ANI-MOVIES, *Batman: Soul Of The Dragon

Meant to be another original in the long line of DC Universe Animated titles diving into the Elseworlds labels, Batman: Soul Of The Demom is an homage to the Bronze Age works of Dennis O'Neil, specifically the Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter comic, largeley inspired by chopsocky and blaxploitation movies. Marvel Comics gained popularity with this in the 70s when they created their mashup series, Power Man/Iron Fist, but alot of elements from the Richard Dragon comic went on to create long lasting martial arts characters in the DC Universe like Bronze Tiger and Lady Shiva. The movie also reflects on O'Neil's more serious approach to the Batman comics which tried to drive away from the more campy years of the Adam West era.

Set in the 1970a, Richard Dragon is a secret agent who makes James Bond-styled entrances, and shared a martial arts school in the Asain mountains years before along young Bruce Wayne, Shiva, Ben Turner(aka: Bronze Tiger), plus earlier incarnations if DC regulars: Judomaster and Cheshire. Their teacher is O-Sensei, and passes his fighting techniques on to them, including the responsiblity of watching over an ancient Muramasa sword. The sword is actually the key to opening up a door to a dimension of snake demons, ruled over by the evil god Naga, of which O-Sensei sacrifices himself to seal the rift. Richard travels to Gotham City so he can enlist Bruce Wayne's help, thus revealing his secret identity of Batman. The two of them go to Lady Shiva's underground tournament stadium, where a criminal originzation also arrives to steal the sword. Richard, Bruce, and Shiva now hook up with Ben to raid the bad guys stronghold, lead by the snake cult leader Kobra(one of the first comic book villains to get their own series!). The four fighters along with Bruce in his Batman gear break into Kobra's lair, and fight their two best fighters, King Snake(secretly Bane's real father) and Lady Eve, as they make their way to a final confrontation with the powerful Naga, with a surprise ending.

The full movie has several flashback scenes in it, meant to honor the old Kung Fu TV series. The casting is above average with Michael Jai-White reprising his Arrowverse role of Bronze Tiger, Kelly Hu coming back to voice Lady Shiva from Batman: Arkham Origins, plus cult movie legend James Hong playing both a good guy and bad guy in the dual role of O-Sensei. The animation is above that done in the previous DC Universe release of Superman: Man Of Tomorrow, but the style of the movie really appeals to fans of 1970s action cinema. For an Elseworlds-themed movie, Soul Of The Dragon makes for an amazing view of a largley underappreciated corner of the DC Universe.

Kong Falcon Punch!

 

ANI-MOVES, *Tom Sawyer

As one of the few movies that's part of the limited MGM Animation lineup, the 2000 made-for-video release of Tom Sawyer isn't the first animated version of the original Mark Twain book, but it is the first time they had the cast be made entirely of anthropomorphic animals. This is one of those strange cartoon worlds where the people are animals, but they also have regular "animals" as animals, like Goofy and Pluto from Disney. There was also a strong emphasis on introducing musical numbers into the fray, ususally country music.

Set in a more swampy version of Mississippi, Tom Sawyer is a feline lad that lives with his Aunt Polly and his brother Sidney who ususally snitches on all his shennanigans. Tom is best friends with the orphened Huckleberry Finn, but is suddenly more interested in school more with the cute new girl Becky Thatcher starts going to his class. This begins a slight rivalry between Becky and Tom's original girlfriend Amy, which gives the character alot more airtime in this version of the story than in the original book. Tom and Huck go out looking for a lost pirate treasure in a graveyard one night, to see the resident troublemaker, "Injurin'" Joe, a huge bear with long claws forcing the local yokel Mutt Potter to dig the treasure up. Joe murders a snoopy deputy, leaving Mutt to take the wrap, with Tom and Huck witnessing the whole thing, and getting lost escaping Joe. The two best friends get lost on an island, while everyone in town thinks that they are now dead, but not after crashing their own funeral. Tom and Huck fess up to stop Mutt from getting hanged, but Joe arrives to shut them up, leading to his supposed drowning in the river. Following a victory celebration, Tom and Becky explore the spooky Dead Man's Cave, where it turns out Joe has been living and hiding the treasure. The townsfolk manage to witness Tom outsmarting Joe for the final time, and Amy taking a new liking to Huck, resolving Tom's love triangle.

Upon first look, it appears that MGM was trying to bring back the success they had with Don Bluth's installments in their catalog like The Secret Of NIMH or All Dogs Go To Heaven. Despite that, the character designs have their own unique style to them seperating from looking too much like Looney Tunes. The cast is robust with regular voice over celebrities like Betty White and Don Knotts, plus regular country singers such as Rhett Akins and Mark Willis filling the parts of Tom and Huck. It's unusual for a film intended for children to contain mature subject matter like murder and capitol punishment, however it does represent them in a mostly believeable matter. Plus, kitty Becky Thatcher is sooooo cute!

On Marvel Cinematic Universe TV continuity...

Me And The Boys: 80's Edition

 

ANI-MOVIES, *DC Super Hero Girls: Legends Of Atlantis

With an upcoming live-action Aquaman movie on the horizon, it was decided to make the last(so far)DC Super Hero Girls made-for-video animated movie to be focused on the introduction on the character of Mera, who in this reality is a teenager. It also ties into the at the time still running DC Super Hero Girls original online series. This was before the current TV series remake, to which focuses on a different take on the comics characters.

Starting out sometime during Wonder Woman's years as "Wonder Tot" on Themyscira, she encounters the water-breathing twins, Mera and Siren. The sisters managed to acquire the waterproof Boof of Legends, a book of spells that is a runner-up for the necronomicon from Evil Dead, and use it to summon a small number of sea creatures called the Trench. Wonder Tot happens to stop their attempt on using the monsters to invade Atlantis, but gaining a phobia for the Trench. Cut to some time later(we're never told whether or not this takes place over years or centuries!), and Hawkgirl somehow discovered the Book of Legends, and the students at Super Hero High coerce newcomer Raven to use her magic to help secure the book. Raven's sorcery however accidently switches Supergirl and Batgirl's "powers", so now Batgirl can leap tall buildings while Supergirl is now more scientifically-inclined. Siren feels the Book's magic reawakening, and talks Mera into helping her stealing the book to conquer Atlantis. The twins summon an army of Trench monsters, and get a hold of Aquaman's powerful trident. The super heroes then launch an investigation to stop Siren's ambitions, and try winning Mera over to their side.

The direct to video film was largely made to help boost sales of the DC Super Hero Girls merchandise, and to spotlight their underwater characters to non-comic readers who only think of Aquaman as being a joke character fron the old Superfriends cartoon. The plus factor is seeing the fun Supergirl and Batgirl have as they get used to their newfound abilities. Another is showcasing the character of Raven fitting into a school for heroes, while having voice actress Tara Strong doing both her and Harley Quinn as the scene-stealing clown girl attempts to help Raven get over her akwardness in a new social enviroment. It's one of the more positive footnotes in DC Comics' continuing efforts to promote their toylines.