Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow (2008) (V)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Jay Oliva

Writer:

Christopher Yost (writer)

Release Date:

2 September 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Family | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The children of heroes past are our only hope for the future!

Plot:

The children of the Avengers hone their powers and go head to head with the very enemy responsible for their parents' demise. |

Plot Keywords:

Captain America | Young Versions Of Characters | Incredible Hulk | Marvel Comics | Based On Comic Book

Cast

Noah Crawford	...	James Rogers (voice) (as Noah C. Crawford)
Brenna O'Brien	...	Torunn (voice)
Aidan Drummond	...	Pym (voice)
Dempsey Pappion	...	Azari (voice) (as Dempsey M. Pappion)
Adrian Petriw	...	Hawkeye (voice)
Tom Kane	...	Tony Stark / Iron Man / Ultron (voice)
Fred Tatasciore	...	Hulk / Additional Voices (voice)
Shawn Macdonald	...	Vision / Additional Voices (voice)
Michael Adamthwaite	...	Thor / Additional Voices (voice)
Ken Kramer	...	Bruce Banner (voice)
Nicole Oliver	...	Betty Ross / Additional Voices (voice)

Directed by
Jay Oliva

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Christopher Yost		writer

Produced by
Gary Hartle	....	producer
Gary Hartle	....	supervising producer
Craig Kyle	....	supervising producer
Carrie Wassenaar	....	assistant producer

Original Music by
Guy Michelmore

Production Management
Cory Gustke	....	production manager

Art Department
Tim Divar	....	storyboard artist
Chuck Drost	....	additional storyboards
Rick Farley	....	additional storyboards
Lynell Forestall	....	additional storyboards
Rick Hoberg	....	additional storyboards
Mark Howard	....	storyboard artist
Lauren Montgomery	....	additional storyboards
James Peters	....	color key designer
Kirk Van Wormer	....	additional storyboards (as Kirk Van Wermer)
Chap Yaep	....	additional storyboards
Kang Lin Zhu	....	additional storyboards

Sound Department
Mike Draghi	....	sound re-recording mixer
Mike Draghi	....	supervising sound editor
Christopher Eakins	....	sound effects editor
Robert Ehrenreich	....	mix assistant
Mike Garcia	....	dialogue supervisor
Eric Lewis	....	dialogue recording engineer: Studiopolis, Inc.
Stephen P. Robinson	....	supervising sound editor

Visual Effects by
Thomas D. Moser	....	visual effects

Animation Department
Aeolan Kelly	....	animatic editor
Mitch Schauer	....	character designer
Kirk Tingblad	....	timing director

Music Department
Rachel Grave	....	orchestrator
George Kallis	....	orchestrator
David Leon	....	music supervisor
Guy Michelmore	....	conductor
Guy Michelmore	....	orchestrator
Mark Ryan	....	music editor

Other crew
Kalia Cheng	....	production assistant
Joshua Fine	....	development executive
Gary Hartle	....	supervising director
Jamie Simone	....	voice director

Production Companies

• Marvel Enterprises

Distributors

• E1 Entertainment Benelux (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Lionsgate (2008) (USA) (DVD)

MPAA:

Rated PG for sci-fi action violence and some mild language.

Runtime:

USA:78 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:PG | Singapore:PG | Australia:PG | Netherlands:6

Company:

Marvel Enterprises

Quotes:

[first lines]
James Rogers: Can we hear it again? Please.
Torunn: More - tell us the story more! Please.
Tony Stark: Okay, one more time and then it's off to bed.

Movie Connections:

Version of Captain America (1944)

Next Please.

Ultimate Avengers 1 and 2, Invincible Iron Man, Doctor Strange and now "Next Avengers".

The Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, have been defeated by the machine menace known as Ultron. Presumably the last survivor of that final terrible battle, Iron Man/Tony Stark takes it upon himself to hide the baby children of the Avengers in secret so that Ultron would never find them. He raises them hidden in a underground artificial paradise, constantly spinning them tales about the parents they never knew. Fast forward 13 years later and the children have grown up into fine youngsters, training their individual gifts but longing to find their place in the world. Following a surprise visitation by the Vision and an unfortunate accident, Ultron discovers the location of the Avenger's children and launches an all out attack. Separated from their mentor, Iron Man, and on the run, these "Next Avengers" must live up to their family heritage while dealing with their individual inner turmoil and teenage angst.

How good is the movie? This is my take.

First off, the story is very intriguing and engaging. There is a good amount of mystery and tension in the first act but the second part taking place in Ultron City falls a little bit into futuristic cartoon clichés. The story isn't as intense as the previous two animated movies, nor as character focused, but tries not to fall too far into the juvenile side.

The Characters, you either Love em or hate em. There children are typical kid hero character stereotypes. The irritating youngest brat(Pym), the hot headed slacker turned leader(James), the feisty girl with daddy issues(Toruun), the token African American for political correctness(Azari) and the cold aloof flirty one(Barton). Aside from the clichés their individual story arcs play out very believably. The inner turmoil faced by the heroes alludes to many common problems face by average teenagers nowadays, such as living up to one's parents' expectations and finding a sense of self-identity. These are very Heart warming themes that can appeal to young and old alike. Some of the dialogue may be a little too "saturday morning cartoon" for the older teenagers like myself but those are few and far between.

It is in the animation department where this otherwise great film suffers. The animation is very inconsistent here. The art varies from an intricate level of detail with heavy shadows to flat and cheap looking crap with no other detail other than the basic outlines and features. A number of animation short cuts are jarringly visible and the fluidity of the animation usually varies indirectly to the art detail. This leads the overall animation of the movie to have a budgeted look; more fitting for a TV series than a movie. The character designs had a strong American anime feel to them. Not as exaggerated as Teen Titans but more on par with Ben 10.

On a whole, Next Avengers was an enjoyable movie with themes that are easy to relate to and can be watched by an audience of any age above 7. If it were not for the sub standard animation(compared to other animated movies), I would have given this a higher rating. This was a decent direct to DVD show and i look forward to the next. NEXT PLEASE Marvel!!!