DVD Re-View – Comic Book: The Movie (2003)

(What is a MOVIEGUYS dvd re-view?) ” A MOVIEGUYS DVD RE-VIEW (Re-View as: to watch again), is a chance to look back at movies now on DVD that didn’t get a chance because of poor distribution, independent production, the dreaded NC-17 rating…. or we just forgot….”

Comic book: The Movie

COMIC BOOK: THE MOVIE 2003

A MOVIEGUYS DVD RE-VIEW, by 790…

The Fully Loaded , 2 disc set stars Mark Hamill, Billy West, Roger Rose, Jess Harnell, Tom Kenny, Lori Alan, Daren Norris, Donna D’ Errico, Kevin Smith, Stan Lee, Hugh Hefner, and Bruce Campbell…

Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker / Star Wars) directs, and stars as history teacher / comic book store owner Donald Swan, in the hilarious Comic Con mockumentary, Comic Book the Movie.

Don Swan is facing a personal dilemma, his favourite comic book superhero “Commander Courage” is about to be made into a major motion picture. The problem, the studio wants to completely throw out all canons, and reboot Commander Courage into a cynical right-wing revenge fantasy called, “Codename Courage, w/ Liberty Lass”.

We follow Don Swan, on his personal quest to somehow convince the studio execs to see the values in a WW2 themed Commander Courage, over the disturbing post 9/11 theatrical direction they want to produce. Since Don Swan, is the biggest Commander Courage fan “alive”, the studio invites him to be the technical advisor on the film (Big Mistake). They also provide him with an, all-expense-paid trip to San Diego’s Comic Con to accept the Legends Award on behalf of the creator of Commander Courage, the late Jackson Whitney.

*Accompanying Don is his fanzine buddy Derek Sprang (played by Tom Kenny voice of Sponge Bob Squarepants). Some of the moments with his (real life) wife and son at the Con are hilarious.*

The Studio also provides Don with a camera crew with the intention of later using the footage as dvd bonus fodder… What the studio execs didn’t expect was Don taking advantage of stoner cameraman Ricky (Jess Harnell), and forming an alliance in his mission to convince the studio to drop Codename Courage, and restore Commander Courage’s original name and image. It gets even worse for the Studio exec’s (played by, Lori Allen, and Roger Rose) when Don manages to find the only living heir to the Commander Courage legacy, Leo Matuzik (played by legendary voice talent Billy West).

Don ends up hijacking the documentary, and in doing so provides some hilarious interviews with Hugh Hefner, Stan Lee, Kevin Smith, and a very funny casting scene with Bruce Campbell. The film is littered with cameos from some of the tops in film and comics including , Ron Pearlman, Billy Mumy, Sid Caesar, Jonathan Winters, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, Jeremy Bulloch, Chase Masterson, JJ Abrams, Gary Owens, Peter David, Matt Groening, Ray Harryhausen, Lloyd Kaufman, Arleen Sorkin, and more.

Wow I loved this movie, very funny with inside jokes all over the map. What’s great about this film is watching Mark Hamill play Don Swan, his comic side is remarkable, and he dead pans his way through the entire film. I was also surprised to see that Mark Hamill created Commander Courage, and all the fictional comic book characters in the film… “Impressive!” The film is also a great chance to experience The San Diego Comic Con, and really provides some great footage of the 2002 show! The only thing I didn’t like about the film is it wasn’t filmed in widescreen, but it hardly mattered.

The 2 disc, DVD Bonus features include, additional interviews, a making of featurette, a Behind the Voices featurette with the top voices in Animation (a 790 must see), interview with Hugh Hefner on comics and women, deleted scenes, cast & crew biographies, and a audio commentary with Mark Hamill, & the cast.

Comic Book the Movie is Rated PG-13