CountVladDracula This is a far superior Doctor Strange movie to the version made in the 1970s. Though this is animated it's actually a very complex and mature story. That's not to say a younger viewer can't appreciate it, but it's mature enough where an adult should not feel ashamed to watch it.If you want a retelling of Doctor Strange's backstory this film covers the bulk of it quite well. The animation is lush and vivid. The writing is so well done that you would hope that this is what the live action Doctor Strange movie would look like. This is a very under-rated animated feature.I highly recommend this film for any Marvel fan or anyone just starting to get into the supernatural aspects of the Marvel universe.Revised review nine years after first viewing and re-watching it.This is the the very under-rated Doctor Strange animated movie from nine years ago. Roughly the same plot as the live action movie but it goes into detail about why Doctor Strange wanted to be a Doctor, left The Ancient One in tact, and does not require Doctor Strange to need a sling Ring to open a portal. Also, like in the comics, Mordo is the real villain of the origin story.The Ancient One always knew Doctor Strange was destined to be the next Sorcerer Supreme and never turned him away (just tested him heavily) and it's indicated that Doctor Strange had a predispostion for Magick he just never knew about. He is able to see through a Glamour spell he was not supposed to, before even damaging his hands. If you like the live action Doctor Strange I urge you to check out this sorely under-rated animated film. (Note: do not confuse this with the Doctor Strange knock off movie of the early 90s or the 1970s Doctor strange live action movie).Also if you ever played Avengers Alliance (The Facebook game) you will find they stole / sampled some of their music from this movie. The animation is gorgeous and surpasses some Disney cell animation. Also some flashbacks give Strange more depth. It's as beautiful as an animated Disney feature and is sorely underrated.Seriously, this is a beautiful movie. Don't consider it as competition for the movie but a companion piece for it. If you liked Doctor Strange I urge you to watch this slightly more comic book accurate version that has fallen into semi-obscurity. It's surprisingly beautiful.

Alec W I've recently begun watching Marvel Comics' line of straight-to-DVD animation films partly because I was bored and had only just discovered them and needed some variation in my uneventful life and partly because I really love animation films. Animation is one of those mediums I treasure because it grants escape from the trappings of reality, gravity and the laws of physics, enabling it to show you sights that couldn't possibly exist in real life, like the Hulk latching onto the throat of a 60 foot man and choking the life out of him. That said, I was put off by the previous 'installments', if you can call these Marvel animations a series. The Ultimate Avengers movies of 2006 had a plot thinner than Christian Bale during the shooting of The Machinist, and was for all intents and purposes like a dead Christmas tree; covered in glittering action sequences but barren inside. Not that I expect much depth from a dozen vaguely related comic book franchises blended together into the big pile of paperbacks and money that is Ultimate avengers. I'm sure every one of these superheroes had their own story, with their own issues to work out, but there simply isn't time for all that if at least half of the movie has to consist of rampant action sequences. This is all fine, you know. These are movies for comic book fans who would like to see their favorite superhero jump out of the comic book panels and kick ass in animation, but some characterization would be nice. This movie is very much made for religious comic book readers and seems to assume awareness of the characters' back stories which in that case you are because you accompanied them through every page of their comic book series, and as such this movie doesn't really need to characterize them and therefore does so only vaguely. The only character I ended up empathizing with was Bruce Banner who, depressed and troubled by the Hulk, is desperate to find a way to control it. Maybe it was because I can unconsciously relate to an unattractive, bespectacled nerd who just likes to throw down and go Hulk Smash on all the bullies that took his lunch money in high school, or maybe because he was the only character whose flaws were more than informed and whose portrayal left me wanting to see more. Anyway I was supposed to be talking about another movie. Doctor Strange was an interesting premise for me from the get-go because I knew absolutely nothing about Doctor Strange, and I was looking forward to have this movie inform me about who he was and what drove him to become who he is today. I was surprised by the depth of this movie, which immediately immersed me its darker, more realistic tone. The doctor is a complex character, once kindhearted, driven and confident, now disillusioned, angry and full of unresolved grief. When first we see the good doctor - voiced in smooth baritones by Bryce Johnson - in the hospital he is refusing a patient who in a masterful dig at US medical policy was neither rich nor sick enough to warrant his interest, satire. It made it immediately clear that this guy had issues. Here is a hero who is also a flawed human being who isn't built like a vending machine with legs and to its credit the movie never glosses over things. This is truly not a movie for kids anymore, and Doctor Strange never divorces itself from reality too far; no super serums or gamma rays granting super powers here, but a spiritual journey that forces the good doctor to reconcile with his past. Even the magic shown seems to have its roots in eastern philosophies and martial arts, both of which are plausibly and satisfyingly portrayed. The movie is well-paced, interrupting the plot with occasional flashes of action exactly when needed, and giving time to let the story reach its logical conclusion. When the movie was over, I was left in its wake, wanting more, and not just because it was so good. It was too short.At just over 70 minutes, this movie, like the Marvel animes that preceded it, is short. But Doctor Strange is the only one of those movies that actually feels short. The reason why this movie feels too short is because I feel that there are two stories here, woven together less than seamlessly, leaving insufficient time to make the most of either of them, although only people that have read the comics will be able to determine whether I'm right about that or not. There is the origin story of Doctor Strange in which he finds his true calling as the sorcerer supreme that people know from the books, and then there's the other story about an evil entity of pure magical energy that wants to take over the world. Which of these you find the more interesting probably depends on your prior understanding of the Doctor Strange mythos (for a Marvel-novice like me, the origin story definitely won that one), but there was the potential for true excellence here that went sadly untapped. 20 to 30 minutes of additional runtime would have probably been enough to bring out the true heart in both stories, but as it stands the movie left me slightly unfulfilled. I was left wanting to know more of Doctor Strange's rise to Sorcerer Supreme; it went by too fast, like important tidbits that would have greatly enriched the setting had been omitted for the sake of brevity, and that's a shame I think. Kind of like if Batman Begins was only 73 minutes long. 3 stars.

xamtaro I never really followed the marvel comic titles other than the Ultimates and Ultimate X-men. Most of my marvel experience came from the various animated series from the 90s and recently. After The invincible Iron Man, Doctor Strange was released and i was initially skeptical. I've never seen any Doctor Strange animated series only a few cameo appearances by that character in X-men and Spiderman. I initially only bought this because it was on offer and for the sake of completing my DVD collection. Nothing more. To my surprise, this movie soon became my favorite among the animated and anime movies i've watched so far.So far, 6 animated features have been released and all in all, Doctor Strange is by far the best and most balanced of the 6.1) The story - It is an origin story as usual for the marvel animated features. But the story in this case has probably the greatest emotional impact among many animated shows(heck even among those sappy cry cry Japanese anime). It tells of an arrogant self-serving world-class doctor's fall from grace and his quest for physical, mental and spiritual renewal. There is a very epic premise to the whole story of a secret cadre of sorcerers who hunt demons that venture into our world and prevent a very powerful entity from invading earth. I couldn't help but notice that the story has been given a very Asian touch to it. The whole premise of a group of magicians training in seclusion and secretly defending earth from demonic invasion hearkens back to many Chinese fairy tales and Japanese folk myths. Overall.Both the doctor's personal story of his fall and renewal and the epic extra dimensional invasion arc blend seamlessly into one another, creating a very well balanced show with strong action, interesting characters and a very emotional story.2)The Characters - The story focuses mostly on the main character of Dr Strange. It is a very character focused story hence the only other character that is fully developed is Baron Mordo(Dr Strange's arch enemy in the comics). His development and eventual betrayal is not contrived and comes across as very believable. His Arrogance, lust for power and jealousy of Strange and the other sorcerers allow Mordo's character to grow and progress believably just like Dr Strange. The voices are very well acted, the emotional range that the actors put into their roles may put many live action dramas to shame. The rest of the characters are just stock characters there for the sake of being there. Then again, its the Story of Dr Strange that the movie is concerned about. Everything else takes 2nd place.3)The animation - Fantastic. It must be the result of having a Japanese animation studio over a Korean one(Ultimate Avengers was animated in Korea) but the whole look of the film is very like Japanese anime but without resorting to cutesy big eyed pastel haired characters. The backgrounds are lush and very intricately designed. Attention is paid to every single detail, be it reflection in puddles or light shining off metals in the background. Character designs retain their slightly stylized Asian look that was prevalent in the Iron Man animated movie but the level of detail has been taken up a notch. More heavy blacks and a greater contrast of colors are used for an overall more dynamic look and feel. And the monsters are truly a sight to behold. Definitely MOVIE quality stuff. Unlike anime however, which has detailed art but inconsistent animation, the animation here is very fluid yet retaining the impressive level of detail throughout. Some 3D animation was used for vehicles, special effects and the swarm of bat-monsters and all was in cel shaded 3D. They blended in very well with the traditional 2D animation. My only beef was Dormammu, the big bad demon lord himself. He could have looked more impressive if he was done in 3D animation and not 2D.The only bad point about the story was the resolution of the demon invasion. A small deux ex machina of Dr Strange having a unique ability to absorb and disperse other people's magic just seemed too convenient(and the demon lord being a fully magical creature allowed Dr strange to like totally absorb and disperse the demon lord's power, thus defeating him). Then again, the movie is too short. If it had been longer, i bet a better resolution could have been come up with.Overall Dr Strange is a very enjoyable movie. Complex and emotionally charged enough for adults(and did i mention there is a fair bit of violence and people getting killed?). Kids may not enjoy this movie as much though. A very likable balance of believable characters, emotional drama and epic fantasy action with an Asian twist coupled with fluid yet detailed animation art and impressive acting. I say it again, This is definitely big screen movie quality stuff. Note: Though the movie is finished, there is a little hint that leaves it open to a sequel or a continuing series. I do hope Marvel decideds to continue this rich story.9/10

grifter78 This is by far the best animated movie Marvel has produced so far. It takes a lot from Batman Begins as we watch Stephen Strange go on a similar journey. We have a man who is a cold-hearted surgeon (and as we find out later, has good reason to be) yet he is tasked with helping people on a daily basis. This makes for some great drama when we see how people react to Stephen Strange knowing this to be his personality. It is only when Dr. Strange becomes broken does he learn how to truly heal and it is that kind of spiritual journey that makes this story so interesting. As with most origin stories there is a slow build as the character learns about himself and what he must become in order to overcome his current situation. There is also influence from 'The Matrix' here as Dr. Strange is introduced to a world which is invisible to most but is all around us. This is where the action comes in as we see The Ancient One's warriors take on creatures from another world that are at the command of one of Dr. Strange's classic nemesis, Dormammu! It all leads up to a climactic battle that will not disappoint. Marvel is definitely learning how to improve with each new animated film and I hope this trend continues.