Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins

Released by Turner Home Video and produced by Threshold Entertainment, "Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins" is a very peculiar 90's relic made to cash in on the video-rental market craze and the ever-growing popularity of its video-game source material. And while I will admit it does have a certain nostalgic "so bad, it's kinda good" charm for me as a man who actually rented the the VHS tape repeatedly from my local Video King as a kid... it's a pretty sad and obvious gimmick release looking back. Essentially an overlong commercial made to promote a massive media franchise.

1995 was very much the year of "Mortal Kombat"- not only ushering in the release of the third game in the series, but also seeing the launch of various merchandise and tie-in media, including toys, a live-tour based on the games and the incredibly popular theatrical film adaptation by Paul W.S. Anderson. "The Journey Begins" is essentially a very crafty, trendy cash-in on the "Mortal Kombat" tidal-wave, produced as more of a marketing piece to promote the live-action feature than as an honest film in itself. Methodically pieced together to have as much appeal as possible without actually making much effort.

The short film (accompanied on the original tape by some other franchise-related content to pad out the runtime) is presented as an "official prequel" to the feature film adaptation. It revolves around the characters of Liu Kang, Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage as they board a rickety old ship on their way to the Mortal Kombat tournament, in addition to some early adventures they encounter upon arrival. On their adventure, they learn the fundamentals of the tournament and what it represents, and we are also given a bit of backstory on several characters that the film adaptation had to leave under- developed due to the plethora of characters featured. So we finally learn more about fan-favorites like Scorpion, Sub-Zero and even Goro.

Problem is... the short doesn't work as either a prequel or as a standalone project, and it's reliant solely on trendy, dated effects to snag a quick buck from kids. It's a wholly cynical affair. Despite billing itself as a "prequel" to the movie, it's barely connected. Characters not only look, sound and act differently... but even the story itself is radially altered at times. What makes it all the more confusing is that this is supposed to take place BEFORE the events of the film. (It's a "prequel" after all...) And yet, it portrays the same basic events we see in the first act of the movie. Huh? OK, so maybe it's better viewed as a sort-of child-friendly remake of the film? ...Nah! It doesn't work that way either, because it's only presenting part of the story and lacks resolution. (And that's not spoiling anything at all... they advertise it as such.) So on one hand... it fails as a prequel to the film. And on the other... it fails at being its own thing. Whose the target audience supposed to be, again? And I say that knowing I rented this at least two or three times growing up. But looking back... I can't see why I did that.

A big part of the push of this release was also the then cutting- edge combination of classic 2D and modern 3D animation techniques. This was one of the first releases to really push the fact that the filmmakers used motion-capture technology- a technique that allowed real-world movement from actors and stuntmen to be mapped directly onto digital models. And, yeah... I guess it was kinda cool seeing a direct-to- video movie that incorporated about 10 minutes or so of purely- digital fight scenes, in addition to mapping 2D hand-drawn characters over 3D backgrounds. But the problem is... that's all the short really has going for it. The writing is incredibly shoddy, and characters are all pretty unlikable as presented here, with some of the lamest gags thrown in for cheap laughs and a lot of really cringe-worthy moments. A far-cry from the excellent casting and good humor of the movie this is supposed to precede. So the animation is to the service of really sub-par material, and thus feels flat and pointless. There's also the fact that the film came out at a time where digital effects were still in their infancy, so within a year of release, they looked instantly dated.

This is also a very cheap experience despite the motion-capture and 3D animation technology being presented. Outside of sequences involving those techniques... the rest of the film looks rushed and patched together. Animations are often repeated 2, 3, 4 or more times. There's a lot of lazy padding with artificial slow-motion that's created by repeating frames and adding a vague blur-effect. And any time more than a few characters on screen, you'll notice that the majority of them won't move, or that they'll only move one at a time.

Still... for fans of the overall media franchise titan that is "Mortal Kombat", I'd say it's worth watching once for laughs. Don't get me wrong... "The Journey Begins" is terrible from any conceivable standpoint. But it's still a piece of "Mortal Kombat" history, and it's got a certain kitschy charm to it, especially if you grew up watching it or the other movies and cartoons associated with it. Also, it has the wonderful Jim Cummings providing several of the voices. So there's also that.

I give it a terrible but very mildly entertaining 2 out of 10.

Back in the 90's Mortal Kombat was everywhere. The video game was incredibly popular, the movie is considered one of the best video game adaptations out there and the theme song by the Utah Saints was pretty kick ass. So what do you do when you own the rights to it? Make a cartoon tie in of course that came out after the first Mortal Kombat movie, before the second Mortal Kombat movie and takes place before the first Mortal Kombat movie. How does that work?

This was the brainchild of Lawrence Kasanoff and his production company "Threshold Entertainment". He's the one responsible for all TV and movie versions of Mortal Kombat included the live action tour. He's also the one responsible for the terrible movie "Foodfight!" and when you see some of the crappy CGI in this cartoon you'll start to understand the problems.

The story itself is pretty basic. We're introduced to Sonya, Liu Kang, Johnny Cage and Raiden heading to Outworld for the Mortal Kombat tournament. Along the way we're introduced to other characters in both 2D and 3D animation and neither one is very good. This was at that point in the 90's when people tried to combine the two because it was cheaper than having to animate by hand. But it's far from seamless and there's a real disconnect between the two styles. Then there are the crappy 3D scenes that look like they were done at minimal cost using blocky characters who don't move very well and don't change facial expressions just like in "Foodfight!". Seems like Lawrence never actually learned from his mistakes.

The 2D animations are just as bad with the same repeated cycles, characters that don't move, other characters that are just repeated over and over again and a strange beveled effect that just shows even more how the two styles don't mix well.

It's thankfully very short and if you've seen the original movie... there's nothing really new here. They talk a bit about Goro and his brother but that's about it.

This is really just a cheap cash grab made by people who don't understand how to do animation and based on later works never learned how to do it properly. If you want something better, and by this I mean better in a technical sense, watch "Defenders of the Realm". It's awful but compared to this it's like it was made by Disney.

The Pros= I Personally Loved the Opening Scene and the Opening Narration to this Short Film. The Next thing that I Loved about his is that all of the 2D Animation still holds up in my opinion. And speaking of I also feel that the 3D Animation was not that bad considering, little more on that later. And I thought that it was kind of cool having Rayden being a guide of sorts to not only the three heroes but to us the Audience as well, to a certain extent was a really great and clever way of explaining not only the Mortal Kombat Tournament and why it's very important that our here's Win. But also the Backstory of certain characters as well for those that are New to the Franchise like I once was. Then there the little themes in there I feel they really fit not only to the movie but also to the Universe of the Mortal Kombat Franchise as a whole.

The voice works I thought was really well done, as I feel that everyone of those Voice Actors really embodied their character's role. And I also loved how you could really feel the chemistry between the characters even in the beginning of the movie even though they are just Cartoon Characters. And now we come to the ending I just absolutely loved how just before when the End Credits Rolled, the same Voice Over Narrator gave Mini Bios for every character that was in was in the film that we just watched. And not only that just after the Mini Bios for each character the Move Set for that character appeared on screen for a few seconds, and while the Mini Bios was presented on screen the Hight, Weight, Age, Etc for that character also appeared on screen. Hare's what I mean for example for the Liu Kang Bio, the Narrator would Announce his Origins and what's he capable of in an Epic way, all the while Liu Kang's Hight Weight Age would appear on screen. And after when the Narrator finishes his Epic Mini Bio on Liu Kang, Liu Kang's Video Game Move List or rather a bare bones of would appear on screen in placement of the previous that was on screen for Liu Kang. And speaking of End Credits I also loved how they basically gave you a Free Cheat Code for the then New Mortal Kombat 3 Video Game. Don't ask me what the Cheat Code was because I was never quick enough to successfully input it in, in time especially when I was a Kid.

And on a bit of a personal point there's something about this film that always makes feel like, it could be a Launching point for a Friday Night Cartoon or something. And unless I'm Forgetting anything that should do it for the Pros for now.

The Cons= I guess I mind as well start with the 3D Animation that I mentioned in the Pros. I think a lot of people hate this film so much is, that they fail to recognize that the makers of this film didn't exactly have the same budget. Of Mainframe Entertainment famed for doing Reboot, Beast Wars Transformers, and Shadow Raiders just to name a few. To which all three shows that I have mentioned came out in the same year that this movie came out. But I must admit as much as I loved the animation itself, it's just that the movements in the animation is a little Cheap and Choppy. And sadly that very same Cheap and Choppy movement animation carried on to the 2D Fighting Scenes as well. But I think that's why I enjoyed the animation so much as I understand that this movie didn't have Mainframe Entertainment level of money for their 3D animation scenes.

Moving on this film is supposed to take place before the Live Action Mortal Kombat Film. Not only it was advertised as so but they literally mention it in this movie. But sadly that's where I feel the disconnect as Yes the Events are the same, but the way how this even unfolds is deferent. For example in the Live Action Film Sub-Zero Froze Sonya Blade's Gun but in this Sub-Zero Froze Sonya Blade's Arm. And In the Live Action Film Shang Tsung Declared the Start of the Mortal Kombat Tournament on his boat, but in this Shang Tsung Declared the Start of the Mortal Kombat Tournament on his Island instead just to name a couple of examples. But still an enjoyable movie non the less. And unless I'm Forgetting anything else that should do it for the Cons for now.

Final Thoughts= Going back to what I was saying before. If you really want to give this a chance before you start hating on it. Hare's where I know you could watch it. The first obviously is in the Special Feature Section for the Blu-Ray Release of the 1995 Mortal Kombat Movie. The Second is from my research is on HBO MAX soon to be just simply MAX. And Third and Final place is on good old YouTube but for Warned with YouTube you would only be able to watch Clips as it doesn't look like you are able to watch the Full Version of this Movie, even if you typed in 'Full Movie' you would only get Clips back for the Results, and sadly that's about only places that I know of that you could watch this film. But if know of other places than all the power to you. And finally I highly recommend watching this for any Mortal Kombat Fans of any Level, or at least give it a try. Just as long as you could ignore all of the Negative Points of, and besides if you think about it all that is Bad about this movie are really minor just as long as you understand that this was Pretty Good for the Budget that they had at the time. And if you do I truly hope you enjoy. As they alway say in the games "Choose Your Destiny"

Well. With the exception of my picking it up at a garage sale in the early 2000's I most likely would have missed it entirely. I am a huge fan of the game and my 8 year old mind was Blown Away from the live action film. This small piece of MK history is important as it pre-dates MK3, which was the massive change of the series,(as every game since them has been made from it. This film is the missing links from the charactors that we did not fully know about at the time. Plus after the movie they had cheat codes for MK3. That was nice. Good little cartoon with crummy CGI. Enjoyable for a fan.

First of all, I'll start by saying that I'm a huge Mortal Kombat fan so I got this thinking it would be pretty good. Well I'll tell ya, this was brutal, well its not so much the story that is bad but the animation and the art. The art is some of the worst I've seen in an animated video and the computer graphics is cheap and the fights repeat the same moves alot. This looked like it was a cheap and lazy attempt to get Mortal Kombat out everywhere and milk the name. The thing that I liked was the Making of Mortal Kombat:The Movie at the end of the video.