The Invincible Iron Man 2/5 reviewed by Ben

There's something you need to keep in mind when viewing this movie. It's an animated super-hero movie marketed for younger folk about a guy in giant mechanical armor. Don't expect "Eternal Sunshine" from a film like this. This film is silly. Thats what you get when you choose to watch a movie called "The Invincible Iron Man."

Iron Man is the latest in Marvel's direct-to-DVD animated line, following the no-too-great showings of the 2 Ultimate Avengers movies. This one follows the rise of Tony Stark, a.k.a. "Iron Man," (who ironically never goes by that name in the film) and his battle against the evil Mandarin.



Sort of. There are enormous problems with the plot of this movie, most notably the fact that this super hero is hardly heroic or super. Attempts are made early in the film at character development (including one steamingly awesome hot tub scene with a red-head) but the character doesn't go anywhere. There's no character arc, no ideal he must learn, you know stuff thats usually standard fare for super hero movies. The love story kinda comes out of left field, and the father/son struggle is hinted at but never explored. This film committs a sin thats becoming all too common in super-hero flicks: the bad guys don't seem bad. Mandarin himself barely makes an appearance in the film. The bulk of the time is spent fighting his minions who are trying to ressurect him, and why he's such a bad dude is hardly explored. I just never got why Tony cared about stopping this guy, and why everyone just accepts the giant elemental robots that are flying around destroying stuff. The last fight was so emotionally dead to me--he's fighting this giant elemental monster that's possessing this naked chick. So you don't care about the monster guy since you've never seen him before this scene, you don't care about beating him, and the scene that should be tense and full of peril becomes a "will I get to see boobs?" moment. Of course, the scene bends physics enormously to ensure that you don't get to see the boobs, and it just becomes silly.

Remember--you chose to watch a movie called "the Invincible Iron Man."

It just feels unfocused. There's lots of good elements (no pun intended, since some of the baddies are the afore mentioned elemental robots that will remind you of either The 5th Element or Captain Planet) but they don't come together into a solid story with character development. Hear me when I say this: I'm willing to believe the most outlandish things in a sci-fi superhero flick, as long as the emotions the characters are experiencing are real and correct for the situation. Spider-Man would be a good example of this. Crazy stuff happening, but real emotions at the core of it. That's what makes it cool, and what makes Peter Parker relatable. Iron Man however, isn't. The emotions seem forced for the situation, just to forward the plot. Hopefully the plot won't upset too many hard-core Iron Man fans. Gigantic liberties are taken with the origin story (neither the original nor the Ultimate origins are followed), which turns out not to be an origin story at all. *SPOILER ALERT* When they revealed that Tony had been just building all these suits for years just for fun, it really took the breath out of the origin story. What? He's had these for years? Well, why? and why hasn't he been using them? And how can SHIELD agents be THAT stupid? There's just a lot of sillyness that I can't overlook.

Remember the title. You chose this.

The film looks ok, except the glaring differences between the CGI and 2-D animation really distract. They both look fine in and of themselves (the physics in the CGI sequences seem a little off--the figures have no weight to them) but trying to mix them just doesn't work. I think the only cartoon to successfully blend CGI and 2-D is Futurama, and even that gets wierd at times. It's not bad, but it's one of those situations where you can't even say that the effects make it worth watching, because they don't.

All said and done, it's not horrible, and if I was 10 years old, I'd probably love the film. One can only hope that Marvel will start releasing some more movies that are actually entertaining for adults as well, and living up to some of their comics. If you want to see Iron Man in a much better role, check out "The Ultimates," by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch, or the brilliant "Ultimate Iron Man" mini-series by renowed novelist Orson Scott Card.

See this movie if:
-You're a big Iron Man fan, and can overlook some of the problems to see your hero in action
-You're pretty young and haven't yet developed the elitism that keeps me from enjoying movies like this

Don't see this movie if:
-You already are skeptical of Super-hero or animated films
-You've been waiting for a really well made Iron Man movie because you love the character. This isn't it.
-You're expecting the well-developed character from "The Ultimates"
-You're expecting Marvel to meet the high bar set by DC's animated stuff with Bruce Timm (Justice League, Batman: TAS, etc.)