Gen 13 (2000)

This Gen-13 movie is less a feature length movie, and more a hour long cartoon special that would have introduced a Gen-13 cartoon series. However, the language and gore suggests that this series might have aired on HBO or Cinemax. It seems logical. This movie was made at the height of South Park's fame, and other cable channels were scrambling to try and find their own crude kids show.Gen-13 is only for fans of the defunct comic book. My complaints about this film are the same as past reviews. Grunge's dialog makes Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure sound like Shakespeare. And at times the sound quality dips to below average. However, this movie is only available on bootlegs, so don't expect great quality.Also, many video outlets push the fact that the uncut version of this film features nude scenes of Catlin. Needless to say, I have seen this movie, and the "nude" scenes are a disappointment. The first scene of nudity is with Catlin and Roxy in the shower. Perhaps the version I saw was not really uncut, because the screen was so covered with white (I guess it was supposed to be steam) you could not see a thing. It would have been a better idea to cut this scene altogether rather than include it in it's white washed condition. The second scene of nudity is when Catlin gets her powers. She grows bigger and taller, and her clothes become ripped. It you are quick with the pause button, you will see the upper parts of Catlin's nipples, which have been turned flesh colored, so they have been censored a little.The storyline is rather hackneyed, and the animation reminds me a lot of Batman the Animated Series, but it is still good. However, if you are like me, and you only wanted to watch this movie for all the wrong reasons, you will be disappointed.

On the downside, the animation was uninspired by the standards of other projects associated with Kevin Altieri (ie. Batman:TAS). I also found the lack of Burnout and Rainmaker (aside from two good cameos), though it wouldn't matter to anyone unfamiliar with the Gen13 comic, mattered a great deal to me even though I don't consider myself a huge Gen13 fan -- thus, I'm sure, this also had to have an impact on to anyone else watching this, seeing as the initial audience HAD to be fans.Of the voice cast, only E.G. Daily seemed to really hit her stride as Roxy (you could hear the Buttercup 'tude shining through!), although Alicia Witt's Fairchild was endearing in her plain candor and Cloris Leachman's Helga was terribly amusing. However, I also feel that, no offense to Flea, but I never imagined Grunge sounding quite THAT dumb.On the upside, it was highly amusing to watch the movie earn its "not-for-children" boundaries with the occasional cussword and plenty of cheesecake. ;) More seriously, the climactic sequence was worth the wait. We finally got to see Grunge kick some ass -- as always, the character is best when he stops being a doofus and actually uses his head (and powers) to help out his friends. Roxy's power manifestation was downright gorgeous -- and impressive. And Fairchild...well, she was about as spot-on as any appearance in the comics. Go, girl!I wouldn't give this movie a high rating, but I wouldn't trash it either. It was...well, fun. Whereas I can see and understand why it didn't get a series, I do wonder if/how they would have brought in their other two teammates -- and if the cartoon would have had enough balls to maturely tackle a certain canon controversy surrounding Rainmaker after a season or two. I would have tuned in for that. ;)

Great adaptation of the comic book. Spent years looking for it & it was well worth the wait. The animation was very well done. Fans of the book will appreciate that it stays pretty true to the book (except the very end had a bit of a surprise).

This movie does stay very close to the comics. There is one major change involving Fairchild, but under the circumstances it's an understandable one. It's really great when you're watching the movie and thinking, "I remember this scene from the comics!"The voices are mostly pretty good. Mark Hamil is awesome as Threshold! My only complaints are that Flea makes Grunge sound way to dumb and Bobby only gets a cameo. Oh well, at least Rainmaker got a few lines...