Hey, everyone. A couple years back, I decided to write a piece looking at the best comic and cartoon based films over a long period of time in order to talk about why they were so entertaining. We live in a time when more Hollywood studios recognize the value in not only buying the rights to these characters names but also putting into the scripts whatever elements made fans of said characters in the first place. Recently, Warner Brothers / DC Comics and Marvel have unveiled plans for many productions over the next 5-6 years and some independent works based on comics are in the planning stages as well. So I doubt I’ll really have a need to revisit this article again as it looks like there’ll be little need anymore. There are a lot of movies now (good and bad and REALLY fragging bad), so in an attempt to restrain myself a bit, I decided to limit to 30 movies spread over two lists.
Now, a few criteria went into these lists. First off, I made two lists because I didn’t want one movie and its sequels to dominate all positions. It’d be a boring piece to write that way. I wanted to celebrate high quality works from different sections of comic based lore. So I made the preliminary list of 15 slots for the sequels and films that were decent or pretty good so as not to overshadow everything on the main list, which I use to spread the love around to as many different films as I could possibly do in another 15 slots. This time, I allowed for some honorable mentions that I didn’t elaborate on but felt should be noted.
Another criteria here is that the films in question were based on pre-existing comics. So although there were some really good ones based on super powered people like say, The Incredibles, Hancock, or Chronicle, they weren’t eligible for this piece. I mixed in ones based on a specific graphic novel with ones simply based on existing characters with long histories. Either way, there’s some adaptation used for screen time here. For the characters with decades-long histories, there’s some amalgamation of their stories. Sometimes, it’s just the execution that accounts for the quality of the final product.
I also chose to focus on live-action movies based on comics here. For one thing, the challenges of translating an art based medium to a live practical medium are inherently different than ones for making an art based medium like comics into animation. If I tried to account for every other source medium, I’d never have time to get up from this computer
Just to let you know, by the way, there’s a couple I haven’t seen yet such as Ghost World, American Splendor, and Kick Ass. I haven’t had time leading up to the deadline for this article, but I reserve the right to do so and revisit this piece at a future date. Hence, part of the reason the title has ‘For a while yet…’ at the end. Another reason for that though is the number of potentially good films coming out in the next few years as Marvel will begin working on their ‘Phase Three’ movies, Warner will be pushing their highly anticipated Batman vs Superman movie heavily en route to their eventual Justice League movie. Sony…. will do… whatever they have planned for Spider Man this week? *shrug*
Oh, and one last thing… there’s only 30 slots here and so, I tried to come up with some good ones, while others, I just simply couldn’t make room for. If I didn’t do so for your favorite movie to discuss, it’s not because I was trying to insult your tastes, hurt your feelings or shoot your dog. I might have liked it, just not enough to put it here. Or, I might’ve given in to peer pressure, watched said movie, and figured out I really hated everything that was on the screen (such as the overrated Scott Pilgrim) and so chose not to list it. If there’s a problem, feel free to tell me I’m wrong and why you think so, in as eloquent a manner you might choose. I’ll be sitting right here on the other end…. smiling broadly (unless it’s a truly compelling argument which I’ll probably respond to). That’s what creating list articles are for. Debating, and celebrating. It’s a celebration, bitches! Enjoy yourself!
Now that said, movies are as follows….
Honorable mentions: Captain America: The First Avenger, Daredevil: Director’s Cut, Constantine, Batman Returns, Weird Science, Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, Thor, The Shadow, The Crow, Smallville: Absolute Justice, Ruroni Kenshin, Golgo 13: The Kolwoon Assignment
30. Speed Racer – Captures the energy of the cartoon and manga perfectly, and also has appearances by Peter Fernandez (voice of Speed) and Corinne Orr (Trixie). This one got an unfair bum rap from critics for being too fantastic and cartoon-like from what I could tell which is sad because it was fun to experience kid friendly energy mixed with high quality visuals and retro style. The Waichowski siblings proved their talent and dedication to anime fandom here.
29. Batman (1966) – Yes, I’m putting the wacky adventures of The Dynamic Duo starring Adam West and Burt Ward on this list. It’s just too much fun seeing Batman & Robin taking on The Joker (Caesar Romero), The Riddler (Frank Gorshin), The Penguin (Burgess Meredith) and Catwoman (Lee Meriwether) who romances Bruce Wayne as Miss Kitka of the Soviet newspapers. If you can’t have a good time laughing at the graphic punch words (BAM!), the Bat-Shark Repellent, or the dolphin who sacrificed itself to save Batman and Robin from a torpedo, you’re just not human.
28. The Mask – From the Dark Horse comic by John Arcudi and Doug Mahnke, we were treated to rubber faced comic actor Jim Carey in one of his better performances as meek Stanley Ipkiss, who finds an ancient mask which drives its wearer to near insanity while giving him incredible powers. Although quite different than the comic (in which Stanley becomes insanely evil and dies), this movie was funny, entertaining and solid as a whole, and as an added benefit introduced the world to the lovely Cameron Diaz as a leading lady.
27. The Rocketeer – Joe Johnston’s first foray into World War 2 era period movies about superheroes featuring a powerful jet pack and Howard Hughes. This proved handy when he made very well-done Captain America: The First Avenger. Good times. R.I.P, Dave Stevens.
26. 300 – After proving his ability to entertain audiences with his remake of Dawn of the Dead, director Zack Snyder showed he was adept at using crazy camera techniques and intense shading filters to create another awesome adaptation of a Frank Miller comic. The battles of King Leonidas and his 300 men against larger-than-life legions in the name of Sparta were visceral, hard hitting and very much in tune with the source material, all the while making actor Gerard Butler a household name for a time. Great execution here led Snyder to his eventual other comic-based projects.
25. Thor: The Dark World – The first film depicted the Norse gods as beings who actually could be realized effectively on screen, thanks greatly to performances by Chris Helmsworth (Thor), Tom Hiddleston (Loki) and Anthony Hopkins (Odin). The story though wasn’t entirely up to standards since most of it took place on Earth and felt much like an ok introduction work The second film though felt more like a Thor story since much of it takes lace on Asgard while incorporating fun scenes with his new human friends. Come to think of it, Sif and The Warriors Three wee also fun to see in action again. Loki pretty mch steals every scenes he’s in and has some amusing moments. All the actors brought their A game to this one again and we got another piece of the puzzle leading to the Infinity War seemingly. I only wish Maliketh The Dark Elf had been written with more substance but it was nice to see Christopher Eccelston again.
24. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army – Guillermo Del Toro’s second outing with Mike Mignola’s demonic looking hero was much more lively than his first. Ron Perlman was still simultaneously forceful and laid-back, but it was Abe Sapien as played by Doug Jones who became something of a scene stealer with his own subplot taking stage. Add a goofy singing sequence and some awesome backgrounds & monsters for the characters to interact and you have a pretty nice piece of filmmaking.
23. The Incredible Hulk – Of all the live incarnations of the character, this one got the most right about him and I’ve never understood all the hate toward it. There were mini-tributes to the 70s TV show many fans grew up watching, and the Hulk’s proportions were correct. Banner didn’t want his alter-ego for a very long time in the comics because of the mess his life became and a good deal of that emotion is retained here. Also, there’s none of that horrid cutaway editing that plagued the Ang Lee version, and he doesn’t fight a puff of smoke at the end in this movie; he actually fights a comic character in The Abomination who could really give him a good scrap. I do wish some time they’d refer to the other villain that clearly came out of this movie…
22. Blade II – Honestly, better than the first one. The creatures Blade has to fight this time out (known as The Reapers) are rather nasty and actually are worse than the vampires. Also, it must be said the ending fight is pure awesomeness, one of the best ever in a comics movie IMHO. More proof that Guillermo Del Toro is a heck of a horror & fantasy filmmaker… and he’s great with mechs (but that’s a different article.)
21. Superman II – Clark and Lois’s relationship deepened as three criminals broke out of the Phantom Zone to give Superman the fight of his life. The general and quality established in the first film remained constant in this sequel. Also, although General Zod isn’t as well developed here as he was in Man of Steel, the character achieves iconic status in the hands of Terrance Stamp. Even with the liberties taken about the Kryptonians’ powers, this was a great installment.
