Genndy Tartakovsky Movies
Samurai Jack's Genndy Tartakovsky directed this animated tale concerning a hotel where monsters such as Dracula (voice of Adam Sandler), the Invisible Man (David Spade), Frankenstein (Kevin James), and his bride (Fran Drescher), along with a host of others, head to relax from a world full of humans. When a young man (Andy Samberg) stumbles onto the resort and falls for Drac's teenage daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez), comedy high jinks ensue. Cee Lo Green, Steve Buscemi, and Molly Shannon also lend their voices. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi
- Starring:
- Adam Sandler, Kevin James, (more)
- 2002
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From the ever-fertile mind of Gennedy Tartakovsky -- the creator of Dexter's Laboratory -- comes Samurai Jack, the tale of a young samurai's travels through time and space. The people of an ancient land are being terrorized by an elusive and constantly morphing demon named Aku. Attempting to take a stand against this evil, the locals choose a young man to train as a warrior with the hopes of the young man returning to vanquish Aku. Eventually, the young man does return, but fails in his attempt to banish the demon and is instead cast into a time portal. The samurai -- who picks up the name "Jack" from the first beings he encounters on his odyssey -- thus begins his search for a portal back to his own time, but not without encountering numerous trials and obstacles along the way. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi
Season three of the animated action series Samurai Jack covers chapters "XXXVII" through "LII" in the ongoing saga of the titular protagonist's journey through time and space in pursuit of the evil, shape-shifting sorcerer Aku. The season begins with a two-part episode, subtitled "The Birth of Evil," said birth bringing Samurai Jack into battle alongside mythical gods Odin, Ra, and Rama (talk about cultural diversification!); in the course of events, the viewer is apprised of the origin of the omnipotent Aku. In a later two-parter, a latter-day strongman, the Scotsman, rescues Jack when the latter loses his memory. Other season highlights include chapter "XLVIII" (aka "Jack vs. Aku"), with hero and villain divesting themselves of all lifesaving accoutrements to have it out mano a mano -- and with nary a word spoken between them as the action unfolds. Even less reliant upon dialogue is chapter "XLIX" (aka "Seasons of Death") -- no one can accuse Samurai Jack of being a typical TV cartoon talkfest! The season ends with chapter "LII" (aka "Jack and the Baby"), the centerpiece of which is a retelling of the traditional Japanese folk tale Peach Boy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Season two of the animated action series Samurai Jack covers chapters "XXI" through "XLII" in the saga of the titular hero's travels through time and space to vanquish the evil, shape-shifting wizard Aku. In the season opener, Samurai Jack saves a medieval village from the dreaded Farting Dragon (silent but deadly!). A subsequent episode, "XXII," sets a record for the least amount of dialogue in any TV cartoon series of the early 20th century. Later on, Jack meets Demongo the Soul Collector, loses his precious sandals to bier-bots, squares off against zombies and a sinister DJ who holds his "Rave Slaves" in thrall, seeks the precious Crystal of Cagliostro. Our hero faces one of his most daunting challenges in the season finale, "XLII" (aka "Samurai Jack vs. Da Samurai" -- the last-named character voiced by David Alan Grier of In Living Color fame). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The most adorable little superheroines in all of Townsville make the jump to the big screen in this feature-length animated adventure based on the popular Cartoon Network series The Powerpuff Girls. Brilliant scientist Professor Utonium (voice of Tom Kane) is performing an experiment in his lab when Jojo, a monkey trained to assist the professor, accidentally drops a bottle of hyper-powerful Chemical X into a mixture of sugar, spice, and everything nice. To the professor's surprise, what should emerge from the subsequent chemical reaction but three little girls: bright and practical Blossom (voice of Cathy Cavadini), sweet and sunny Bubbles (voice of Tara Strong), and tomboyish Buttercup (voice of Elizabeth Daily). Professor Utonium discovers that the girls have remarkable powers and super-human strength, and he hopes they'll be able to improve life in the crime-infected City of Townsville. However, after their first day at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten with Ms. Keane (voice of Jennifer Hale), the girls learn that having super powers can be both a blessing and a curse. Rejected by their classmates and quite unhappy, the girls are easily swayed when Mojo Jojo (voice of Roger L. Jackson), a superintelligent monkey in a turban, asks them to help him with a campaign to save the city. What the girls don't know is that Mojo Jojo is actually the monkey who once assisted the Professor; now he's embraced evil and hopes to use the Powerpuff Girls as part of his criminal scheme to wrestle control of Townsville away from the dense but well-meaning Mayor (voice of Tom Kenny). The Powerpuff Girls Movie was directed and co-written by Craig McCracken, who created the original television show as well as writing most of the episodes. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cathy Cavadini, Tara Strong, (more)
- 2001
The half-hour animated series Samurai Jack was the full fruition of a dream long held dear by creator Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Laboratory). As Tartakovsky explained to an interviewer from the Sequential Tart online magazine, "I love action and I love action shows, but I've never seen a show that has enough action to satisfy me. I decided I want good action that's choreographed and since I like samurai, I came up with Samurai Jack." He also wanted to create a series that "has comedy, action, and adventure; it's all those things combined! From show to show you will never guess what will happen next." Though inspired by ancient Japanese legends (stylistically, the series resembled a marriage between cutting-edge anime and "classic" Hanna-Barbera), Samurai Jack's backstory originated in the mind of its creator. The hero was the son of a Japanese emperor, whose civilization was destroyed thousands of years ago by the evil, shape-shifting wizard Aku. Suddenly thrust forward centuries into the future, the young emperor's son endeavored to undo the long-range damage perpetrated by Aku -- which included conquering the world and subjugating generations upon generations of luckless mortals. Adopting the name "Jack" (as he'd been designated by a sarcastic passerby in the 21st century), and armed with his father's sacred sword, our hero utilized his finely honed samurai skills in his efforts to save the world from Aku's clutches. In the course of events, both Jack and Aku zig-zagged forward and backward in time...but alas, never far enough backward to nip Aku in the bud before all the chaos started. Per Genndy Tartakovsky's vision, one was never quite certain if Samurai Jack was to be taken deadly seriously, or if the whole thing was a campy put-on. Not only did the scenario veer sharply from comedy to drama and back again, but even the mixed-genre musical score kept viewers happily off balance. Additionally, Tartakovsky's yearning for "enough action" was carried out in the series' lengthy pantomimic passages, in which action rather than dialogue carried the storyline (a rarity in TV animation of the early 21st century). Introduced with three back-to-back episodes on August 10, 2001, Samurai Jack was one of the best -- and best-received -- of the Cartoon Network's "original" offerings. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Phil LaMarr, Mako, (more)
Opening with three back-to-back half-hour episodes, the first season of Samurai Jack wastes no time in setting up its premise: an ancient, Samurai-trained Japanese prince, nicknamed "Jack" by accident, hopscotches through time and space in hopes of toppling the centuries-old reign of terror of villainous shape-shifting sorcerer Aku. These and all subsequent episodes are designated by Roman numerals (I, II, III, and so on) and an alternate title, in the manner of a venerable folk legend. Endowed with his father's magic sword, Samurai Jack pursues Aku into the distant future, where our hero meets a group of archeologist dogs (who look and sound like Rocky and His Friends' Mister Peabody) who agree to help him in his efforts to thwart Aku. In subsequent episodes (set in a variety of time frames), Jack gets mixed up in the long-standing rivalry between the "Woolies" and the "Chritchellites," is blasted to a space colony with a group of pilgrims hoping to escape Apu's tyranny, heads below the waves to a sunken city and a race of amphibians, and comes up against Warrior Women, Lava Monsters, Gangster, and at least one Scotsman -- not to mention his own evil clone. In keeping with the series' efforts to throw the viewer off balance from time to time, episode "XIII" (aka "Aku's Fairy Tale") goes so far off the beaten path that Samurai Jack isn't even in it! Season one concludes with episode "XX" (aka "Jack and the Monks"), wherein Jack's search for the gateway to the past takes him to the sacred Mountain of Fatoom, where the truth will set him free -- if indeed, it is the truth! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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