The Invincible Iron Man (2007) (V)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Directors:

Patrick Archibald
Jay Oliva

Writers:

Avi Arad (story)
Greg Johnson (writer)

Release Date:

23 January 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

A Lone Warrior. A Suit of Armor. Our Only Hope. IRON MAN.

Plot:

When a cocky industrialist's efforts to raise an ancient Chinese temple leads him to be seriously wounded and captured by enemy forces, he must use his ideas for a revolutionary power armor in order to fight back as a superhero.

Plot Keywords:

The Mandarin | China | Prophecy | Elementals | Armor

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Marc Worden	...	Tony Stark / Iron Man (voice)
Gwendoline Yeo	...	Li Mei (voice)
Fred Tatasciore	...	The Mandarin / Additional Voices (voice)
Rodney Saulsberry	...	James 'Rhodey' Rhodes (voice)
Elisa Gabrielli	...	Virginia 'Pepper' Potts (voice)
John McCook	...	Howard Stark (voice)
James Sie	...	Wong Chu (voice)
Stephen Mendillo	...	Boyer (voice)
John DeMita	...	Agent Drake / Additional Voices (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
George Cheung	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Chris Edgerly	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Paul Nakauchi	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Michael Yama	...	Additional Voices (voice)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for action violence and some sensuality.

Runtime:

83 min | 83 min (approx)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | English

Color:

Color | Color (NTSC Color)

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | Dolby (Dolby 5.1)

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | USA:PG-13 (DVD) | Singapore:PG | Finland:K-11

Company:

Marvel Studios

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Tony says the life-support device makes him "look like Frankenstein." Frankenstein was the creator, not the monster (though this is a common mistake).

Quotes:

The Mandarin: She has served her purpose, Iron Knight. As for you, your blood must now be shed, and the prophecy must be fulfilled.

Movie Connections:

References Frankenstein (1931)

Iron Man falls flat without the Avengers

Marvel's third installment in their line of animated movies is probably the weakest so far. I was a fan of the two Avengers movies released previously and the concept of a Marvel animated movie dedicated to a single character was something I'd been waiting for. I was a bit let down after watching this movie; I didn't feel it lived up to the decent quality of its predecessors.

This movie retells the origins of Iron Man: Tony Stark (voiced again by Marc Worden) has been using his company, Stark Industies, to fund an archaeological dig in China that has been under constant assault from a rebel group known as the Jade Dragons. After one attack finds James 'Rhodey' Rhodes missing, Stark flies out to China where he is taken prisoner by the Jade Dragons. From here, we find the familiar story of Stark creating his first Iron Man armor to keep him alive/help him escape and he soon assumes the role of Iron Man when he finds himself pulled into a prophecy that the Mandarin will arise and use his powers for world domination.

Now, I've never really followed the Iron Man comics but I know that there are some problems with this already. Mandarin was not an ancient Chinese tyrant and he didn't use magic; he was man from modern times who used alien technology to create his rings of power. So, already, the movie has lost points for straying from the storyline that Iron Man fans know and love. I understand that the creators were probably going for an East vs West theme, magic vs technology, but I got bored with the idea pretty fast into the movie. The story itself felt as if it moved annoying slow at some points and the final confrontation at the end didn't really satisfy.

The animation was pretty good but continued to suffer from the same flaws as the Avengers movies. Action scenes look great but smaller things, such as mouth/voice syncing and facial expressions, were weak. The creators used a bit more computer-generated animation for some of this movie, primarily in the Iron Man armors and in the Mandarin's demon elementals, and I'd say it worked pretty successfully. The majority of the fight scenes look great; I just wish we'd gotten some more time with the iconic Mark III armor.

Overall, the movie is definitely a step backwards for the Marvel animated series. I enjoyed it to an extent, but I still don't consider the movie anything more than average. The film has it's strong points (the demon elementals and Iron Man's armor look fantastic) but continues to suffer from the same flaws as its predecessors. Add to that a mediocre story and you get 83 minutes that didn't quite leave me content.