Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

xamtaro Nostalgia. It is a disease that infects our senses to perceive products through rose coloured glasses just because of some fleeting connection to good memories of our younger days. In reviewing the much loved X-MEN THE ANIMATED SERIES it is only right that nostalgia is removed from the equation and we can review those show as objectively as possible to the standards of that era. The end result is really a mixed bag with its ups and downs when it comes to technical quality, writing, artwork and voice acting. It is not a bad show but not the epitome of perfection that many may choose to believe.An roaring action packed opening sequence, beautifully detailed art and amazing animation, kicks off each episode to the electronic fanfare of the now iconic X-men theme. As we segue into the episodes proper the drop in quality is very noticeable. There has always been a trade off between the level of art detail and the smoothness of the animation motions. Here, they tried to mimic the detailed art of the era's comics. The designs are straight out of the 1990s comics particularly those drawn by artist Jim Lee, maintaining lots of shadows and contrast with lighting effects, clothing folds and skin creases painstakingly drawn frame by frame. The level of detail is almost on par with direct to video Japanese Anime of that era, no simple feat coming from Korean studies AKOM. Unfortunately the quality of the animation leaves much to be desired. There is a stilted look to many scenes particularly in the more crowded action sequences. Backgrounds seem unfinished at times and the occasion animation error can be quite jarring. Close up shot fare better only because there is less to animate and the detailed art more than makes up for the mediocre animation. The stories are very close adaptations of tales straight out of the comic books, particularly the best works by Chris Claremont and Fabian Niceza. Overarching story lines spanning multiple episodes give each season a grander more epic feel. Stand outs include the Phoenix Saga, the Cable and Apocalypse conflict, and of course Magneto's Insurgency. There is a good mixed of "event" episodes and more intimate character Centred ones where there is less emphasis on action, more on drama and development. Initially both scripts and actors fell into the trappings of typical Saturday morning cartoon fluff: overacting, juvenile dialogue. Come season two and the script took on a more mature tone (again a result of adapting lines directly from the comics). Characters die and relationships get broken then healed as the episodes tackle themes of discrimination, extremism, illegal experimentation, and even some existential philosophy. The status quo continually changes unlike many other cartoons which always revert to status quo by the end of the episode.Slowly but surely the voice actors eased into their roles and by season 3 they were emoting like experts; subtle, nuanced, perfect. Many of the voices like Iona Morris' extra dramatic Storm, Norm Spencer's heroic leader Cyclops and Cathal Dodd's scowling Wolverine have gone down in history as being THE iconic voices of the characters that comic readers hear in their heads whenever they flip through their Favourite books. It is easy to see why the series garnered such a wide appeal, pleasing both casual viewers and Long time comic readers alike. It's faithfulness to the source material and visual aesthetics of the comics are tampered with necessary tweaks to make the continuity less convoluted. Having read the comic, I dare say that some of the changes are actually an improvement over the original stories. The cartoon's biggest asset is its willingness to show the more mature subject matter of the comics without dumbing stuff down for kids. The artwork is beautiful in all its rich detail, a cut above other cartoons of that era but sadly let down by sub par animation. Though it takes it's time to find good footing, X-MEN THE ANIMATED SERIES is right up there among the best of 1990s cartoons. Not perfect, and definitely not aged well when compared to shows of today, but excellent nonetheless.

btimmfan I'm sorry but this show is rated way too high. I think most people are blinded by their nostalgia.I didn't watch this show as a child. I grew up watching Batman: TAS and Spider-Man TAS which I absolutely loved and still love to this day. I re-watch those shows pretty regularly even as an adult.I tried to watch a couple episodes of X-Men TAS since it was rated so highly on here. I found it pretty unwatchable. It's pretty obvious to me that this show was made strictly for children, without any concern for making it interesting to adults too.It is really preachy to kids about accepting and tolerating people who are different from you. This is a good message, but they hammer it in literally every episode. Also, the dialogue is really bad at times and Wolverine is almost useless since he can't use his claws on anyone except robots. There are countless nonsensical moments where the plot or the premise just doesn't add up. It's not a bad show for children, but I can't watch it as an adult.

talarisw I'm a huge fan of comic book superheroes and the X-men are my favorite from Marvel comics. This is the best interruption of the X-men. I LOVE the live action movies by 20th century fox with Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry & etc. But this is the best adaptation from the comics. This is also an iconic staple of Saturday mourning cartoons of the 1990s. In the comics about every decade there's a different X-men team with different characters and this cartoon is perfectly based on the 90's team of X- men, which might be the best one. The show does an EXcellent job at staying true to the comics, the animation was great, the action was great and the stories/episodes where great! The best thing about the X-men in general are all the wide range of great characters. Marvel comics done a great job in creating many, many truly interesting characters with great powers, back-stories, personalities and cool looks. It's the colorful characters that makes the X-men so iconic. First there's Charles Xaviar aka Professor X voiced by Cedric Smith. He has a great voice for Xavier. He's the leader of the X-men and one of the world's most powerful telepathic. They did a great job at always giving him an important part in the show not just the typical boss role. The field leader of the X-men is Scott Summers aka Cyclops voiced by Norman Spencer. His voice is perfect for Cyclops. He has one of the most tormenting powers as powerful rays shoot from his eyes which can only be controlled with a visor he wears but he can never look at anyone with a naked eye. They did a great job showing his personality and how serious he takes things as well as his rivalry with Wolverine. Catherine Disher is great as the voice of Jean Grey, who's power is telekinesis(moving objects with her mind). I like her romance with Cyclops and like Scott she takes things seriously. The 2nd in command after Cyclops is Oroa Munroe aka Storm voiced by Iona Morris. Her voice is perfect, I love her African accent. She can control the weather around her and I love how she makes dramatic statements when using her powers like a God commanding the weather to act by her will, even Rouge commented on it by saying "lighting up with the speeches". I love Hank McCoy aka Beast. He looks like a fury animal but is actually an sophisticated Genies scientist. George Blaze is great as his voice, I love how they show his love for reading, poetry and art and how he quotes poetry. I love Rogue, she's a great character. She has one of the best personalities and back-story. Lenore Zann is great as her voice, I love her sassy southern accent and flirtations. But she is also tragic as her power is to absorb the life force and/or powers of anyone she touches, making her incapable to touch anyone. My favorite character is Remy Lebeau aka Gambit, who's power is to turn any object into an explosive by touching it. He just has a cool personality. I love Chris Potter's voice, his French accent is perfect. I love how he uses game cards as weapons and all of his "card talk" like saying "five card stud" before blowing something up. I also like how for some reason he always talks in a 3rd person. The youngest member is teenager Jubilee voiced by Alyson Court. Her hands can create fireworks like sparks. She's cool but I think they made her too immature. But the breakout star is Logan aka Wolverine. I love Hugh Jackman but this is the best take on Wolverine ever. His scratchy, Clint Eastwood like voice by Cathal Dodd is great. His heart's always in the right place but he has such a bad attitude and unlike the other X-men he'll kill . They couldn't show him actually kill(like in the comics) but heavenly implied he's willing to kill. I love his rivalry with the vicious Sabbertooth and how he's in love with Jean Grey. He is definitely the most interesting & complex X-men character. The show also did a great job with the villains. The mutant- hunting giant robots called Sentials were perfectly done. Professor X's former college, the non-mutant hating Magneto is good but unfortunately he dosen't have the brotherhood in this show, he works alone. I like Mystique, Avalanch, and Pyro. Mr. Sinister is one of my favorites, he's really creepy. I love the Juggernaught, he's a smart-ass, a bully and his super strength makes him literally unstoppable. The biggest villain is Apocalpse, who's really scary. Other X-men characters from the comics appear like Collosus, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Angel, Dazzler, Cable but unfortunately no Kitty Pryde. I love the opening credits and theme music, there's no lyrics but the music is unforgettable. The series is very mature and deals with intense issues like prejudice, bigotry and abuse. The 1st season is the best but the entire series is fantastic and is the best from Marvel comics.

TheLittleSongbird I love everything about X Men. The animation is very detailed and atmospheric, and the character designs especially with Wolverine are quite sophisticated for the time. The action sequences, which never suspended disbelief and had some wondrous elements for kids and adults alike to savour, have a lot of fluidity in that regard. The music is wonderful as well, the intro is one of the coolest of any animated series of the 90s(and there were a lot) and the background scoring manages to be beautiful and haunting. The writing is intelligent, sometimes affecting and sometimes humorous, though any sense of conflicting emotions are equally convincing, while the story lines are daring and always interesting and the characters right from charismatic Wolverine, sexy Rogue to the appropriately antagonistic villains are very well-written and likable. The voice acting is always expressive and never felt stereotypical, bland or overdone. In conclusion, a superb series. 10/10 Bethany Cox