DVD Review: Iron Man comes to life

The Invincible Iron Man (2007)

I have no idea why but I've always had this pedestal for the Marvel Comics superhero Iron Man. Perhaps it's my love with beer that links me to mastermind/alter ego Tony Stark, but besides that similar interest, I think it's neat that someone who wasn't born with supernatural or superhuman strength can be as cool. I know that there are many superheroes in the same boat, like Batman, but there's just something about suave millionaire Tony Stark and his awesome Iron Man suit creations.

With that all being said, while we all wait for a live-action Iron Man movie to finally be made, it's really cool that Lionsgate has distributed the new Marvel animated feature, which brings forth another take on the legend's origin as well as the insight on how one of his arch enemies, The Mandarin, came to fruition.

The animation on this disc is really good. Bright colour and fluid motion of the characters and the backgrounds let you leave the mindset that you're only watching a cartoon. The audio, presented in stereo and 5.1 is also quite outstanding for an animated DVD release. I felt Iron Man's repulser rays deep in my chest with every shot.

Like I said before, the story plays on the origin of Iron Man, but with the first view, there is a little bit of mystery shrouded in the story. Once you've watched the movie, finally got the clues and have seen the somewhat disappointing ending, it's hard to think that unless you're going to watch it with some other people that haven't seen it before, it may be hard to sit back and enjoy this one multiple times. I'm sure I'll spin it a few more times over the next year, but it just won't have the replayability of other movies.

As for bonuses on the disc, you get “The Origins of Iron Man” featurette, The Hall of Iron Man Armor, Iron Man Concept Art, A Look at Doctor Strange and a Trailer gallery. Altogether, you have about 45 minutes to an hour of bonus stuff. The “Origins” feature is quite fascinating and makes you wish that Marvel would have focused on the original story rather than bringing it into the modern times to please some of the kids these days.

There are more positives with this release than there are negatives and at about fourteen dollars, if you're a Marvel fan, an Avengers fan or just a plain Iron Man fan, you won't have too much to complain about after watching this disc.