Ror Reviews: Planet Hulk

Short answer, pretty well! In fact Planet Hulk is by far Marvels strongest animated movie yet. I realize thats not saying too much. Hulk Vs was really the only one that even felt like it was trying to make an effort to me..and even the Thor part of that movie was lacking. But, it looks like Marvel may finally be getting their animated A game together. SPOILER ALERT.

Planet Hulk stays pretty faithful to the comic..for the most part. It begins with The Hulk already imprisoned aboard a space vessel. The Illuminati(In this case, Iron Man, DR Strange..and a hint at Reed Richards in the background!) have recorded him a message explaining that he had become too powerful and unpredictably dangerous to be allowed to remain on Earth. When Hulk goes nuts and destroys the vessel, it crashes on the planet Sakkar, and not the uninhabited planet that Stark and co expected. Hulk is captured by the red skinned natives and forced to compete as a gladiator for the ruthless Red King. He does pretty well of course, and he and some of his fellow gladiators band together as The Warbound(actually, Hulk doesn't get in on that little love fest as he does in the comic, which is one change I didn't like). All of whom are present and correct except for The Brood warrior.. possibly something to do with The Brood being X Men baddies? Anyway, Hulk and The Warbound defeat everything thats thrown at them..until the Red King unleashes his most dangerous prisoner..The Silv...ah, I mean Beta Ray Bill. I wasn't too thrilled about this change and I'm not a big fan of horse face Bill, but he's pretty cool in this, and he and Hulk have a great dust up. It also fits into the story a bit better than you expect because of another cameo from a certain Marvel Superhero!..ok its Thor, Thors in it too:)

This is a pretty great movie I must say. At first I was a bit put off by the voice they used for Iron Man..he sounds like he's delivering a sermon to THe Hulk at the beginning. But then I was pleasantly surprised by the unknown(Or at least, not big name) voice actors. Some dude named Rick D Wasserman does a great job voicing Hulk once he calms down a bit. And other standouts are Liam O'Brian as Hiroim and Mark Hildreth as The Red King. But Lisa Ann Beley as Caiera, (the Red Kings bodyguard and future Mrs Hulk) steals it for me. I still think that Marvel should take a page out of DC's book and hire big names to voice their characters though, if for no other reason that promotion. The action is also non stop and pretty hardcore. All different colors of blood regularly spurts about the place. The animation is top notch too. But I prefer this more cartoony, fluid style over the more realistic but shaky styles of Marvels earlier features, maybe you won't.

There are some small..and a couple of big changes from the comics but I think it worked. If Marvel continue this quality they will be giving DC a run for their money in no time. Bring on World War Hulk!



4/5 Stars