'Planet Hulk'

Planet Hulk is a worthy movie for the Hulk and a treat for fans of green-skinned smashing, a group in which I proudly number myself. The storytelling is good, the animation is fun and the DVD has all kinds of cool extras. The Hulk is a different character than usual; he's quick on his feet, not quite as strong and finds himself involved in politics in a big way (which I don't think happens a lot in the comic book). The story moves very quickly, maybe too quickly sometimes (in a shocking turnaround, that character we met two minutes ago is a TRAITOR!). But, apart from a few quibbles, I really enjoyed the flick.

Planet Hulk begins with a who's who of the Marvel Universe: Iron Man, Reed Richards, Dr. Strange, shooting the Hulk into space so he won't smash anything else on Earth. Iron Man mentions that the Hulk always said that he "just wanted to be left alone" as a justification. They're sending him to an idyllic planet with no intelligent life, but the Hulk starts freaking out, damages the spaceship and ends up going off-course through a black hole and crash-landing on Sakaar, which is, to say the least, not idyllic.

Sakaar is ruled the by the Red King and, though the people are controlled with an iron fist, they are given brutal gladiator games to vent steam. There are red people, blue-gray people and insect people on the planet, who don't always get along. But they are united in their love of ritualized slaughter. So, in a way, they are the perfect audience for the Hulk, who they immediately realize is something special in the specialized field of smashing.

This Hulk is smarter than you might expect, less savage, more apt to use a giant sword and more of a meanie than we're used to. He starts out not caring nothing 'bout no one no-how. When an insect character, Miek, says that he is the Hulk's friend, I sort of expected the Hulk to melt like he usually does in the comic, "Hulk has friend? I LOVE FRIEND!" But this Hulk has been burned too many times and just says that he doesn't have any friends. During the first gladiator fight, the Hulk lets quite a few aliens die before he gets involved. Of course, eventually, he makes some friends, including one who is a pretty girl.

I was a little bit surprised, happily, by the amount of death, blood and carnage in this Hulk cartoon. But I can imagine it won't be everyone's cup of tea. One insect guy gets squeezed so hard that his head explodes. It's certainly not a Kill Bill level of graphic depiction, but it's not for young kids either. If you're buying for a kid, know that there's much death and dying, even a toddler! Like in Star Wars prequels, they're careful not to kill any actual humans, but they do kill many humanoids.

The animation is fine. We got a big, blocky Hulk with a petite waist. The other characters are more detailed and better moving than, say, Speed Racer, but not one-third as good as Up. It's possible that we've all been spoiled with the quality of animation out there, but this is fine, stylish and gets the job done. The storytelling is clear and even contains a few really neat shots. I've heard on The Simpsons commentaries that everyone hates animating crowd scenes and these show it with some of the weakest animation, although I feel like the filmmakers are aware of the shortfall and try to make up for it with some really fun cameos by obscure Marvel Universe characters (Hello, Starlord!).

The voice acting is top notch, if maybe a little too serious about everything. If there's one legacy I don't like from The Dark Knight, it's every hero talking like they need a lozenge. Don't get me wrong, the movie has a few laughs. But the Hulk got really angry and seemed more like he's crazy than like someone who simply enjoys smashing.

Planet Hulk is a well-priced DVD with just enough stuff. The DVD Extras are fine, with some making-of docs and some motion comics, which are fun. (Although, personally, they make comics that I love seem a little embarrassing somehow.) Greg Pak is the writer who wrote the Planet Hulk comics and I would've enjoyed a commentary from him and the writer and director of this to show how making a movie is different from making a comic book. But oh, well.

The sequel storyline in the comics was called World War Hulk. It was awesome. Here's hoping for a DVD sequel. Bottom line: If you like the Hulk, see this movie. If you don't like the Hulk, you should like the Hulk and then re-read the previous sentence.