Heavy Metal 2000/Heavy Metal

Rating:
Summary: skip the boxed set and save some cash
Review: Heavy Metal 2000: About 15 years ago two guys came up with a cute idea about turtles in a sewer who turn into heroic ninjas. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were born and became the Beanie babies of their time -- vastly overrated, trendy, and PROFITABLE. So what does this have to do with Heavy Metal 2000? Well, TMNT gave those creators big names in the comic book industry as well as big bank accounts. One of them, Kevin Eastman, used his big name to become Editor of Heavy Metal magazine and his big money to marry former Penthouse Pet of the Year Julie Strain. So how does geekboy keep his nude-model bride happy? He uses his magazine to promote/worship her at every turn. Eastman wrote the story which became Heavy Metal 2000, his company made the movie, and his wife is the star. Hmmm... something smells fishy here and I don't think it's Julie Strain-Eastman this time. This inbred, self-promoting aspect is the biggest problem (among several) that this movie has. Not only do you have the writer's wife as the star, you also have things like billboards in the space station saying, "Play Heavy Metal 2000: FAKK2 The Video Game!" The effect is jarring and annoying and makes your suspension of disbelief difficult. It would be like seeing a sign in the background of Phantom Menace saying, "Star Wars part II coming soon!" You are trying to forget you are watching a movie and this reminds you that you are. The storyline is extremely simple and about as linear as you can get. There is one slight twist at the end but it is neither surprising nor clever. Don't look for any subplots here because you won't find any. Take out the T&A and tone down the violence and this is a Saturday morning cartoon. A simple storyline might have been okay if it were at least logical. In one scene Julie (the character's name as well as the actor's) tries to kill the villain in a bar. She stands up with her two pistols in front of the villain and three accomplices, all armed with automatic weapons, and doesn't get hit with a single bullet until the villain's FINAL bullet hits her in the arm. Once that shot winged her all four guys stopped firing -- remarkably convenient. But it gets worse. Shortly afterward the villain asks for a hooker and Julie walks in to try a second assassination. But the villain recognizes her when he moves the hair away from her eyes! OH NO! She's dead meat, right? Nope. He seems mildly shocked and says, "You! What do you want?" When she says she wants immortality he says it comes with a price then rips her top off and goes to work on her chest. HUH?!?! I guess this guy really, REALLY doesn't hold a grudge! He is actually surprised when she tries to kill him again, for the second time in about an hour! Someone else said the CGI and standard animation were blended seamlessly. I'm not sure what they were watching. Much of the animation is good and SOME of the CGI is well done. But at the climax there is a surprise villain who appears who is all CGI. The guys who couldn't get a job on Reboot must have gotten the HM2000 job, because this CGI villain looks like an amateur version of the Reboot villain. Terrible. Mrs. Eastman voices the main character about as well as she acts in those "Savage Beach" movies.I'm running out of space so I'll wrap this up. Two stars for the movie. The extras are quite good, even though there is more wife-worship with the "Julie Strain, Supergoddess" feature. That segment actually has the highlight of the entire DVD -- a very revealing shot of Julie's "protege" Arban Arnalis. She is HOT! FstFwd to 8:40 and take a gander. If one of these two is a supergoddess it's Arban. The extras get 4 stars, but so what? This is like a bad pizza with really good pepperoni on top, so the good extras don't raise the final score -- TWO STARS.

Heavy Metal: Very good animation for its time, a variety of stories of differing quality (mostly good to very good), good soundtrack, and no shameless self-promotion. This is MUCH better than HM2000. Then again, Heavy Metal magazine was much better back then than it is now. Maybe there's a connection. Comparing the two HM movies is like comparing Toy Story to the straight-to-video Buzz Lightyear cartoon. In fact, HM2000 did go straight to video while the first Heavy Metal is a classic of adult animiation. This DVD would be a nice part of any SF and/or animation fan's collection. It's a good, cool, fun SF movie and I recommend you buy this one on its own. But it ain't The Godfather so it only gets THREE+ STARS. I haven't watched the extras yet but there are deleted scenes so they should be good and may have bumped it to 4 stars.

The boxed set averages out to 3 STARS but skip the boxed set unless you are a completist, have lots of money, or really want to catch a nice glimpse of Arban Arnalis (and you can rent HM2000 for that).

Rating:
Summary: OK job
Review: Heavy metal pulled this one out of having a lower rating. Heavy Metal is a classic and deserves a 5 star rating. Meavy Metal 2000 was only a high tech, better animation, ATTEMPT to equal the original. I was sitting through HM2000 trying to figure out why someone of the caliber of Michael Ironside would do this movie. The action was OK, but in places it seemed to drag on and was too easy for the heroine to catch up to the bad guy. The plot was predictible. The movie did have good action, animation, and computer graphics though.

Rating:
Summary: Avoid at all cost
Review: Heavy Metal- originally released in 1981- Still a great movie over 20 years later- Yes, the original 1981 version is a classic! Original and controversial stories and a classic soundtrack with style.

Heavy Metal 2000- too politically correct and nowhere near as original as it's predecessor. No risks here and no style- very sterile and predictable. I'd rather stick my thumb in my eye than be subjected to the manufactured nu-metal trash soundtrack again. Will HM2000 be a classic in 20 years?? I don't think so! I guess there was a reason that it was released directly to video!

Rating:
Summary: HM2K Is Not Worth Your Attention
Review: I began buying HEAVY METAL magazine when it was first introduced in our country (it is based on the French magazine METAL HURLANT), and when I saw the first HEAVY METAL movie in its theatrical release, I considered it a pretty good representation of the magazine--funny, bizarre, sexy in a playful way, and open to various types of artistic interpretation. The DVD of HEAVY METAL appeals to me because it preserves the characteristics that made those early years of the magazine special.

HEAVY METAL 2000, however, is little more than a vanity project for Julie Strain, the wife of the current publisher of HEAVY METAL and one of the producers of the film, Kevin Eastman. One would think that Eastman, who gained fame as one of the creators of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, would present a new HEAVY METAL film that would have the same qualities as the original. But where HM offers violence to illustrate the depth of evil, HM2K focusses on the gore. Where HM offers a forum for various stylistic approaches, HM2K offers jarring combinations of animation techniques. Where HM tantalizes viewers with sexuality, HM2K invites us to leer. HM2K defines "gratuitous" in every scene and, in doing so, seemingly confirms every dirty stereotype about arrested adolescence in grown-ups who read comics. The only redeemable portion of the HM2K DVD is the bio on Julie Strain--the pure unintended camp of the piece is fascinating. But HM2K as a whole offers a predictable story with voice acting less animated than the standard digital recording on an answering machine. If you're looking for a recent sci-fi movie that captures the knowing, satirical and adventurous spirit of the first HM movie, buy STARSHIP TROOPERS. HM2K did not get theatrical distribution for a reason, folks. Take the hint.

I give this item two stars because the movies are bundled together. HM by itself is worth four stars, and HM2K deserves none.

Rating:
Summary: Julie Strain Rules!
Review: I had the chance to see this on Starz, and I have to say that it is the best American animated feature that has come out since... the original Heavy Metal movie. Great artwork and excellent music. Also, it stars B-movie bombshell Julie Strain, so for great animation, good music, and babes, you can't beat this DVD!

Rating:
Summary: VERY GOOD MOVIE
Review: I MUST SAY I WAS VERY PLEASANTY SURPRISED BY THIS MOVIE IT WAS VERY INTENSE FOR ADULT ANIMATION.

Rating:
Summary: One classic, one NOT!
Review: I'll give you a measure of how forgettable one of these films was- I bought the new release of the original Heavy Metal and Heavy Metal 2000 at the same time. I found myself remembering almost every scene in the original movie, even though I hadn't seen it in over 20 years. Then I watched HM2000. About halfway through I vaguely recalled that I had seen it before, but there wasn't one single scene that I clearly remembered- and I probably only saw it about three years ago. It was that forgettable, that ordinary.

Don't get me wrong; this isn't necessarily a bad film. The animation is very well done, very slick and seamless. The writing and voice acting is competent and professional. The sound track is certainly better incorporated into the animation and story than it was in the original. Everything was competently done, it was just.... ordinary. Nothing jumped out at you. It was like a Saturday morning cartoon episode- just with a little more violence, and a lot more animated nudity (animated nudity- I mean what's the point?)

Personally, I'd save my money and buy the new release of the original Heavy Metal- alone. Sure, the animation looks crude by today's standards- but it was done the old, time-consuming, expensive way of drawing one cell at a time. The original was also crammed full of a variety of different animation styles and story lines. Perhaps that was because it was the first big budget science fiction animated feature and the people involved had so much enthusiasm that they tried to do too much. In contrast, I don't think anyone got too enthusiastic about this film. Sure, they did a solid job of craftsmanship, but where is the originality, the fire, the spirit? Kind of reminds me of the original Heavy Metal magazine, it started out fresh and new and just slowly petered out to nothing....