THOR: TALES OF ASGARD (2011, animated) (a review)

THOR: TALES OF ASGARD (2011, animated) (a review)

This is a direct to dvd animated film released to time with the feature film THOR. It focuses on THOR and LOKI as teens (or the Norse god equivalent of teens) and their adventure into the territory of the frost giants).

The story: a young Thor, wanting to prove himself, goes on a quest with Loki and a few others into the territory of the frost giants to retrieve a legendary sword. They find it, but in doing so kill a couple frost giants, thus almost creating a war.

Was it good?

Yeah. It was good, but not great.

First the good: in the feature film, I didn't like the parts that take place on Earth. In this movie, it is all fastastic environments -- Asgard, the land of the frost giants and a few others. There's lots of action and fantasy.

The bad: the story feels way too similar to the movie. Basically it has a lot of the same elements -- Thor brashly going into the frost giants' territory, almost starting a war, lots of adventures, and then he has to learn the value of peace/self-sacrifice. All it is missing is Loki's scheming, really.

Also bad is the animation. It's not horrible bad, but it's not great. The biggest complaint to me is that it doesn't feel like Marvel at all. It's the same animation style as the animated Hellboy movies. Marvel animation should feel like Marvel. Also, with this animation style, you lose a lot of the cool feel of the otherworld locations -- it just makes everything feel equally cartoony and bland.

Of course, kids won't mind. But with the push of the feature film and all, I wish Marvel would spend a little more to make the animated movies feel special. Marvel spends money to make the art in their comics pop. It's a shame they don't try to take that level of pride in their animated movies.

Still, for fans of Marvel comics or for kids or for adult who are kids at heart, it's worth seeing.

**** RENTAL ****