Thor: Tales of Asgard

I felt this movie pretty passable as a person who isn't a fan of Thor or the Marvel franchise in general. The tone balanced mature themes and characters well with an arrogant lead and a younger target audience. I felt the pacing was good and it wasn't predictably boring.

Really enjoyable movie covering the early years of Thor and Loki. This enhances the theatrical movie, without kissing it's ass. For example, it still takes many designs from the original source material, even if it conflicts with the more popular movie. Seeing the realms of Asgard in animation is wonderful, as there is less of a restraint. The character arcs of Thor and Loki are also very impressive. Their relationship is shown as one of true love, but we see their reactions to taking life. This isn't Thor Jr. and though the animation is kind of childish, there are many great themes here that would be welcome in The Avengers or any Thor sequels.

This film was much better than I expected. True, it does have some anime influence (like slim bodies and expressive eyes) but most contemporary cartoons have that anyway.

In short, this movie is about a teenage Thor embarking on a quest to prove his manhood to his father, who still considers him immature. With the aid of his brother Loki and the Warriors Three he travels through different realms to complete his quest.

What I liked in this film was that it showed a different, refreshing perspective on Thor and Loki's relationship. In this film we actually see Loki as a caring brother who is a loyal Asgardian. He and Thor share a special bond, trust each other and, when times get tough, provide each other with support. Seeing this just makes it even more heartbreaking as the viewers know that in the future these two would become mortal enemies.

Some dialogues were actually funny without relying on simple humor - even giving room to a bit adult humor when it came to Fandral. There is romance (concerning both brothers), and there are notable number of dark scenes and dialogues which concentrate on the topics of genocide (yes, genocide!) and character death. Unlike most children's cartoons nowadays, it has quite a few mature themes which adults may like.

All in all, it was a pleasant surprise and more mature than I expected. I warmly recommend this film.

PS - the music was epic!

I've always considered Thor a bit of a weak link when it comes to Marvel. Not only have I always found him a pretentious unlikeable character but I simply don't see the appeal of turning previous deities and gods into superheroes.

It begs he question whats next? Will Allah feature in the next Avengers film? Can we expect Jesus to battle alongside Batman next year?

Tales Of Asgard follows a young arrogant Thor eager to prove his worth in battle. In doing so he teams with his brother Loki and accidentally re-ignites tensions between Asgard and the frost giants.

It's pretty play by numbers stuff and though the story is solid enough the characters are a combination of weak and annoying.

One for fans only.

The Good:

Story is engaging

The Bad:

Not loyal to the comics

Characters are annoying

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

After Fist Of Jesus (2012) I'm thinking a Jesus superhero movie could work

Thor: Tales of Asgard (2011) is a movie I recently rewatched on Tubi. The storyline follows a young Thor and Loki as they're coming of age and starting to earn the opportunity to go on adventures. They stowed away on their first journey to recover a sacred sword and quickly learn the importance of following the rules, respecting others and how things can go terribly wrong if you act before you think.

This movie is directed by Sam Liu (Batman: The Killing Joke) and contains the voices of Matthew Wolf (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Rick Gomez (Sin City), Tara Strong (Fairly Odd Parent) and John Novak (War).

The animation in this is excellent, as are the settings, universe and characters. Seeing Loki and Thor young, getting along and working together was fun to see. The storyline has some good twists and turns and the conclusion is very good.

Overall this is a very enjoyable, fun and a great depiction of the Asgard universe. I'd score this a 7/10 and strongly recommend it.