Mosaic (2007) (V)

Director:

Roy Allen Smith

Writers:

Stan Lee (story)
Scott Lobdell (written by)

Release Date:

9 January 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Fantasy

Plot:

A break-in and murder at a New York City museum sparks an investigation by Interpol Agent Nathan Nelson...

Plot Keywords:

Artifact | Storm | New York City | Museum | Interpol

Cast

Anna Paquin	...	Maggie (voice)
Kirby Morrow	...	Mosaic (voice)
Cam Clarke	...	Stephan / Italian Captain (voice)
Garry Chalk	...	Nathan Nelson (voice) (as Gary Chalk)
Nicole Oliver	...	Agent Newell (voice)
Jim Ward	...	Tour Guide / Belligerent Detective (voice)
Kathleen Barr	...	Facade / Mrs. Nottenmyer (voice)
Scott McNeil	...	Mr. Bullwraith / Landlord (voice) (as Scott Mcneil)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ron Halder	...	Manikin (voice) (uncredited)
Stan Lee	...	Stanley (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Roy Allen Smith

Writing credits
Stan Lee		(story)
Scott Lobdell		(written by)

Produced by
Gill Champion	....	executive producer
Sidney Clifton	....	executive producer
Scott D. Greenberg	....	executive producer
John W. Hyde	....	executive producer
Stan Lee	....	executive producer
Rocky Solotoff	....	producer
Michael Wolf	....	executive producer (as Mike Wolf)

Original Music by
William Anderson		(as William Kevin Anderson)

Film Editing by
Shawn Logue

Production Management
John Hoyos	....	post-production supervisor
Matthew Savalas	....	production supervisor (as Matthew G. Savalas)
Chuck Smith	....	post-production supervisor
Cynthia Turkington	....	production manager

Art Department
John Fox	....	storyboard artist
Kevin Pawlak	....	storyboard artist
David Schwartz	....	storyboard artist
Dave Simmons	....	storyboard artist (as David Simmons)
Marty Warner	....	prop design

Sound Department
Doug Andham	....	sound editor (as Doug Andorka)
Doug Andham	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Doug Andorka)
Timothy J. Borquez	....	re-recording mixer
Timothy J. Borquez	....	supervising sound editor
Eric Freeman	....	sound editor
Jeff Hutchins	....	sound editor
Sean Rowe	....	foley artist
Felix Sanchez	....	adr editor
Daisuke Sawa	....	sound editor
Thomas Syslo	....	supervising sound editor (as Tom Syslo)

Visual Effects by
William L. Arance	....	visual effects artist
Brent M. Bowen	....	visual effects artist
Chadd B. Cole	....	visual effects supervisor
Harry Eisenstein	....	visual effects artist (as Harry M. Eisenstein)
Steven Fahey	....	visual effects artist
Peter Gend	....	visual effects artist
Jeff Howard	....	2D special effects supervisor
Adam Klein	....	visual effects artist
Carol VanHook	....	visual effects artist
Andrea Yomtob	....	visual effects artist (as Andrea N. Yomtob)

Animation Department
Kimberly Bowles	....	character clean-up
Mechele Boyett	....	animatic editor
Derek Carter	....	background layout
William Dely	....	background colorist (as Bill Dely Junior)
Barbara Dourmashkin	....	animation timer
James Gallego	....	background colorist
Brent Gordon	....	character color designer
Eric Gordon	....	character color designer
Dan Haskett	....	character designer
Warren 'Topper' Helmers	....	background layout (as Topper Helmers)
Wendy Jacobsmeyer	....	checking
Karen Peterson	....	animation timer
Karen Peterson	....	timing: storyboard
Jeff Purves	....	background layout
Nelson Shin	....	main title animator: Akom Production
Gwen Wetzler	....	track reader (as Gwen A. Wetzler)
Larry Whitaker	....	character designer (as Larry Whitaker Jr.)
Jungja Wolf	....	animation timer (as Jung Ja Wolf)
Woody Yocum	....	animation timer

Editorial Department
John Hoyos	....	editor: main title
Brian Q. Kelley	....	electronic editorial (segments)
Steffie Lucchesi	....	post-production coordinator
Mark Seymour	....	editor: main title
Robert Weaver	....	director of post-production

Music Department
William Anderson	....	orchestrations (as William Kevin Anderson)
Patrick Griffin	....	orchestrations
Patrick Griffin	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)

Other crew
Stephen Apostolina	....	adr voice: Off The Walla Voice Talent
Peter Baghdassarian	....	business and legal affairs (as Peter Baghdassarian Esq)
Brett Coker	....	operations
Bradley Cooper	....	information technology
Elaine De Mari	....	information technology (as Elaine Demari)
Dixon Q. Dern	....	business and legal affairs (as Dixon Q. Dern Esq)
Michael Dreyer	....	production assistant
Alex Epstein	....	information technology
Amie Hawes	....	technical director: main title
Sheruldon P. Herron	....	production accountant (as Sheruldon Herron)
Steve Kramer	....	adr voice: Off The Walla Voice Talent
Stan Lee	....	presenter
Charles McCaskill	....	information technology (as Charles Mccaskill)
Mike Medaris	....	information technology
Steve Mills	....	technical director: main title
Peggy O'Neal	....	adr voice: Off The Walla Voice Talent
Lia Sargent	....	adr voice: Off The Walla Voice Talent
Geoffrey Schroeder	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Manga Entertainment (presents)
• POW! Entertainment (in association with)
• Film Roman Productions (animation produced by) (as Film Roman, A Starz Company)
• Voice Box Productions

Distributors

• Starz Media (2006) (worldwide) (all media)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Film Roman Productions (3-D visual effects)

Other Companies

• Akom Production Company  main title animation (as Akom Production)
• Enzo Animation  digital paint
• Enzo Animation  inbetweens
• Hacienda Post  post production sound provided by
• Koko Productions  recorded at (as Koko Productions-Vancouver, Canada)
• Mook Animation  animation by
• Off The Walla  ADR (as "Off The Walla Voice Talent")
• Studio Sallim  background
• T Nishimura  camera (as T. Nishimura Co. Ltd.)
• Voice Box Productions  recorded at (as Voicebox Productions-Vancouver, Canada)

Also Known As:

"Stan Lee Presents Mosaic" - USA (DVD box title)

Runtime:

72 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:M

Company:

Manga Entertainment

Trivia:

As Maggie considers the source of her powers, she jokingly suggests being bitten by a radioactive chameleon. This is a reference to Stan Lee's most famous creation, Spider-Man (bitten by a radioactive spider).

Quotes:

Maggie Nelson:I've been an Interpol agent's daughter my whole life. I should've seen *that* non-answer coming.

Movie Connections:

References "Late Show with David Letterman" (1993)

Soundtrack:

Telegraph

Pleasantly Surprised

The beginning credits for this animated Stan Lee production contains scenes of superhero ripoffs of other popular characters like Batman, Captain America and the Hulk. Not a good omen, I thought, of an original superhero film by Stan Lee. Imagine my surprise when I found that this film had a freshness and joy to it I found contagious. Is the movie great? Nope, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Let me focus on the reason the movie works: the hero. None of the powers Maggie (Anna Paquin) gain are original. Shape shifting, invisibility, wall-crawling, super-strength...they've all been done before. In fact, before this film I would have argued that there were no original heroes left to be had. Somehow, this combination of powers with the character of a high-school female drama student seemed original to me. Yes, we've seen teenage heroes before but I really found myself taken with how Maggie's reactions to her abilities seemed more real than scripted. There are very, very few original female superheroes (Wonder Woman and the Invisible Girl are all that come to mind right now) and a majority of them are thinly-veiled excuses to have chesty woman in tight, revealing clothes. The character of Maggie is never used in an overtly sexy way (though when she turns invisible her outline looks rather naked and she has a dream of being in her underwear) and she is written with more depth than would be expected from a direct-to-DVD animated feature.

Unfortunately, the rest of the film doesn't support its main character. From writing to animation, everything else is lackluster. It would be nice to see someone put more effort and money into animating these direct-to-DVD films (Ultimate Avengers I and II) beyond the level of..well..direct-to-DVD animated fare.

The tone of the movie tries to go beyond Saturday morning fare with some mild swearing and scenes of violence but Batman: The Animated Series routinely found ways of being far more sophisticated without cursing or on-screen bloodletting.

So, why do I give this an 8 out of 10? Is the main character that good? Yes. I think strong, smart, realistic female superheros are rare and must be embraced even if the films they are in aren't up to par. Stan Lee struggled for a while after Marvel with characters that never found the glory of his original run at Marvel. Mosaic is the first project that I feel touches that magic everyone felt in the 60s when Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Hulk, and the X-Men first hit the shelves. I can now say I can't wait to see what's next.

The Fuzzy Dan Speaketh