But if you’re looking at this as supplemental material to the live action film, you won’t find it here. Released in 2007, the animated film’s plot is about as paint by numbers as you can get. It’s a straight origin film about how Stephen Strange, asshole surgeon, loses his hands and finds peace in Tibet. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that one of the characters turns against the others to serve the villain. He’s basically against following orders from the very beginning.
The movie clocks in at about an hour and fifteen minutes. While the origin piece of the movie takes a while to get going, it isn’t long before Strange has full command of his magical abilities. In fact within twenty minutes of that revelation he’s been granted the moniker of Sorcerer Supreme. These movies tend to be one and done things, so while spreading things out over two movies may have made more sense, it’s to be expected that everything is crammed into a little over an hour.
The animation quality is fine. It’s a perfectly serviceable rendition of the character. The character voices are fine as well, just nothing memorable. There’s some odd editing though and the visuals for the battles are kind of boring. Nothing flashy or even magical happens. Just a few swords being conjured out of the air. I’m not expecting anything to look like the upcoming film with all its topsy- turvy magic stuff, but there’s nothing here. There are only two characters who use magic that looks like the seals and spells we’re used to seeing any they have extremely limited roles.
As far as animated films go, this one is standard fare. It isn’t anything special, and it isn’t one of the worse animated films I’ve ever seen. But if you’re looking to get your Doctor Strange fix before the movie comes out, I suggest just reading some of the comics. They’ll be more interesting.
Written by Peter Freeman, Animation Reviews -- Click to read Peter's posts
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