VividSimon Simply Perfect

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

ThatAnimeSnob (ThatAnimeSnob) If you ask people around of why is animated Spawn good, you will have a 90% chance of getting this reply: It's cartoon for adults. BECAUSE CARTOONS ARE FOR KIDS!Why isn't that cute; too bad I am an anime fan and those crazy Japs were making adult cartoons way before this one. Heck, Ralph Bakshi was making adult animation in America way before this one. Heck, MAD TV did adult animation after it. Anyone seen The Maxx by any chance? So in other words, this ITS FOR ADULTS doesn't fly to veteran viewers. OK, let's see what else is there to it. Oh right, it has Spawn as the main character. Who doesn't like that half demon – half undead anti-hero who is stuck in the eternal war between heaven and hell? He has a cool cape that transforms to a dozen ecstatic weapons and fights demons and robots and mad assassins and other stuff. The artwork is super gritty and the world is one big sh1thole. Oh, right, and they say the word sh1t and f*ck a lot too. IT'S FOR ADULTS!The set up is great; that's for sure. This guy wakes up with superpowers and a mutated body and goes around trying to rebuild his life and fight all sorts of freaks. That's cool. Of course in the animated version his enemies are limited to humans so don't expect any real threats for Spawn; most of them are n00bs before him while the really powerful ones like the demon clown and the angelic chick are never dealt with in the cartoon. That's right; the whole show is the prologue to the comic book and even that takes out most of the occult aspects.This takes out a significant portion of the supernatural action and fun of the comic, but leaves room for far more psychology. Since almost everybody is mortal, they act in ways we can relate with instead of having unworldly demons that kill people just for kicks. When someone dies, he is a common man, and that multiplies the shock. Oh, and yes, people die in this cartoon FOR ADULTS all the time. Most for little to no reason. That is the main point of the whole show you see; when life and ideals have lost their values and everybody kills and tortures for power and money BECAUSE HE CAN. Neat concept for a cartoon but surely something you can find in any live action gangster film out there. Which if you ask me makes you wonder why didn't they add all the fantasy parts in a form or art that is there to depict things you DON'T find in live action. Jesus you guys, if I wanted violence and profanity around people, I would watch a life action title. If it is animated and you have the liberty to draw anything you like WHY DO YOU STICK SO MUCH TO THE BASICS? Oh right, it's for adults and we don't have much of that so it stands out. As far as cartoons go that is; anime do this stuff for over 50 years now. And I am not saying it looks bad or anything; animation and voice acting are as gritty as they are supposed to be. The action and torture scenes are as gruesome as they need to be. The feelings of hopelessness and disgust are there. Thumbs up for presentation. But when it comes to plot or characters, well, you get a prologues where an undying grumpy super- powerful dude wastes a bunch of thugs who love to torture people. Where is the challenge in there? OK, sure, you get lots of that in the comic but the cartoon is like a walk in the park. And no, the main focus was never the action but the atmosphere. To show a completely rotten and immoral society full of violence, profanity, and death. Bravo, they got that right. But don't go expecting for some sort of solid conclusion because all you get is Spawn and his indirect allies saying something corny like "Have hope, stay true to yourself, and things will be better tomorrow." Why thank you so much; I think Jack and Beanstalk had the same overall message. And that was a fairy tale. Spawn is in effect a dark fairy tale and an intro to things you need to read about in the comic. And even there, not after a certain point since after he deals with that Maleboja fellow the storyline becomes really messy and almost aimless. So in all, yes, it is a good watch. But not a very good watch. It is too different from the comic, since most of the supernatural stuff are taken out. It doesn't have a solid conclusion either apart from some weird war we never see much about and a long monologue of a depressed Spawn looking at trashcans and attempting philosophy. It is gritty and serves its purpose but doesn't fully exploit its setting and ends up being just that ADULT CARTOON everybody remembers for being an ADULT CARTOON. Kay, thanks, bye, 6/10 for the effort but have seen much better.

dee.reid I fondly remember that the 1997 animated series "Spawn" was one of the great forbidden fruits of my childhood 12 years ago. I was 12 in '97, not yet mature enough, according to my parents, to watch a fantasy/horror superhero show about a Hell-spawned demon looking to avenge his own murder at the hands of his former boss. The show was rife with dark subject matter that included Hell, demons and black magic, not to mention graphic violence and explicit sexuality/nudity.All of this might seem like poison to a 12-year-old boy's eyes, ears, and mind. But I couldn't help it. Sometimes I would sneak off into the basement, out of my parents' close supervision, to watch the glorious "Spawn" animated TV show that aired late at night on HBO, around the same time a bunch of soft-core porn shows were also being aired."Spawn" was adapted from the creator-owned Image Comics comic book created by Todd McFarlane. I remember that after Batman, Spider-Man (my favorite superhero) and the X-Men, Spawn was the next major superhero to have a significant impact on my childhood. Spawn, you could say, was the first mature-themed comic book superhero I ever encountered as a pre-teen. It allowed me to grow up pretty fast when I got the chance to watch the animated TV series. I was also pretty hyped to see the 1997 live-action movie in theaters, too, which was more like Spawn-lite - more of a watered-down introduction to the character for the masses, rather than being a straight-forward adaptation of the comics.The animated series is a lot more closer to McFarlane's original vision of the character. It's dark, violent, and more faithful to the comics from which he sprang to life from. The story follows the plight of Al Simmons, a former government assassin/mercenary who is betrayed and murdered by his former boss Jason Wynn. Simmons is sent to Hell, where he makes a deal with the demon Malebolgia to become leader of his demonic army to lead the conquest of Earth, and eventually, Heaven, leading to Armageddon, in exchange to be able to see wife Wanda one more time, who is now happily re-married to his best friend Terry Fitzgerald, and together they now have a young daughter named Cyan. Simmons is thus reborn as the demonic Hellspawn, a creature of almost limit-less supernatural abilities, which he uses to fight the legions of Hellish creatures and nearly every other manner of human scum on Earth including ruthless assassins, mob bosses, and serial killers; and he also forms sympathetic links with the homeless occupants of "Rat City," who he tentatively befriends and whom he also ends up protecting.He is also watched over on Earth by Malebolgia's lieutenant, The Clown, who of course has the ability to transform into the reptilian beast Violator. The forces of good are also in on the conspiracy, specifically the benevolent mentor Cogliostro, who teaches Spawn to use his powers for good instead of evil, and who also teaches him that it is possible to break free of his deal with Malebolgia. There's also some detective-noir in here as well, and light comic relief, in the form of detective pair Sam and Twitch.As I already stated earlier, "Spawn" is not for children; I know this from first-hand experience. In many ways, this is the definitive vision of the Spawn character. It's much more faithful to the tone of the comics; it's dark (there's very little light and when there is light, there is still a foreboding sense of darkness and dread), the music is appropriately grim and moody, and lastly, and most importantly, it also stresses the great dramatic possibilities of the character and the tug-of-war being played against him for possession of his soul. The 1997 movie was all right as an introduction, nothing more, since it had forsaken the darker elements of the story in favor of a larger commercial appeal.Spawn is unquestionably one of my favorite comic book superheroes of all time. The animated series is quite possibly the best animated series of all time based on a comic book superhero character. Spawn is truly a sympathetic character you can latch onto and not hate yourself for doing so: he's a Hell-spawned demon, a product of evil, who has been manipulated by circumstances into serving the forces of good (like other demonic superheroes such as Ghost Rider and Hellboy). It's this sort of great dramatic potential that I look for so much in comic book superheroes these days, ever since Spider-Man taught me that it is possible for comic book superheroes to truly grow up.10/10

rocknroll1985 I disagree with the above comment..... One: The film as a whole tanked. This is an example of what happens when Hollywood tries to make a comic book into a movie word for word, picture for picture, etc.. Their was too much fluff in the movie that looked way better on the pages of the comic book. This is an idea that would have been done justice if it stayed on the page than become a movie, or waited to grow a bigger fan base and then get the attention of a talented director(Dave Fincher perhaps?) to make it a silver screen project. Two: The comic book was given another bad hit when it was made into a "mature" animated series. Once again, it just looked better on the page. It lost it's dynamic imaging when it started moving. To top that off, it was made for mature audiences. There is a huge difference between serious animated flick(Van Helsing's London assignment) and mature animated series(the said title). The mature audience rating was just so they could swear, use gore, and sexual connotations. Never send a cartoon to do a real person's acting.

DrTwinkieEsq Great insights brought together in imagery and story that reach crescendos of wrenching intensity. We are creatures born of carnality of many sorts. These of themselves lead us to terrible evil and yet also may be the source of or are opposed by transcendent good. Spawn explores this metaphorical brew of opposites at its most elemental and archtypal. We rolled on the floor when Todd (the originator of the series) narrated after the second season that some wanted to purchase rights for Saturday morning kiddie viewing because it was in a comic book format. This is mature audience animation at is very finest. As it aged (second and third season)like a fine wine it gained depth, bouquet, and mystery. It needs a fourth season to be complete. There are so many things still dangling.