Review: Astonishing X-Men: Gifted (motion comic)

I have been a sporadic X-Men fan over the years and can't help but think of Jim Lee whenever I think X-Men. Lee's art is what I picture and Claremont's stories are what I remember, not to mention I'm a rather large—not fat or big-boned—fan of Gambit. This has nothing to do with the topic at hand, but I think it's important to know that I am not an all-encompassing X-Men follower. What I am here to talk about is Astonishing X-Men: Gifted, particularly the motion comic. I did not read the comic so everything is new, but none of that matters because I am reviewing the motion comic and boy, did I hate every second of it.

I know there are a lot of Joss Whedon fans located neatly in geek culture, but I've always felt rather indifferent towards him. In the case of Gifted, I found his writing to be okay at best and unbearable at its worse. All attempted humor fell flat and while this could be related to poor voice acting, I can't imagine enjoying it under any circumstance. The basic plot is fine and has potential, but the meat that surrounds it is forgettable. I briefly mentioned the voice acting and it ranges from decent—specifically Beast—to barely tolerable. Most of the time, the acting sounds stiff and the delivery lacks emotion.

The visuals are bland and Beast's design in particular was very unappealing. This is a motion comic and thus, not real animation, but the motion of this comic's ocean was rough. Everything felt generic and my favorite moment was the second it ended. I already know I'm in the minority here—at least in reference to Whedon's story/godliness—but I didn't enjoy Gifted and no one is more disappointed with that statement than this guy, right here. My only hope is that Whedon's run gets much better because my experience has shown his work usually starts poorly and eventually becomes amazing, or possibly astonishing in this case.