Come today, his message has fallen upon deaf ears. Many African Americans believe that equality means more than equal, they have devolved into greedy babies, people who are ironically becoming as bigoted as the typical Virgina citizen during the days of segregation (yeah, Alabama's already a punching bag when it comes to racism jokes, besides, Robert E. Lee is from Virgina, makes sense since that state is full of retards, Chris Chan anyone?)
I want to take you back to 1999, before racism was devolved to a buzzword used by childish people who MLK would probably reprimand, discredit them as a true brother.
See? I just made social commentary without straying from the review topic.
Our Friend, Martin is an educational film detailing the life of MLK, obviously. It was produced by the now defunct DiC Entertainment, a name many of you should be familiar with. No? Well, they were behind three of the five Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons, the Super Mario Bros. cartoons, Captain N, they brought Sailor Moon to the states and botched it up, but Cloverway came along and somehow did worse than them. This is just a small sampling of the work they've done, if you were a kid in the 80s/90s, you'd have probably seen a DiC cartoon at some point.
It was released direct-to-video, and I assume it was primarily shown at schools on MLK Day (say what you will, but beyond people interested in MLK, I don't know who'd be interested enough to seek out this video.) Interestingly, this was the final release of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, back when they were called CBS/Fox Video. This clocks in at a little over an hour, mind the credits, whether that's a plus is entirely up to you.
It has a decent roster of familiar actors. I don't know if the budget went mostly to them or they did it out of genuine love for the subject matter. I know Ed Asner did it because nowadays he has no free thought in his head, same for Whoppi Goldberg, and it doesn't even end there. They also have John Travolta, LeVar Burton, Danny Glover, Samuel L. Jackson, James Earl Jones, Oprah Winfrey, Frank Welker, Urkel or Sonic whichever you prefer; Christ, who wasn't in this?
Two more interesting bits, one of the iterations of MLK is played by Dexter King, the second born son of MLK. If you're curious, Burton and Urkel did the other iterations. Also, if you're coming from MarsReviews' take on the movie, the second star of the special is played by an actor who hails from Alabama, so basically it was a match made in heaven (also he was in Sling Blade, another southern love letter)
Plot
Right off the bat, this features a genuinely faithful depiction of MLK's life. Unforutnately, that's not the focal point of the movie. Instead, we have to deal with Miles, a typical 90s kid who wants to be like his idol Hank Aaron (an Alabama native), but oh no, it's interfering with his grades. Nothing a field trip to an MLK-oriented museum, where Miles and his friend travel back in time and get glimpses into MLK's life.
As I said, this is very faithful, they go from his days as a 12 year old right up to his final years, from the Rosa Parks Bus Boycott to the assassination. They also don't skimp on the nitty gritty, which is a strong plus for a subject so notable. Unfortunately, this is the only nice thing I could say about the premise. So where does Miles come into play? He attempts to stop the death of MLK by taking his younger version back to his time, and how bad does that affect history? Well, not much, other than the Civil Rights Movement never happening, all whites being racist and their school being named after Robert E. Lee. So... oof.
The story is okay, but I just find it kinda disappointing that MLK isn't the sole focal point. Miles' parts basically amount to the lifestyle of the average kid of the late-90s and an over-the-top depiction of a life with segregation. I'm not saying this premise is unsalvageable, maybe if it centers on someone who doesn't see the significance MLK has on African Americans learns through some morality tale. This could've worked just fine if it was a biopic about the life of MLK.
Animation
It should go without saying that any animation from the 90s that tries to look realistic is doomed to be dated. The style looks okay, but kinda weird. Basically imagine the first two seasons of Tales from the Cryptkeeper, and you'd get the idea.
Overall
I'm not knocking it, this is a serviceable biopic on a figure that helped shape society for the better. But it's not very memorable either. We all know the story of MLK, and this seems like another brick in the wall. I'd say lose the 90s kids trope and make a full-on biopic, then show your class this on MLK Day.
It's sad how the words of MLK have fallen on deaf ears. He made us equal, but now we're further apart than ever. The blacks of today, a bulk at least, are comparable to the whites of the segregation era. It's only a matter of time before they seek to prohibit white people from certain luxuries, but for all I know, it's slowly happening.
Here's to you MLK, and I still believe that violence will get us nowhere, but neither will complaining about stuff that's minor or have been resolved.
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