After getting off to a somewhat rocky start with making movies based on their comic books - Howard the Duck and The Punisher (1989) - Marvel had done some very good movies in the last few years. They have also started to produce animated movies. I recently picked up Doctor Strange, the fourth of the animated movies.

Dr. Steven Strange was a well known, arrogant doctor who didn't seem to care that much about people. His life was dramatically changed when his hands were severely damaged in a car accident. He was no longer able to perform surgery and he tried in vain to find a cure. He eventually ended up in Tibet where he trained with the Ancient One and discovered his magic talent. Steven had to deal with an issue in his past and then battle Dormammu, the evil being that threatened all of mankind.

Doctor Strange was based on the Marvel character created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. The character first appeared in an issue of Strange Tales in July 1963 and he later got his own comic book. I haven’t read any of the comics featuring Dr. Strange, so I don’t know what might have been changed for the movie. In fact, I hadn’t even heard of the character until about a year and a half ago, so I went into watching the movie knowing nothing about him. When doing a bit of research on the character online, I discovered that there are plans to make a live action movie to be released in 2010. I do think the character has potential for a very entertaining live action movie, so I’m sure I’ll see it once it is made.

Doctor Strange was only 95 minutes long, so there wasn’t time for a complicated, in depth plot. I did think things were developed enough for the plot to be interesting. Some time was taken to set up the situation with the evil that was threatening Earth and to establish Steven as a cold, unfeeling, arrogant man. Most of the movie was focused on what Steven went through after his accident. I thought it worked well as an origin story and it did leave me wanting to learn more about the character.

Steven wasn’t what I consider a superhero even though he did have special abilities. Steven was gifted with magic that allowed him to do many extraordinary things. The Ancient One was a very old, powerful sorcerer who led a group of sorcerers who worked to protect the Earth from different magical or mystical beings. I enjoyed all of the magical elements and would have liked it if they had received more attention. People that enjoy movies dealing with magic may also like this one.

The animation for Doctor Strange was fairly well done thought it could have been a bit better. I think it was mostly done with hand drawn animation with computer animation used for certain things. I might be wrong about that. Some of the movements of characters were a bit jerky at times. I did think the animation was done well over all. A few things could have been done better.

Steven was a gifted doctor who didn’t seem to care about patients if they wouldn’t somehow enhance his reputation. He was an arrogant jerk who was very detached before his accident. Something had happened earlier in his life that greatly impacted him and that was why he was the way he was. He did go through a huge change by the end of the movie and was likable by that point. Bryce Johnson did a good job with the voice.

None of the other characters were focused on enough to be developed. Gina was a doctor working with coma patients who wanted Steven to help them. There was some kind of history between them. The Ancient One was the wise, old sorcerer who managed to help Steven eventually. Mordo was one of the sorcerers working with the Ancient One. He seemed to crave more power and he resented Steven. Wong was another sorcerer who first suggested that Steven go to Tibet. He also helped in training Steven. Dormammu only turned up in a few scenes, so he wasn’t as strong of a villain as he could have been.

Voice Talent

Jonathan Adams - Dormammu
Bryce Johnson - Dr. Steven Strange
Paul Nakauchi - Wong
Kevin Michael Richardson - Mordo
Susan Spano - Gina
Michael Yama - Ancient One

Directed by Jay Oliva and Frank Paur

DVD Information

The movie is the widescreen version. I have no idea if there is a full screen version as well. There are a few extras on the disc. A featurette called Who is Doctor Strange? shared information on the creation of the character for the comics. Stan Lee was even involved in it talking about how he just made up names and words that he thought would fit in with a magical character. There was concept art from the movie, a first look at Avengers Reborn, another planned animated movie from Marvel, and something that shared cinematics from Marvel video games.

I really enjoyed Doctor Strange and thought it worked well as an introduction to the character. Fans of the character or just of movies based on comic books in general should give this one a chance.

This review is part of elvisdo’s 2008 Funny Pages Write-Off.

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Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD