Gen¹³ (1998 Video) User Reviews

Needs a little Gen activation

[TVkid · 7/10 · 28 February 2000]

With a little polishing, this could have been a really good film.

At first glance, Gen 13 seems to have all the right ingredients: Quality voice talent from Alicia Witt (Twin Peaks), John de Lancie (Q from "Star Trek: Next Generation"), Mark Hamill (duh!) and even Cloris Leachman. It also has a good plot, taken almost verbatim from the pages of Jim Lee and J. Scott Campbell's "Gen 13" comic book mini-series.

Kevin Altieri's past experience with the "Batman" animated series is obvious, mostly keeping the story moving at a good clip.

But this movie views as though the money behind it suddenly lost interest during the final stages. Although there are several good lines, "We're like... the 'Justice League,' man", the voices are not well mixed and, at times, need additional coaching. Background noises mix in and out at random. The "Grunge" character is poorly scripted as the well-meaning dope and Flea fails to give him any personality.

The music weighs everything down. It sounds more like the soundtrack for a Saturday morning cartoon than an 82-minute feature film.

Despite all that, the visuals are really pretty good. Fairchild is still the busty titan and Freefall the good-hearted bad girl. And they are still fun to look at.

Like I said, it seems unfinished.

not your children's Saturday morning cartoon!

[wildpeace10 · 5/10 · 28 August 2007]

i was a fan of the comic back way back and was excited to hear that an animated film was being made.And then,i heard nothing about it for years until i recently found a bootleg copy.

This film is not your children's Saturday morning cartoon since it's got scenes of bloody violence,about two dozen bad words(mostly religious related words but no f words) and characters who either smoke or talk about wanting to smoke.

it's sexy in some parts but don't expect any nudity or you'll be really disappointed.

The story is somewhat interesting but the animation didn't match my high expectations.

Maybe there will be a really great GEN 13 animated film done one day but this simply isn't it!

R-Rated WB Cartoon

[recurvetd2 · 6/10 · 29 December 2004]

This Gen-13 movie is less a feature length movie, and more a hour long cartoon special that would have introduced a Gen-13 cartoon series. However, the language and gore suggests that this series might have aired on HBO or Cinemax. It seems logical. This movie was made at the height of South Park's fame, and other cable channels were scrambling to try and find their own crude kids show.

Gen-13 is only for fans of the defunct comic book. My complaints about this film are the same as past reviews. Grunge's dialog makes Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure sound like Shakespeare. And at times the sound quality dips to below average. However, this movie is only available on bootlegs, so don't expect great quality.

Also, many video outlets push the fact that the uncut version of this film features nude scenes of Catlin. Needless to say, I have seen this movie, and the "nude" scenes are a disappointment. The first scene of nudity is with Catlin and Roxy in the shower. Perhaps the version I saw was not really uncut, because the screen was so covered with white (I guess it was supposed to be steam) you could not see a thing. It would have been a better idea to cut this scene altogether rather than include it in it's white washed condition. The second scene of nudity is when Catlin gets her powers. She grows bigger and taller, and her clothes become ripped. It you are quick with the pause button, you will see the upper parts of Catlin's nipples, which have been turned flesh colored, so they have been censored a little.

The storyline is rather hackneyed, and the animation reminds me a lot of Batman the Animated Series, but it is still good. However, if you are like me, and you only wanted to watch this movie for all the wrong reasons, you will be disappointed.

Friend of Altieri checks in

[vandino1 · 16 April 2006]

I've known Kevin Altieri for decades. He spent a pile of his own money premiering this film years ago only to see the thing crammed into a vault at Disney because Wildstorm Comics, the publisher of the Gen 13 series, sold itself to DC Comics (owned by Time-Warner) and Disney decided it would rather eat the cost of the film than help sell a rival conglomerate's merchandise. So, an entire film swallowed whole due to studio politics. Amazingly, years later, it still sits, only viewable as a bootleg because of a minor release in Australia and Europe. Kevin just shakes his head at the waste. He did quite a job on this considering the limits of the budget. The uncut version does not feature nudity except in the slightest cheesecake variety. I disagree with a fellow poster regarding the music. Amotz Plessner (from the Czech Republic) provided an excellent score with none of the usual tinny synthesizer drivel typically larded over action-adventure animation. As for any heavy-breathing lesbian characters or material, you have to consider that this film was financed by Disney, so what would you expect? Sure, this film is not Miyazaki, or something worthy of putting in the Smithsonian, but it is a well-made little feature. And though I haven't seen the bootleg version(s) available for download, I'd be suspicious of the quality (although the original not being available it would be impossible to tell at this point).

A lot of fun

[Milk_Tray_Guy · 7/10 · 20 December 2022]

A DC superhero animated movie - made by Disney! Gen¹³ was a comic created by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi in the early 1990s through their WildStorm company - at that time part of Image Comics. Disney expressed interest in developing a Gen¹³ film; however, whilst the film was in production, Lee began talks to sell WildStorm to DC Comics, a Time Warner company. By the time the film was finished, Lee's sale of WildStorm to DC had been completed, meaning that Disney now had a movie based on a property indirectly owned by another studio. As a result Disney shelved it, and it was never released in the US. It was however released on video in Europe and Australia.

It's basically an X-Men kinda tale, with a group of teens who each possess a gene giving potential for superhuman abilities, being guided by an older mentor, to help secure the future of mankind. But (of course) there are those who want to control the youngsters for their own selfish reasons. Voice talent includes Alicia Witt, John de Lancie, Elizabeth Daily, Mark Hamill, Cloris Leachman, and Flea (yes, he of the Red Hot Chili Peppers!), all of whom do a nice job. Animation has a nostalgic 'Saturday morning TV' feel (incidentally, the logo at the beginning of the film is a green-tinted version of the old DC 'Bullet' - nice to see it again). This easily had potential for at least one sequel, although for obvious reasons it never happened. 7.5/10.

YOU'RE NOT GOING TO HIT ANYONE

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 30 August 2018]

There are apparently two versions, a 73 minute edited version and a 90 minute version. I saw something that clocked in around 85 minutes.

Caitlin Fairchild is a gifted student who is recruited into a military program that trains then "activates" its pupils to have super powers, most of which resemble "Hulk-like" powers. Her father was part of the program and tried to escape when she was a child. She has reoccurring dreams about the event which include her lost brother.

The animation is not the best, but better than "Johnny Quest." The plot is so-so and appears to be an introduction of the characters for later stories that never materialized.

The cartoon is about a PG-13 type rating. It includes GD and S***, but no f-bombs. There is some sexuality and what appears to be cartoon nudity without areolas.

Apparently this has some cult value, but i didn't see it.

Target is Gen Active

[amiranda-39274 · 7/10 · 22 November 2019]

For awhile now i have been a fan of the Gen 13 comic which is about a superhero team of teenagers fighting an evil branch of the government ( you know the usual). The main characters of gen 13 are Caitlin Fairchild a brainy girl who gets turned into a voluptuous amazon. Roxy Freefall a punk rebel with the power of gravity and Grunge a dumb but nice dude with the power to turn into any material he touches. These teenagers have inherited superpowers from their parents who were apart of secret government experiments. When their not saving the world they are just regular teenagers, hormones and all of that other drama. The comic is very mature and full of fanservice and lewd jokes, and the movie has alot as well, infact this movie perfectly captured the first issues very well. The animation is just glorious 90s animation, like it almost feels nostalgic, even though i never watched it until right now, and i think the reason why that is, is because it has a lot of animators that worked on the brave little toaster and batman the animated series. Speaking of that, the voice cast is rich, Mark Hamill plays threshold who is just deliciously evil in this, he even uses a epic evil laugh. All the other characters have appropriate voice actors as well, especially Caitlin, Lynch, Ivanna, and Roxy who is played by buttercup from powerpuff girls (which is perfect). Due to time and budget, 2 members of the team, rainmaker and burnout are left as just as cameos, to focus more on the trio. Despite this being a solid superhero cartoon, this movie was never released on home video and only bootleg copies of it exist on YouTube. The reason why is because Gen13 was apart of wildstorm comics which is actually considered apart of DC. Due to the popularity of the comic series, Disney expressed interest in developing a Gen¹³ film ( I'm assuming they didn't read the comic). By the time the film was finished, Disney decided to shelve the film because they did not want to market a film with ties to a rival production company ( since they had purchased marvel), but personally I think they also realized how inappropriate the final product was. Now im no prune, hech i own a lot of the gen 13 comics. But i feel what could have maybe allowed this film to be released, is if they censored the cursing and some of the other pointless lewd moments, but i suppose that would have stripped it of its identity. The movie has a ton of cursing in it, and yes there is nudity, there is a shower scene that was actually going to show more, but it was covered with steam, and when Caitlins powers activate she transforms from a meek woman to a busty amazon, and her breasts are briefly shown. The violence is just mouth dropping, theres tons of blood, torture, and even peoples heads exploding. The villains are just evil, like stereotypically, even throwing logic out the window just for the sake of being evil, but threshold is a truly great villain. The climatic battle with threshold is very entertaining but it does have kind of a lame ending. Mostly because the ending is very abrupt, and that could be because it was still unfinished, but the ending by itself is just so corny, and feels like it was meant to be the pilot of an animated series, which i would have loved. This movie is clearly an unfinished product, but it has potential to be something great. For what is, i love it. The characters are fun, the plot is solid, the action is epic and the animation is mesmerizing. And there are just delightful pop culture references, (stormtrooper talking to another stormtrooper): Cut it with the blue leader, this aint star wars and you aint no luke skywalker! Its time to go GEN active.

Release the video

[JoeB131 · 7/10 · 5 July 2023]

I saw a bootleg copy of this on YouTube recently. I am guessing from the comments here that this thing has not been released because of some kind of conflict between WB and Disney, both of whom happily churn out unwatchable garbage.

The premise is that the government has been creating potential super heroes, and had created a secret base for them, but things go south a trio of heroes discover their powers.

A lot of the people involved in the DC Animated Universe were involved in this, and it has a solid voice actor cast and the story moves along at a good pace. The story's big reveal is kind of telegraphed throughout the story, so it is less a surprise to the audience than it is to the characters.

It's okay. If you enjoy the DC animated universe, you'll enjoy this.

True to the comics!

[Skyrcket · 8/10 · 24 June 1999]

This movie does stay very close to the comics. There is one major change involving Fairchild, but under the circumstances it's an understandable one. It's really great when you're watching the movie and thinking, "I remember this scene from the comics!"

The voices are mostly pretty good. Mark Hamil is awesome as Threshold! My only complaints are that Flea makes Grunge sound way to dumb and Bobby only gets a cameo. Oh well, at least Rainmaker got a few lines...

Lacklustre

[neil-476 · 6/10 · 8 September 2023]

After a prologue in which a young boy flees with an infant after their parents(?) are mercilessly gunned down by mysterious troops, the action moves forward to Caitlyn Fairchild starting college. Things aren't going well, but then she receives a mysterious scholarship to an odd establishment where, unknown to the students, efforts are being made to induce their inherent superpowers. Together with pals Roxy and Grunge, Caitlyn embarks on a voyage of disovery.

The comics universe underlying this animated movie is quite good fun, with nicely realised characters and terrific art. This adaptation sags, unfortunately. The story is a rather limp origin story, the characters are pale copies of the originals, the design is poor, and the animation is less polished than the average Saturday morning half hour.

It's worth watching just to see how to fail to make the most of a decent property.

Great cartoon.

[[e-mail] · 14 October 2000]

I heard about Gen13 the comic book but I can't find it in Thailand so I don't know the storyline in the comic.

I saw this cartoon today and I love it. The story is great. Mark Hamill's voice as Threshold is so powerful.

If you are a fan of Gen13 or like comic books, you should see this cartoon.

An okay movie that was a casualty of business politics.

[IonicBreezeMachine · 6/10 · 19 May 2020]

Gen 13 is not a perfect movie, it feels a lot more like setup for a television series than a movie, but with that said there is enough here to justify a viewing,including some terrific animation directed by Batman: TAS and Mask of the Phantasm director Kevin Altieri. Unfortunately the movie was never officially released in the U.S. due to Jim Lee selling his Wildstorm imprint to Time Warner's DC while the movie was in production. Once Disney found out about the sale the film was shelved out of a desire not to promote a film with commercial ties to a competing company and has only popped up on a handful of PAL releases and broadcasts on foreign television. Even if this movie isn't perfect, it still deserves to be available and hopefully one day one of independent distributors like Shout! or Kino will be able to give this film the home media release it deserves.

Excellent flick, should have been released.

[k19272649 · 10/10 · 1 April 2001]

Great adaptation of the comic book. Spent years looking for it & it was well worth the wait. The animation was very well done. Fans of the book will appreciate that it stays pretty true to the book (except the very end had a bit of a surprise).

Could have been better, but fun

[Kielle · 23 January 2002]

On the downside, the animation was uninspired by the standards of other projects associated with Kevin Altieri (ie. Batman:TAS). I also found the lack of Burnout and Rainmaker (aside from two good cameos), though it wouldn't matter to anyone unfamiliar with the Gen13 comic, mattered a great deal to me even though I don't consider myself a huge Gen13 fan -- thus, I'm sure, this also had to have an impact on to anyone else watching this, seeing as the initial audience HAD to be fans.

Of the voice cast, only E.G. Daily seemed to really hit her stride as Roxy (you could hear the Buttercup 'tude shining through!), although Alicia Witt's Fairchild was endearing in her plain candor and Cloris Leachman's Helga was terribly amusing. However, I also feel that, no offense to Flea, but I never imagined Grunge sounding quite THAT dumb.

On the upside, it was highly amusing to watch the movie earn its "not-for-children" boundaries with the occasional cussword and plenty of cheesecake. ;) More seriously, the climactic sequence was worth the wait. We finally got to see Grunge kick some ass -- as always, the character is best when he stops being a doofus and actually uses his head (and powers) to help out his friends. Roxy's power manifestation was downright gorgeous -- and impressive. And Fairchild...well, she was about as spot-on as any appearance in the comics. Go, girl!

I wouldn't give this movie a high rating, but I wouldn't trash it either. It was...well, fun. Whereas I can see and understand why it didn't get a series, I do wonder if/how they would have brought in their other two teammates -- and if the cartoon would have had enough balls to maturely tackle a certain canon controversy surrounding Rainmaker after a season or two. I would have tuned in for that. ;)

It is definitely worth a viewing for those looking for something different

[kevin_robbins · 8/10 · 15 August 2022]

Gen¹³ (1998) is an animated picture based on the legendary Jim Lee comic book series that I recently rewatched on YouTube. The storyline follows a group of students with powers who work with their teachers and friends to harness their powers and use them for good. Hormones, mommy/daddy issues and a desire to get out and explore the world puts their lives at risk and extends the lessons of their teachers outside of the walls of the school.

This movie is directed by Kevin Altieri (Batman: Mask of the Phantasm) and contains the voices of Alicia Witt (Dune), Mark Hamill (Star Wars), Flea (Queen & Slim), Cloris Leachman (Young Frankenstein) and John de Lancie (Multiplicity).

The animation style and depiction of the characters is very well done. I loved the comics and the diverse characters even if it did always feel like an X-Men rip-off. The ladies in the comics and the cartoon are absolutely gorgeous. The action scenes are fun, the dialogue is funny, and the ending is worthwhile.

Overall, this isn't a perfect movie, but it is definitely worth a viewing for those looking for something different. I would score this a solid 7.5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

Not Bad

[loudlove34 · 11 January 2003]

Ok, they did stick pretty close to the comic, but why never release it? The animation was close to Batman/Superman WB, which I really like. But to not include 2 other members is a shame. Mark Hamil was at points too close to laughing like the Joker, but I love his voice in the WB cartoons, it is perfect, but for this it is not how I heard Threshold in my head, but still pretty good.