Thor: Tales of Asgard – Blu-ray Review

The Film:

Marvel might be dominating the movie world, but their animated films, which started back a few years ago, are only little whimpers when compared to DC’s animated films. In the last few films, this has changed for Marvel, as they began crafting original, brave productions like in Next Avengers and Planet Hulk, as well as the incredibly fun Hulk Vs. Delayed to be timed with his big screen debut (review here), Thor: Tales of Asgard isn’t as great as those I’ve mentioned, but even on cruise control, it’s better than Marvel/LGF’s earlier efforts.

Essentially, Thor: Tales of Asgard acts like a prequel to Thor, telling the story of when a younger Thor was developing his courage and hero status. It’s young Thor, before the Hammer, and while that doesn’t sound promising, the writing is pretty above par for the idea, offering plenty of nods and hints at who Thor and Loki will become. It’s kind of daring, but for Thor as a character, it works. Up until now, as seen in the two Ultimate Avengers and in Hulk Vs., Thor has been drawn out quite unexciting.  Perhaps it’s just his nature, but Thor is far from the most interesting Marvel hero, but as Kenneth Branagh proved, you still can create something interesting and memorable for Thor.

I wouldn’t say Tales of Asgard is all that great, as in storytelling it’s fairly rountine. Maybe it’s the nature of prequels, but events aren’t that thrilling when we know who he will become. While there’s plenty of character depth and nuances that fans will appreciate, Tales of Asgard is rather uneventful, especially without a main villain or final fight. Despite probably Marvel’s best showcase of animation yet, there’s little to get excited about. There’s action and some fights, and while I appreciate the ballsy chance at this story, it’s still Thor: The Teenage Years, and it just can’t compare to the Mjölnir smashing into some villain’s face.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Lionsgate’s HD presentation packed a punch. Clarity and eye-catching colors are vividly presented. Despite the DTS 7.1 track, as good as it is, it isn’t as atmospheric as other ‘toons have been. It’s also not as bass heavy as you’d expect and oddly front heavy too, but overall there’s a richness to the track in terms of music and dialogue.

Commentaries: Supervising producer Craig Kyle and screenwriter Greg Johnson offer a great chat about the production and show real chemistry, and while the producer Gary Hartle, director Sam Liu and character designer Phil Bourassa track is good, it suffers from dead silence here and there.

Worthy: The Making of Thor: Tales of Asgard: In HD, this is a pretty good making-of that offers rare art, voice cast interviews, and other production tidbits for a standard but informative look at the film.

Trailers, a bonus episode of The Avengers, and the DVD copy of the film round out the special features.

The Film: Rating:

The Blu-ray: Rating: