Ricky Church reviews the series premiere of Marvel Studios’ X-Men ’97…
Back in the 1990s, there were three animated series which were often hailed as the pinnacle of Saturday morning cartoons for both young and old audiences: Batman: The Animated Series, Spider-Man and X-Men: The Animated Series. Much like Batman, X-Men told very serious and often dark stories while still leaning to the younger demographic, never dumbing down the stories and character development. The series ran for five seasons and even with several more animated series, live-action films and countless comics, X-Men is still considered to be one of if not the best piece of media for Marvel’s mutant team.
Now the X-Men are roaring back onto TV with X-Men ’97, a revival/continuation of the original series that sees Cyclops leading the team in the wake of Charles Xavier’s death as they face down old and new enemies to achieve Xavier’s dream of mutant and human coexistence. With the series ready to premiere this Wednesday, X-Men ‘97’s premiere episode ‘To Me, My X-Men’ wastes no time getting us back into the mutant world with the serious storytelling and epic action the original was known for.
‘To Me, My X-Men’ brings a sense of familiarity to the series as it retains the tone of the original, yet makes room to feel fresh after the 25-year gap between the series. There are new problems for the X-Men to face, but these are much more personal as Cyclops and Jean Grey are on the cusp of becoming parents and the team is feeling a little lax after tensions between mutants and humans have greatly eased in the aftermath of Xavier’s assassination. The character moments are handled very well, capturing the essence of each team member with their individual quirks and personalities.
It helps that several of the original voice actors have returned to reprise their roles. Cal Dodd, Alison Sealy-Smith, Lenore Zann and George Buza step back into Wolverine, Storm, Rogue and Beast as if no time has passed while Ray Chase, J.P. Karliak, A.J. LoCascio and Isaac Robinson-Smith take the reigns of Cyclops, Morph, Gambit and Bishop well, putting their own spin on the characters while honouring their past portrayals. It’s clear the voice cast know how special and important this particular interpretation of the X-Men is and are giving it their all.
While the animation in X-Men featured more defined details on the character models, X-Men ’97 has very clear animation in nearly every aspect. Their movements are smooth, whether several members are moving around the kitchen or Beast crawls on the ceiling of his lab. Where the animation really shines, though, is in its action sequences with a very epic clash between the X-Men and their robotic enemies the Sentinels. X-Men ’97 takes great advantage of modern animation to display each X-Men’s powers and their coordination as a team with some great combos, such as Wolverine and Gambit’s charge up as seen in the series’ trailer. There is plenty more X-Men fans will cheer for in the premiere’s climax as it gives us our best mutant action seen in years.
While there is a sense of nostalgia involved, ‘To Me, My X-Men’ doesn’t hinge completely on it as it is seemingly unafraid to move past the original series and chart a new future for the X-Men. With the focus on story, characters, stellar animation and a tease of a new threat to come, X-Men ’97 is a resounding and awesome return for Marvel’s mutants after a draught of several years.
SEE ALSO: Ranking The Best Episodes of X-Men: The Animated Series
Rating: 8/10
X-Men ’97 premieres on Disney+ with two episodes on Wednesday, March 20th.
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
