So this past Saturday saw the premier of an animated movie pilot for a new TV series on The Hub, which I mentioned earlier in another Something Awesome. Now, I want to preface this review (and it is a review) by saying that I know nothing about the Mighty Seven. I don't know how long Stan the Man has been working on it, if the story has ever been a comic book, or anything. All I know about the story is what I saw in this TV movie. Since it was an origin story, I specifically avoided learning anything else about the story and characters than what was already in the trailers. That way I could review the movie as an origin story on its own merits. Quickie review: overall I thought it was pretty good. Long review: strap in, because there's quite a lot to say.
First I want to discuss the premise of this movie, and the series which is very likely to follow. Imagine a world that is much like ours. There are no super heroes, but great writers like Stan Lee do exist and write stories of the superheroes we know. This world, however, is a little different from ours, because comic book cliches do exist and people acknowledge them as facts. The government has secret technology, they freely acknowledge the existence of aliens, and are pretty much ambiguously evil. Aliens do have strange powers, and they are humanoid. Its this silly amalgamation of real and comic book logic which makes this movie so much fun. It is made in the style of a comic book, because it basically is a moving comic book, and so it never takes itself any more seriously than a comic book. This, however, isn't the extent of the movie's premise. The "Stan Lee's" in the title is appropriate, not just because Stan Lee came up with the idea for this story, but because he's a character in it. Segue into...
The story of Stan Lee's Mighty Seven is, for a story set in a world as convoluted as the one I described above, pretty simple. Two space cops transporting five fugitives from their own planet back home for incarceration experience problems when the fugitives escape using some quick thinking, technical know how, and special powers. They have these powers because members of their species use eighty percent of the capacity of their brains, which are actually remarkably human-like, meaning that, technically, human's could do these things too if they were more evolved. Basically, on their world, they can teach themselves to do one of several cool things with the extra capacity of their brains. The powers of these seven include a shrinker, someone with the ability to move things with their mind, a strong man, a flier, a speedster, someone with the power to fire energy bolts, and a rotund guy who is able to puff up his body and roll around like a giant bowling ball. No one of them is too overpowered, and each has some utility aspect to their abilities. These seven get into it as both parties try to take control of the ship, which has a sassy computer built in, and they are knocked off course, falling, conveniently, into Earth's atmosphere, where they crash in front of Stan Lee. Seeing the potential of these people as superhero characters in a superhero team, Stan agrees to harbor the Seven while they wait for their people to find them, in exchange for the Seven sighning over rights to their likenesses for a comic book. Light on options, the Seven agree, also reluctantly setting aside their differences for the time being.
The crash landing of these seven if fortuitous, however, because it just so happens that an advance force of lizard/humanoid hybrid aliens is on Earth and about the make a move to cripple Earth's defenses in preparation for a full-scale invation. The Seven know of these aliens, which are uncaring and greedy conquerers. In fact their people have fought these lizard aliens before in a war which is implied to be the reason why the world that the Seven come from is kind of a crapsack world now, and why the majority of the fugitives are, in fact, fugitives. They are good people who were forced into or forced to resort to crime to survive. The only exception is Laser Lord, the laser-handed guy, who knows Strongarm, the strong one, and Silver Skylark, the flier, from space cop academy. Laser Lord is suspected of murder, and he's bitter because Strongarm, his best friend, doesn't believe that he's innocent. This is only one of the backstories that we get in this movie. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, we get backstories for every member of the Seven in this premier. I don't plan on going into detail about any more of them, however, as I don't want to spoil too much. Needless to say, though, we get to know all of our characters very well very quickly, which actually brings me to the first (minor) critisism I have about the movie overall.
While I'm very glad that this movie, as nonsensical as it can be, treats the characters and their stories seriously, I kind of wish that their backstories had been saved for later episodes. These characters are all very different, and I think that their interactions alone would have been enough for this pilot, saving the reveals of their histories for subsequent episodes, where they could be explored in greater depth. This, however, is a minor gripe. Because these histories were not the focus of this episode, there is still room to explore them more later, and the characters all have interesting enough stories that there are practically limitless ways to explore and expand upon them. Despite some cliches, the writing in this movie was certainly good enough that I trust the writers to handle this potential well.
One of the greatest things about this movie, beyond the characters themselves, is the voice cast. We have Teri Hatcher, Armee Hammer, Christian Slater, Sean Astin, Darren Criss, Mayim Bialik, and Flea as the Seven. There are some pretty big names on this list, and, to my surprise, none of them felt like they were cast for their names. Every voice fit the corresponding character quite well. I do, however, have an issue with something relating to the voices, but it's not the voices themselves but rather the delivery of some of the lines. While everyone's voice acting was really good, there were a few times when the dialogue didn't feel quite natural. Again, this didn't feel like a fault of the voice actors, but more like an issue with the editing or directing, and its pretty hard to pick up on either way. A weird inflection here, or a line of dialogue beginning before another line has ended their. Nothing too substantial, but which I noticed nonetheless.
Despite a few flaws, Stan Lee's Mighty Seven was a good time. It didn't feel too serious, or too campy, it has an interesting, if odd premise, lots of potential, and a great cast to boot. Stan the Man was great in it, even if his interactions with these super-powered characters does seem a bit farfetched in a few points. There is also a point in the plot of the movie where his importance to the team is showcased and, quite frankly, it felt a little forced and silly. Still, if you like super heroes or comic books, you should really give Mighty Seven a shot. I know I'll be tuning in once the series starts up. I give Stan Lee's Mighty Seven a very fitting 7 out of 10.
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