X-Men '97

On par with the quality of its first season, "X-Men '97" returns with an emotional, action-packed exploration of an iconic Marvel villain, weaving high-stakes drama and countless characters from multiple timelines into an epic story that will leave casual viewers enthralled and comic book diehards satisfied.

"X-Men '97" Season 1 was hailed as one of the greatest Marvel Studios projects ever. Season 2 will not upset that reputation, but only reaffirm it with the same mix of flashy fun and true dramatic gravitas.

The series is sincere but not self-important, slightly silly but not embarrassed about it. Its bright, flat retro style — a bit more polished than the ’90s series, but otherwise of a piece with it — looks downright distinctive in a sea of “3D” animation and “realistic” CG. Best of all, it works on its own terms.

Ultimately, featuring terrific animation that soars in dynamic, thrilling action sequences while updating the aesthetic of the semi-outdated ‘90s version, “X-Men ‘97” is pretty much what you’d want from a modern-day animated series. It acknowledges the past, the same vibe, and storylines, using the same formula of tightly-packed 30-minute melodramas within, but updates itself for modern times without ever overextending its innovations.

The pace can be dizzying, but when rendered in the pleasantly throwback, neon-colored, two-dimensional style of the original, it’s also engaging. There’s no time for things to drag when the plot is this packed.

While “X-Men '97” is very much a sequel, the general mythology of the characters and their world is familiar enough after 24 years and 13 films to allow those who didn’t watch the '92 cartoon to dive right in.

It may not reinvent the wheel, but in a certain sense, it does lay the groundwork for what Marvel hopes will be an, ahem, x-citing future.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

X-men 97 has cool moments and at times weak writing mainly plot and many cameos some of which are very much forced and feel out of place, Beau Demayo clearly has the hots for Magneto and dislikes Gambit and Rogue's relationship from the old show glad he was fired for being a creep, Storm is also pretty miss used with her often doing things she logically shouldn't be doing and her over all writing being pretty bad, character wise Morph is great, Kurt and Gambit are good, Scott and Wolverine are pretty good, Jean and Beast are fine Rogue is fine up until after episode five but then her writing isn't as good afterward, Sunspot or what ever his name is is fine Jubilee and Professor X aren't great, Cable is good and Bishop is fine, Storm is bad and Magneto has good moments but the context of how he's being used is gross. Animation wise it's a huge step down from the old show at least in consistency, there's a monent when Rogue is doing a kick and it looks so bad and it's very noticeable when ever the camera gets close up on someones face such as Jubilee when the camera is further away it looks fine and even looks pretty good at times but the animation consistency is pretty bad and art style wise the old show looked better, the first few seasons anyway.

The animation seems off to me, almost like it's vector art with the mouths moving like a Flash animation. Story is okay so far, wish there was more action in a, ya know, comic book superhero cartoon.

X-Men '97 got off to a strong start, with good action and nicely revamped animation. Unfortunately, the series quickly descended into cheap soap melodrama. I know Cyclops has always been a bit of a crybaby, but here they take it to a whole new level. I want to see him laser people and do other badass things, not spend two episodes watching him whine about his marriage and his baby. The series is also, of course, being a Disney show, very female-centric. All the women in the show show strong agency, willpower and the ability to get things done. Almost all the men (with the exception of Magneto) are reduced to whiny crybabies. Gambit is basically the same as Cyclops, except he also makes painfully unfunny jokes and remarks. And, of course, he doesn't have the balls to confess his love. If there was one thing from the old series that the Disney writers wanted to capitalise on, it was of course this trait. Wolverine is almost a supporting character here. And of course, his unrequited love for Jean now becomes his entire personality. Yes, it's not as if we've already seen this storyline played out in the original X-Men film trilogy. Let's just pretend that nothing has happened since 1997 and people are still invested in it somehow. All in all, just a sad attempt at a cash grab. They should have called it Soyjack-Men instead.

This poorly-named series lacks the mood and themes of the ‘90s. Instead its creator seems bent on making us relive the trauma of the Pulse nightclub and 9/11 terrorist attacks. These are not the X-Men I remember from the ‘90s.