- Grey DeLisle should never voice anyone outside of comedic roles. I get too much of a Daphne Blake vibe whenever I hear her talk.
- We essentially already had a Black Panther movie when the second one came out, and this one is more palatable thanks to the lack of a political slant.
- They completely nerfed Ant Man. Oh, and new rule coming forth, don't kill off characters after you establish them as dicks and then pass it as some tragic moment. We'd remember the characters more for their dickish behavior.
- The Hulk comes off as bland. It was done better in the 1996 cartoon and Fantastic Four: World Greatest Heroes with a balance between darkness and humor. It felt more believable and endearing.
- The whole thing is caked with grit and darkness. It's like Teen Titans without the ill-fitting anime tropes.
Oh, there was this other Marvel movie that essentially fell under the cracks. Read the title bitches.
Background
I distinctly remember seeing previews for the movie on Cartoon Network. I even caught it in full, but after that it just faded from my conscious, for the most part. This was a case that also occurred for me on Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes and the only reason I went digging for that series was because one scene popped into my head and I needed to find the context for it. Whereas the cartoon is part of a well-recognized property, Mosaic wasn't, and I couldn't remember the name of it for the life of me.
Wanna know how I was able to find out the name? A quote from the promos popped into my head, and luckily it was traced to the movie once I did a Google search on the quote. At first I wanted to try and find the film and see if it was... decent. I didn't remember particularly liking it or hating it, but it was a bit difficult. I gave up trying to find it until recently where I took a gamble and went on KimCartoon.me, and lo and behold, I found it, and it was... meh.
History
One thing that caught my eye was that the story of the film was written by Stan Lee. Not a story based on something by Stan Lee, this was off the top of his head. The film was directed by Roy Allen Smith, who was behind Land Before Time II to IV and those animated Leap Frog videos (remember Leap Frog?), and that's going by his movie credits. The film was produced by Film Roman (who was behind... essentially anything made over in the states) as well as Manga Entertainment who was owned by the distributor's (Anchor Bay) owner at the time.
This was, as far as I'm willing to believe, intended to be a step into a brand new IP for Marvel, so how did this movie fare? Per audience reception (which may be the last honest ratings system on the site) it got a 49% on Rotten Tomatoes, just one below a respectable fresh rating. Ouch. That's so my impression on the film.
Plot
Before I go any further I'd just like to say that I'll only go over the general synopsis and key points in the film. It won't be a plot analysis since it works poorly on a textual basis. Not everything translates well via text (isn't that right Crappy Games Wiki)?
Set in New York City (because that's the only real city that exists to Marvel evidentially.) The movie centers on Maggie Nelson, an actress who's the daughter of an INTERPOL agent. The latter visits a crime scene at a museum, where an artifact belonging to an indigenous lost tribe of chameleons (work with me) is the source of the conflict. During a freak storm, thanks to Maggie refusing to shut off her laptop to focus on a term paper, a lighting bolt strikes through the window, somehow gives power to the artifact (then again it could've been powered by plot contrivance) and from there, Maggie Nelson discovers her powers and sets out under the moniker... Maggie Nelson. Oh, you probably thought that Mosaic was the name of Maggie's super alter-ego right? No, it's actually the name of a co-headliner who helps her locate her father after he gets kidnapped by the head honcho of the chameleon people. She takes the name near the end though so... I guess you could do that.
And since I bring up the chameleon people without properly explaining it, imagine Metropolis, if it were reworked into a reptilian-furry fanfic written by someone who watches anime-styled western cartoons with a bottle of lotion. This is the world that got flipped over turned upside down by revolutionaries (or these days, ANTIFA with a deeper psychological complex) and later destroyed, with few remaining. I'd throw in a Black Panther comparison, but fuck, I don't want to give the movie any more attention. Basically, it's every story involving a tribe of people dying out due to corruption. This kind of thing should (heck, practically is) happen in most of the world and soon, but I guess life has to be a ass.
Characters
Our lead Maggie totally has an endearing personality down. She's... an actress. That's cool that's cool. She's snarky, because I guess every good hero needs to be. She catches onto things too soon. Throughout the movie, save for certain moments, she is able to piece together what's happening and is able to do whatever she needs to without any fatal mistakes. Way to keep us on the edge of our seats, and what a time when this is the first we ever hear of Maggie (I could see why you named the movie after an entirely different character. When we have heroes going by their street names we've reached the bottom of the barrel and are now contracting the "I need money." splinters. How does she stack up as a hero? There's a section on Wikipedia that lists every power that was identified in the film.
Maggie's powers include shapeshifting, super strength, the ability to cling to surfaces allowing for scaling walls and ceilings (much like Spider-Man), seeing the DNA of other creatures (which is how she can compare humans to apes), regeneration, infrared vision, camouflage, and the ability to become invisible and mimic voices as well as a gift for understanding the Chameliel language (it is never explained if this ability shows that she can understand other languages or speak them but it makes sense). Strangely, when Maggie becomes invisible, her outline gives off the appearance that she is completely naked, even though she is in fact wearing clothes. Why her clothes are not outlined when her body is invisible is never made clear.
Or in layman's terms, too fucking many. I could understand shapeshifting to go with the chameleon aspect, but everything else? God... So she also has above average strength, who doesn't? Then there's climbing through walls. Why do you feel the need to incorporate Spider-Man of all things into this project? If so then why not have her powers awakened through the bite of a radioactive chameleon.
Maggie is fawned over by Stephen, the kind of guy who'd cut his own arm of if it meant making Maggie happy, but he goes through the kind of trope that prevents him from being more open about it. She likes you dude, and hasn't rebuffed you on any of your advances. What're you waiting for? In this day and age, every man in the Marvel universe would be like this, and gay.
Then there's the real Mosaic, and honestly I really prefer this character to Maggie. He's a chameleon cop who seeks to protect the human race from the movie's big bad, has a charming personality and usually knows the right thing to do. Hell, his name is the movie's title, I'd be interested in seeing a film centered on him. Like many of what I talk about, it's something you have to see for yourself.
There is one more character I want to point out, and this one has the advantage over anything in Ultimate Avengers, a cameo from Stan Lee to continue a long-standing tradition.
And the villain is too bland for me to talk about in detail, so I'll leave it off here.
Animation
The animation is that shiny stilted animation that plagued many of animated D2V movies from the period. It's not remarkable but it has a way of searing into your mind.
Acting
While this is an American production, it actually houses a bunch of Canadian actors. Some include Nicole Oliver (voice of Hsien-Ko in the Darkstalkers OVA for example), Garry Chalk, Scott McNeil and Kathleen Barr, those should be familiar to most of you. Who does the lead? Anna Paquin, a newcomer to me, and for someone like Maggie, I think she's a bit miscast. Maggie sounds bland and closer to an archetypal diva than someone who desires a strong personality. Nicole Oliver would've been a better choice personally. The rest get the job done, and commending the real Mosaic again, the voice for him is a perfect fit.
Stand Outs
There were some scenes that stood out to me that I just had to mention. You have to see these to believe it.
Overall
Now where does this movie stand? As a springboard for a new IP, it was destined for failure. The lead is too uninteresting, the premise is hackneyed and generic and the animation suffers from this as well. If they put more money into this and the merchandising (which there wasn't any of), someone would've gone bankrupt. Thankfully, this movie was all alone, no video game adaptation for the Nintendo DS (or Game Boy Advance if it landed in the hands of a cheap-ass publisher), no mini comics, nothing.
I'm a stickler for obscure shows and movies, so the fact that this flew right over my head and it took a quote to help me figure out what the movie was says a lot through my perspective.
I implore you to watch the movie, but remember, if you're viewing it on a Mac, X out any pop-up windows: kimcartoon.me/Cartoon/Mosaic/M…
Background
I distinctly remember seeing previews for the movie on Cartoon Network. I even caught it in full, but after that it just faded from my conscious, for the most part. This was a case that also occurred for me on Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes and the only reason I went digging for that series was because one scene popped into my head and I needed to find the context for it. Whereas the cartoon is part of a well-recognized property, Mosaic wasn't, and I couldn't remember the name of it for the life of me.
Wanna know how I was able to find out the name? A quote from the promos popped into my head, and luckily it was traced to the movie once I did a Google search on the quote. At first I wanted to try and find the film and see if it was... decent. I didn't remember particularly liking it or hating it, but it was a bit difficult. I gave up trying to find it until recently where I took a gamble and went on KimCartoon.me, and lo and behold, I found it, and it was... meh.
History
One thing that caught my eye was that the story of the film was written by Stan Lee. Not a story based on something by Stan Lee, this was off the top of his head. The film was directed by Roy Allen Smith, who was behind Land Before Time II to IV and those animated Leap Frog videos (remember Leap Frog?), and that's going by his movie credits. The film was produced by Film Roman (who was behind... essentially anything made over in the states) as well as Manga Entertainment who was owned by the distributor's (Anchor Bay) owner at the time.
This was, as far as I'm willing to believe, intended to be a step into a brand new IP for Marvel, so how did this movie fare? Per audience reception (which may be the last honest ratings system on the site) it got a 49% on Rotten Tomatoes, just one below a respectable fresh rating. Ouch. That's so my impression on the film.
Plot
Before I go any further I'd just like to say that I'll only go over the general synopsis and key points in the film. It won't be a plot analysis since it works poorly on a textual basis. Not everything translates well via text (isn't that right Crappy Games Wiki)?
Set in New York City (because that's the only real city that exists to Marvel evidentially.) The movie centers on Maggie Nelson, an actress who's the daughter of an INTERPOL agent. The latter visits a crime scene at a museum, where an artifact belonging to an indigenous lost tribe of chameleons (work with me) is the source of the conflict. During a freak storm, thanks to Maggie refusing to shut off her laptop to focus on a term paper, a lighting bolt strikes through the window, somehow gives power to the artifact (then again it could've been powered by plot contrivance) and from there, Maggie Nelson discovers her powers and sets out under the moniker... Maggie Nelson. Oh, you probably thought that Mosaic was the name of Maggie's super alter-ego right? No, it's actually the name of a co-headliner who helps her locate her father after he gets kidnapped by the head honcho of the chameleon people. She takes the name near the end though so... I guess you could do that.
And since I bring up the chameleon people without properly explaining it, imagine Metropolis, if it were reworked into a reptilian-furry fanfic written by someone who watches anime-styled western cartoons with a bottle of lotion. This is the world that got flipped over turned upside down by revolutionaries (or these days, ANTIFA with a deeper psychological complex) and later destroyed, with few remaining. I'd throw in a Black Panther comparison, but fuck, I don't want to give the movie any more attention. Basically, it's every story involving a tribe of people dying out due to corruption. This kind of thing should (heck, practically is) happen in most of the world and soon, but I guess life has to be a ass.
Characters
Our lead Maggie totally has an endearing personality down. She's... an actress. That's cool that's cool. She's snarky, because I guess every good hero needs to be. She catches onto things too soon. Throughout the movie, save for certain moments, she is able to piece together what's happening and is able to do whatever she needs to without any fatal mistakes. Way to keep us on the edge of our seats, and what a time when this is the first we ever hear of Maggie (I could see why you named the movie after an entirely different character. When we have heroes going by their street names we've reached the bottom of the barrel and are now contracting the "I need money." splinters. How does she stack up as a hero? There's a section on Wikipedia that lists every power that was identified in the film.
Maggie's powers include shapeshifting, super strength, the ability to cling to surfaces allowing for scaling walls and ceilings (much like Spider-Man), seeing the DNA of other creatures (which is how she can compare humans to apes), regeneration, infrared vision, camouflage, and the ability to become invisible and mimic voices as well as a gift for understanding the Chameliel language (it is never explained if this ability shows that she can understand other languages or speak them but it makes sense). Strangely, when Maggie becomes invisible, her outline gives off the appearance that she is completely naked, even though she is in fact wearing clothes. Why her clothes are not outlined when her body is invisible is never made clear.
Or in layman's terms, too fucking many. I could understand shapeshifting to go with the chameleon aspect, but everything else? God... So she also has above average strength, who doesn't? Then there's climbing through walls. Why do you feel the need to incorporate Spider-Man of all things into this project? If so then why not have her powers awakened through the bite of a radioactive chameleon.
Maggie is fawned over by Stephen, the kind of guy who'd cut his own arm of if it meant making Maggie happy, but he goes through the kind of trope that prevents him from being more open about it. She likes you dude, and hasn't rebuffed you on any of your advances. What're you waiting for? In this day and age, every man in the Marvel universe would be like this, and gay.
Then there's the real Mosaic, and honestly I really prefer this character to Maggie. He's a chameleon cop who seeks to protect the human race from the movie's big bad, has a charming personality and usually knows the right thing to do. Hell, his name is the movie's title, I'd be interested in seeing a film centered on him. Like many of what I talk about, it's something you have to see for yourself.
There is one more character I want to point out, and this one has the advantage over anything in Ultimate Avengers, a cameo from Stan Lee to continue a long-standing tradition.
And the villain is too bland for me to talk about in detail, so I'll leave it off here.
Animation
The animation is that shiny stilted animation that plagued many of animated D2V movies from the period. It's not remarkable but it has a way of searing into your mind.
Acting
While this is an American production, it actually houses a bunch of Canadian actors. Some include Nicole Oliver (voice of Hsien-Ko in the Darkstalkers OVA for example), Garry Chalk, Scott McNeil and Kathleen Barr, those should be familiar to most of you. Who does the lead? Anna Paquin, a newcomer to me, and for someone like Maggie, I think she's a bit miscast. Maggie sounds bland and closer to an archetypal diva than someone who desires a strong personality. Nicole Oliver would've been a better choice personally. The rest get the job done, and commending the real Mosaic again, the voice for him is a perfect fit.
Stand Outs
There were some scenes that stood out to me that I just had to mention. You have to see these to believe it.
- There was an instant where a teacher grabbed the ass of a principal in a flirtatious move. Seriously.
- When using her power to stop crime, Maggie comes across a girl who's about to get raped by two guys (no way they could go any further since the movie was aired on Cartoon Network) and surprisingly, she's portrayed as a weak christian girl, complete with a christ pendant around her neck. If this was made today, she would be muslim and the two guys after her would be portrayed as Trump supporters.
- Then there's a surrealistic nightmare scene where Maggie is in her underwear and toward the end of it she gets pulled apart by everyone. Given the fantasy and everything I told you about before, you could put the pieces together.
If you want a summary of each.
 |
| Sexual harassment. |
 |
| Rape |
 |
| This speaks for itself. |
This is real...
Now where does this movie stand? As a springboard for a new IP, it was destined for failure. The lead is too uninteresting, the premise is hackneyed and generic and the animation suffers from this as well. If they put more money into this and the merchandising (which there wasn't any of), someone would've gone bankrupt. Thankfully, this movie was all alone, no video game adaptation for the Nintendo DS (or Game Boy Advance if it landed in the hands of a cheap-ass publisher), no mini comics, nothing.
I'm a stickler for obscure shows and movies, so the fact that this flew right over my head and it took a quote to help me figure out what the movie was says a lot through my perspective.
I implore you to watch the movie, but remember, if you're viewing it on a Mac, X out any pop-up windows: kimcartoon.me/Cartoon/Mosaic/M…
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