Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow

When I go into these Marvel animated outings I expect play by numbers stuff, whether it be a dark or kiddie friendly one they rarely surpise but manage to entertain to some degree.

With this one I went in with even lower expectations than usual. The children of the Avengers? Sounded like a blatant cashgrab and the plot seemed to confirm that further.

However from the opening sequence, it's writing and perfect score I realised I was mistaken and this was going to be something quite special.

Telling the story of a world where Ultron defeated the Avengers and killed most of them, Tony Stark has hidden away their offspring keeping them safe and off the grid. But of course things go wrong and they find themselves forced to embrace their destiny.

The whole thing looks beautiful and almost feels like a AAA movie, the score is outstanding and the movie is a kid friendly riot of fun.

Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow exceeded all my expectations and showed that these things can rise above mediocrity. Really good stuff.

The Good:

Great opening

Very well constructed

Excellent score

Some good ideas

The Bad:

Some really dumb ideas

Few unanswered questions

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Fred Tatasciore is more Hulk than Mark Ruffalo, seriously he's in every one of these things

this is one of the latest Marvel animated features,and i gotta say,i liked it.this one involves the children of the Original Avengers,most of which do not appear in the story.i won't say why.you'll have to watch to find out.anyway,i found the premise of the future an interesting concept.but there is more to the story than just the children.i mentioned earlier that mos of the original Avengers do not appear,but one or two do show up to lend a hand.i liked the fact that in this feature,the threat to humanity is very grave,with a very strong and powerful villain.there's some great character interaction here,as well,including some conflict among the heroes.and for action fans,there are some great action scenes,including some great hand to had combat fighting.beyond that,i really like the colour scheme of the movie.,and i thought the voice castling was very good,especially,the voice of the villain.it was truly an inspired choice.my vote for The Next Avengers:8.5/10

In an alternative future, where the Avengers grew complacent and softened considerably opting to give up heroics for family life raising their respective children. Ultron kills them off one by one (save for Tony stark, who keeps vigil over the offspring of the Avengers, Thor, who's retreated back to Asgard, and Bruce Banner). Now Ultron has found out about the teen kids and it's up to them to save the day.

Perhaps I'm not really the true demographic of this movie, comic loving tykes might get a lot more entertainment out of the kid-friendly silly little shenanigans then this late twenty-something did. I will say that the movie is much much better than the simply atrocious but similarly themed "Avengers United"

My Grade: C

DVD Extras: A 10 and a half minute Making of featurette; 'Kid Power: Next gen Marvel" (a 9 and a half minute featurette on Marvel's kid/ teen oriented comics); First looks for both "Hulk vs. Wolverine" & "Hulk Vs. Thor"; and trailers for "Ultimate Avengers", "Ultimate Avengers 2", "the Invincible Iron Man", "Speed Racer: the Next Generation", "the Forbidden Kingdon", "Hulk Vs Thor", "Hulk Vs Wolverine", "Spectacular Spider-man", "Teenage mutant ninja turtles" Volume 6, & "Doctor Strange"

Ultimate Avengers 1 and 2, Invincible Iron Man, Doctor Strange and now "Next Avengers".

The Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, have been defeated by the machine menace known as Ultron. Presumably the last survivor of that final terrible battle, Iron Man/Tony Stark takes it upon himself to hide the baby children of the Avengers in secret so that Ultron would never find them. He raises them hidden in a underground artificial paradise, constantly spinning them tales about the parents they never knew. Fast forward 13 years later and the children have grown up into fine youngsters, training their individual gifts but longing to find their place in the world. Following a surprise visitation by the Vision and an unfortunate accident, Ultron discovers the location of the Avenger's children and launches an all out attack. Separated from their mentor, Iron Man, and on the run, these "Next Avengers" must live up to their family heritage while dealing with their individual inner turmoil and teenage angst.

How good is the movie? This is my take.

First off, the story is very intriguing and engaging. There is a good amount of mystery and tension in the first act but the second part taking place in Ultron City falls a little bit into futuristic cartoon clichés. The story isn't as intense as the previous two animated movies, nor as character focused, but tries not to fall too far into the juvenile side.

The Characters, you either Love em or hate em. There children are typical kid hero character stereotypes. The irritating youngest brat(Pym), the hot headed slacker turned leader(James), the feisty girl with daddy issues(Toruun), the token African American for political correctness(Azari) and the cold aloof flirty one(Barton). Aside from the clichés their individual story arcs play out very believably. The inner turmoil faced by the heroes alludes to many common problems face by average teenagers nowadays, such as living up to one's parents' expectations and finding a sense of self-identity. These are very Heart warming themes that can appeal to young and old alike. Some of the dialogue may be a little too "saturday morning cartoon" for the older teenagers like myself but those are few and far between.

It is in the animation department where this otherwise great film suffers. The animation is very inconsistent here. The art varies from an intricate level of detail with heavy shadows to flat and cheap looking crap with no other detail other than the basic outlines and features. A number of animation short cuts are jarringly visible and the fluidity of the animation usually varies indirectly to the art detail. This leads the overall animation of the movie to have a budgeted look; more fitting for a TV series than a movie. The character designs had a strong American anime feel to them. Not as exaggerated as Teen Titans but more on par with Ben 10.

On a whole, Next Avengers was an enjoyable movie with themes that are easy to relate to and can be watched by an audience of any age above 7. If it were not for the sub standard animation(compared to other animated movies), I would have given this a higher rating. This was a decent direct to DVD show and i look forward to the next. NEXT PLEASE Marvel!!!

All of Marvel Studios animated films in the last 3 years starting with The Invincible Iron Man, Dr Strange, and Avengers 1& 2 were first rate comic book animated films that truly delivered the character drive and action that comic book fans have lusted for decades. They now follow up with a suspiciously kiddish animated movie set in an alternative future where the avengers have been long wiped out by Ultron apart from Tony Stark who takes the children of the Avengers into hiding to raise them away from harm. This is definitely a more kid friendly entry but don't let that put any of you off. The children behave like normal children with powers (did that make sense?), are likable, very vulnerable and needing adult guidance. The story is entertaining if rather straightforward with a couple of interesting revelations and welcome cameos. The voice acting for the children Avengers are charming (much akin to those in The Incredibles) with production levels on par with Marvel's previous films. This is not the best of the Marvel series but it is certainly a great deal of fun for both children and adults.