Something Awesome #34 - Movie Reviews - Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United

Not to long ago, Marvel Animation Studios released an animated movie that promised to introduce a new, high tech form of animation that combined CG and cell shading, unite two popular heroes in an original story, and tie into the then-recent Avengers film. That movie was called Iron Man and Hulk: Heroes United. I panned it, saying that it was advertised as a tie in to The Avengers only as a cash grab, that it was poorly written with lame humor, and that the animation still seemed unfinished. I don't really remember how I rated it, but I remember that I rated it low. For these reasons, I avoided the second movie in this series like the plague, and after finally getting up the courage to view it, I wish I'd done so sooner, because I actually really enjoyed it.

Yes, that's right, I said it, I really liked this pseudo sequel to a movie that not only I but many critics panned mercilessly, and I can tell you exactly why. Where the first movie seemed rushed, explaining the lame story and humor, and the poor animation, this movie felt like what that one could have been. I mentioned the promises that the first Heroes United made in my review of it, going into pretty extensive detail. This movie made no such promises, and in fact wasn't really advertised or hyped up at all, and I think that just made it all the better. I had no expectations going into this movie, so I was pleasantly surprised by what worked.

And now I've made it sound like the movie was only good in that it wasn't too bad, which isn't true. In reality, the movie did many things legitimately well. The animation has been refined and looks quite good, aside from an oddness to Captain America's head shape in-mask, and a bit of choppiness to the mouth animations. The faces no longer look like flat textures on a surface, they have real life to them. The animation itself is more smooth and natural, and even lends itself to some very exciting, well planned out and detailed fight sequences. From flying around blowing things up with Iron Man, to hand-to-hand combat between Cap and either Taskmaster or the Red Skull, the fights in this movie looked really quite good. Environments were more expansive and detailed. Everything looked all around good.

 

Still not perfect, but really good.

 

Not to mention that the stuff that worked in the previous movie still worked in this movie. I did give the first film credit for mostly doing a good villain justice, for having great voice acting, and for having a fun, well-conceived climax. This movie also had a top-notch voice cast, made great use of Taskmaster, one of my favorite sometimes villains of the Marvel universe (Taskmaster is a mercenary, so he does sometimes work for the good guys), and the climax was pretty epic, with the added benefit of having a pretty smart story, about Red Skull using Cap's blood and Tony's tech to make improved super soldiers for his army, leading into it. Throw in a cameo from a fan favorite Avenger near the end to help wrap things up, and I call this movie a win. Not only that, but the movie didn't seem to be trying so hard to feel like it could be a sequel to any of the Marvel Cinematic titles, only referencing them subtly, so I feel that it works better as a standalone narrative.

 

While still not perfect, Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United was genuinely fun, and worlds beyond the previous installment in the series. If the next film (should they make one) improves even one tenth as much as this one did over the original, it could become an animated comic book classic. So, of course, based on my rating system, this film is awarded extra points for being a huge step forward for the franchise of which it is a part. For that reason I give Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United a solid 7.5 out of 10 (it would maybe be a six on its own), and I recommend that anyone who enjoys the Marvel movies, comics, or recent animated series pick it up, check it out, and come back later for another Something Awesome.