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STUDIO: Lionsgate
MSRP: $11.99
RATED: Not rated
RUNNING TIME: 110 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
– Five episode commentaries
The Pitch
It’s the best cartoon adaptation of the X-Men since the last one.
The Humans
Steve
Blum, Fred Tatasciore, Jim Ward, Nolan North, Kari Wahlgren, Danielle
Judovits, Tom Kane, Liam O’Brien, Yuri Lowenthal, Roger Craig Smith.
The Nutshell
With Charles Xavier in a coma in the present, but awake and able to communicate with him from the future, Wolverine leads the X-Men against all of their old familiar foes. He also tries to guide them – and the rest of the world – away from an oncoming Apocalypse whose origin he and Xavier work to discover together from the two different time periods.
Hang on, just have to adjust the focus on this caption a little…
The Lowdown
I’ve covered this cartoon before here and here. Generally, I like it. In tone, it’s pretty similar to the previous adaptation, X-Men Evolution. The action centers squarely on Wolverine, with the other X-Men usually in recurring roles. No major complaints about the cartoon. Animation is sharp for the most part and the stories are close enough to canon with occasionally new twists. Only major issue is the piecemeal treatment by which the studio is doling these episodes. There’s only five to a disc and it’s just dumb to buy them. Wait for the season set to come out.
These five episodes consist of “Guardian Angel”, where Angel gets the Archangel treatment, this time by Mr. Sinister, then seeks revenge on his father, who was instrumental in the injury whereby he lost his original wings. “Breakdown” finds Cyclops trying to come to terms with Jean’s disappearance. Emma Frost helps him sift through his memories of Jean in order to erase them from his mind. But he instead discovers a terrible secret about Jean and who attacked the mansion. “Rover” centers mostly in the future storyline where Xavier, Bishop and a band of mutants attack a detention center. “Aces & Eights” has Gambit on a mission on Genosha and “Shades of Grey” reveals what happened to Jean after the attack on the mansion.
“Scott, Logan, I have news from the future for both of you. Scott, you’ll find Jean at Alkali Lake. Logan, Gavin Hood will want to make a movie about your life.”
“So what do we do, Professor?”
“In both instances…run.”
The Package
Animation
and transfer are clean and crisp. Audio is fine. There are five commentaries by writer
/ producers Craig Kyle, Greg Johnson and Christopher Yost.