Movie Review: "Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow"

Rated: PG for sci-fi action violence and some mild language Starring: Noah Crawford, Aidan Drummond, and Brenna O'Brien Released: September 2, 2008 (DVD)

Synopsis: The Avengers--Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye--were the world's greatest heroes...but, when Ultron invaded our planet, all of them either died or disappeared.  Before the end of the Avengers, Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, rescued their kids, who happen to also have superpowers or other special abilities.  He trained them to defeat Ultron, but Ultron's is so evil that he manipulated robot versions of the late Avengers to do his own vile bidding.  If those kids will ever defeat that intergalactic robot, they're going to need some help, including from a very green source...

Warning! Spoilers below!

Story: 1.5/5
It's cool to see the Avengers' kids carrying on their legacy...but the greatness of the plot stops there.  Why would anyone create robots as a defense when the enemy is a known manipulator of all things digital? The kids in the film spend much of the time acting bratty, and the final battle comes down to Ultron against a geriatric Hulk.  Seriously, what were the makers thinking?

Production Values: 2.5/5
The voice work in this film is good, but not really anything special.  As for the animation...well, it's quite a mixed bag.  Though some sequences are quite well-done, others of them look terrible.  Even a few of the visuals are both freaky and weird, which hurt this film even more.

Moral Content: 4/5
Though the movie may not be well-made, at least the content was relatively clean.  There is violence, as one would expect, but it is completely bloodless, which is largely thanks to having robots for villains.  Some of the 'bots are sliced in half, though.  I know the MPAA mentioned "some mild language," but I didn't hear/see any profanities, even with the closed captioning.

Conclusion: I hate to say it, but Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow has to be the worst animated superhero film I've seen since All-Star Superman.  Whereas the latter wasn't very well-made, the former suffers from annoying characters and a dumb story.  If you're looking for a superhero fix in between comic book movies, I would suggest trying out Superman: The Animated Series, the 2003 remake of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or especially the Avengers cartoon on Disney XD.  Even a free comic book--a Best Buy exclusive--still didn't keep me from feeling like I wasted my money.

Score: 2/5