You might remember that at the end of Trilogy Month I said that I would enlighten you about something. I planned to do so the following week. But then I had technical issues with the site that resulted in a couple posts being deleted. And then I ended up finally seeing Pacific Rim.
Then I got press screening tickets to see Rush.... Anyways the point is the technical issues have blown over and I'm back now. So lets not waste any time now. Shall we?
Best described as Iron Man with magic instead of super science. Doctor Strange is a fictional superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel. He was an arrogant neurosurgeon who got in a car crash and wrecked his hands.
After spending his fortune on surgeries to try and fix them. He ends up on abridge ready to commit suicide when a mysterious old man appears. He gives him an ancient map that will supposedly lead him ho a man who can fix his hands, and he spends the last of his money on a one way plane ticket to Tibet.
There he gets lost in the Himalayas and finds the old man there. He reveals himself to be a wizard and takes him on as an apprentice.
There are some other details and events afterwards, but those are the essentials. Dr. Strange has always been pretty well liked. And my father is/was a big fan. There was a TV movie in the 70s ,which I haven't seen, but was only aired once, and only survives now because someone out there recorded it and, eventually, they put it up on the Internet.
If your curious just type "doctor strange tv movie" into the search bar on YouTube and you should find it in ten minute parts.
The 1992 film "Dr. Mordrid" was going to be a live action Doctor Strange movie, but the license expired before they started production.
And eventually Lionsgate did a direct to video movie in 2007. Which is today's subject for review. Marvel and Lionsgate actually did a bunch of these during the later years of the initial superhero boom. Before Marvel started its own film studio to do movies based on their characters in house. Overall they average out as being pretty good.
Lets get started. I'm trying out a new review structure today so let me know what you think.
-Animation Quality: Design wise it looks almost animeish and is quite good. Character models are distinct, backgrounds are very well drawn, and action scenes are very smooth. On the other hand sometimes movements can be quite choppy.
Maybe it was meant to be like that to show that his hands are screwed up, but it also happens in other scenes when Strange is in no way present.
I know that animation is very dependent on budget and I shouldn't judge this by Disney standards, and considering said budget restraints they did a great job. But I'm not going to hold back a thought to make the Internet trolls happy.
-Sound: The voice actors do a great job, even if lip movements don't quite keep up with them. And the soundtrack is very fantasy.
-Story: This is a tough one. I like this movie. It's good. But it feels just a bit generic. Maybe it's because a majority of superhero movies are origin stories. In fact the only non sequel ones I can think of off the top of my head are The Avengers and Watchmen. Even then, Watchmen was adapted from a graphic novel, and Avengers was the feature length finale for Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
I might have liked it more if the car crash was just a freak accident, instead of Strange being distracted by magical visions. Maybe if magic only started to show up after his accident, because it jostled his brain and made him able to see through the Mist.
But review the movie you have, not the movie you want.
In conclusion, it's perfectly serviceable and I was entertained. Just not enough for me to actually recommend it.
But if your curious, the DVD is easy to find on ebay. And it's on Netflix Instant Stream, which is how I watched it for this review even though I do own it. And Marvel Studios is doing a live action movie to be released in 2016 after Avengers 2 and Ant Man.
Hats off to all. And have a nice day.
Hats off to all. And have a nice day.
Sidenote: Russia? I know that someone in Russia has read my blog. They haven't been around recently. But on the off chance that they read this. Would you kindly tell Putin to knock it the hell off. You know what I'm referring to.
Greg.B
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