Comic Book: The Movie

After I finished watching "Comic Book: The Movie", I would have to say it was enjoyable. With that said, this movie was nothing spectacular. I think people will enjoy it more for the people who collaborated on it, rather than the story itself. There are quit a few funny parts, but not laugh out loud funny ... more like amusing funny. I liked seeing allot of people who are in the comic book/ animation world. The fact that there are so many Icons in this movie makes it a good watch.

I especially like how it is a double disc DVD, so you get allot of extras to enjoy. There are people in the movie, you wouldn't even know are big stars because maybe they had a career along time ago or our voice actors. Speaking of voice actors, it seems this movie is busting with them. I love that. It's cool to see them. Then there is Jess Harnell who plays Ricky the Camera Guy. He is pretty funny. Good character and one of the many voice actors who partakes in this featured film.

As a Kevin Smith fan, I have to give him a shout out. It was cool to see him in this and a new sight to see him watch his tongue. Although he managed to still bring that edge, we have all come to love. Inclosing, if you are a comic book fan, I would recommend checking this out. If not for the movie, do it for the extras.

I was very excited to see this and sat patiently for two years while it spent months collecting dust on the Miramax shelves, finally being released direct-to-video. I'm in it--kinda. Since I was at the Comic-Con that year--I can see about a fourth of my face in one of the crowd shots--this added to the excitement. And I'm a comic fan, and a Mark Hamill fan and a fan of cartoon voices. So what could go wrong?

So I watched it, finally, and desperately wanted to like it. I mean, it was about comic fans! But...after the first five minutes or so the novelty wore off and I was stuck with a draggy, boring movie. The cast is game, but without much going on it gets a-mighty tedious. Still, it was nice to revisit a great con that I've not been to since two years after it happened.

For a much more entertaining evening, go to the second disk on the DVD package for "Behind the Voices," the hysterical symposium fans sat through to get themselves on film. They cut out most of it, (the guys doing the Animaniacs singing the Country song from memory, Billy West singing "Happy Happy Joy Joy) but it's still great. The movie: C+ The Other Stuff: B+

Well, not really..........BUT it sounded like a good grabber line.

Actually, it seems as if their creator gave this a "thumbs up", since he allowed them to use that vignette of him. I really didn't realize how much he'd look like "Bob".

Although I was taken aback at how much Luke Skywalker has aged, I did enjoy seeing him still standing up for old-fashioned values. I do enjoy the X-Men, and the Titans, I still have a very warm spot in my memory for Captain Marvel, Aquaman, and The Flash. And I still prefer Robin to Nightshade.

As far as the quality of the movie - it did drag quite a bit in places (Day 1 seemed to take up half the length of the movie) and they skimmed over Leo's realization that the old "hildhood friends" were fake...I'd like to have seen mor of Sid and Johnathan.

I was fortunate enough to see an advance screening of Mark Hamill's 'Comic Book: The Movie.' The low budget mockumentary is good natured and features some nice performances (highlighted by Hamill's portrayal of the comic-fan made documentarian that the story revolves around.)

There are many cameos by comic celebs like Stan Lee, Bruce Campbell and Kevin Smith. It also provides a window into the strange annual event known as Comiccon where thousands gather to celebrate fandom. The core story invokes the frustration of fans who suffer when classic properties are bastardized by Hollywood and in this story the fans strike back.

The movie is a bit long and loses its way for a while about an hour in but overall it entertaining and charming. The film is a celebration of comic books and the people who love them. It lacks the razor wit that Christopher Guest's films possess (A Mighty Wind, Best in Show) but this one is more authentic and seems to be a labor of love.

This is a nice little film and I recommend it.

I give the movie itself 6 stars and the DVD extras 8 stars. This movie has its heart in the right place and does assemble some of the best voice talent around. It's great to see these people in front of the camera. I only wish that they had added some writers into the mix. This movie is mostly ad-libbed in the style of "Spinal Tap" and other Christopher Guest movies so some of the jokes work, and others don't. Since everyone is trying to be "realistic" almost all of the jokes are subtle so the inattentive viewer is likely to miss them.

I found that the DVD extras are the best part of this DVD. There are two disks, so there are a lot of extras. There are lots of helpful bios in case you missed some of the many cameos of industry insiders and other "masked" performers. The deleted scenes are actually pretty good (for deleted scenes). The best part is the real convention panel with all of the talent on stage telling stories and doing voices.

Bottom line, if you love comics and animation, and even video games, then see this movie just to learn about the talent. Use IMDb to see what some of these people have done and you will be amazed. If you aren't into comics then this movie might be interesting to you just to learn about a different culture.