Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few months then you are probably aware of the hype that the Watchmen Movie has been getting. Well in case you hadn’t read the graphic novel before venturing out to the movies you might want to check out the new DVD and Blu-ray Release of Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic.
This release contains all 12 chapters of the Watchmen in a new animated format. Now you must understand that when I say animated I mean that it is just that…animated. It is not a cartoon. It is like they have cut the characters out of the background of the comic and are just moving them around on the screen. It is not fluid like current animation. It is an interesting way to maintain the integrity of the comic while still doing something new with the imagery. Each chapter is about 15 minutes long and given limited animation by Dave Gibbons, co-creator of the original Graphic Novel. Tom Stechschulte provides all narration and the voices for the series (including the female ones).
I feel that having one person provide all of the voices takes away from this release. It really is like reading the comic as you only have the voice in your head as a narrator, as opposed to having different voices. You picture it one way but hearing someone else narrate it just feels a bit off.
Special features on this release include Watchmen Production Diaries #4 with Dave Gibbons (in HD) and a special Sneak Peek at DC Universe’s Animated Wonder Woman DVD release.
After watching this I have an even better appreciation for the book and the new movie. The choices for the actors were really quite perfect. They really looked and sounded the part. Tom Stechschulte just really doesn’t do justice to these characters. He doesn’t really try to change his voice much between characters…they could have hired some voice actors and done a great job with this but it feels like they just went for the cheap and easy choice. But if you would like to see what was missing from the theatrical release of Watchmen and truly are a fan of the graphic novel then this is worth watching (regardless of the narrator).
ComicsOnline gives Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic 3 out of 5 dead Comedians.
