreciating it for looking COMPLETELY unlike basically everything else produced in American film animation right now. I want variety like this!

Sony dropped the trailer two on October 2nd. We see a lot more about the movie's story this time, almost seems like a different movie compared to the previous trailer. The choppiness is still kind of bugs me, I think it may be that the level of choppiness seems to vary from smooth (little to no choppiness) to heavy (very noticeable); if the choppiness was consistent I don't think it would bug me as much.

If you follow the Youtube link, Sony has the trailer in an extra-wide format (the right and left seem to be clipped in the frame below): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg52up16eq0

I'm liking the more I see of it. Seems just like a big budget version of the 2 Spiderverse stories they did in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon on Disney channel a couple of years ago, pretty much all the same characters. Except the cartoon version had Spider-Man 2099, and a few others. probably just not enough time to tell the story with all of them, they had had to pick a select few. And of course there was the 2 part finally of the 90's Spider-Man animated series, which had Spider-Men (admitteddly however that was just all different versions of Peter Parker) coming together. So Spiderverse stories aren't exactly new to Spider-man in animated form, but it will be nice to see in the theater.

An amazingly positive early review:



Now while I've been marginally excited for this up until now, and critical of the animation style, I am going all in. I was always going to see it, give it a chance, but now I am 100% campaigning for it.

25 years ago the BEST Batman movie ever (notjust animated..., but best film PERIOD), came out, and almost nobody saw it, because of the dismissal of anything animated that was not Disney (Pixar's Toy Story was still 2 years away).

Now, a quarter of a century later, and with the prevalence of the internet and social media, people who love comics, action, adventure, comedy, drama (as well as animation), should all rally to see this film, especially with fierce competition in December, this film needs to be shown its not just a legitimately good animated film, but that it is a good film PERIOD, that it stands on its own, or is better than many live action films that have come out in 2018.

I'm encouraging all families to take your kids (if they are of appropriate age), to go see this, and if you don't have kids, go see it anyway! You will not be disappointed.

I think the review embargo is up. 32 reviews on RT right now. All positive.