Battlemouth

For fans of the Marvel universe, refuge has recently been found in the realm of animation. With such titles as Doctor Strange, Iron Man, The Ultimates, and Hulk Vs. delivering quality entertainment, these animated features have been a nice counter balance to the often disappointing live action features. Planet Hulk continues the streak of quality animated features.

Planet Hulk is the story of the Hulk being banished from Earth. An alliance of Iron Man, and other high powered Marvel heroes put the Hulk on a ship to a peaceful world far, far away. Of course when the Hulk awakens he trashes the ship and changes his course, ending up on a hostile and dangerous world. The local military captures the Hulk and forces him to compete as a gladiator. Fighting for his life, the Hulk becomes an idol to the local population who thinks he may be the savior they have waited so long for.

This film is a recreation of the comic series from a couple years back. It isn’t extremely faithful to the books, but it follows the main plot. I actually loved the books, and wasn’t too let down with the changes. One really odd choice was the replacement of the Silver Surfer with Beta Ray Bill. For those that don’t know this character he is an alien that replicated all of Thor’s powers during a battle. Eventually he was deemed worthy by Oden and granted a hammer of his own, becoming one of Asgard’s warriors. His appearance in Planet Hulk is an obvious attempt to raise awareness of the character for the upcoming Thor animated feature. Although a semi-obscure character he actually fits into the story well.

The best thing about this feature is that it didn’t stray away from the graphic nature of this series. The film embraces the feral nature of the Hulk and the planet of Sakaar. The film is full of adult themes and very graphic violence. It is refreshing to see an animated feature not dumb down it’s content just because some kids may watch it. With the Hulk as a gladiator the fight choreography really plays well. The film is almost wall to wall fight sequences, with many characters meeting bloody and gruesome endings at the hands of the Hulk and his war bound companions.

If you like comics, and the Hulk in particular this flick is very enjoyable. This is a perfect DVD to get on Netflix, but I wouldn’t recommend you spend any money on it. The adult themes and excellent fight sequences make the film a fast paced joy ride. There are some flaws, like the Hulk’s odd personality changes through out the film but the movie moves fast enough it is easy to over look these small problems. I hope that one day the people who make the live action films will take a lesson from these animators and make decent projects that stay true to the characters we all love. Until then, I will take solace in these occasional animated releases.

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