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Samurai Jack has something sorely lacking in American animated entertainment - greatness. Not since the Batman series, or perhaps ever, has a American cartoon flaunted such daring visual bravado, intelligent cinematic storytelling, intense action, and a revolutionary spirit so confidently - it's a warmly welcomed shake-up to the monotonous humdrum continuum of TV animation in this country. Genndy Tartakovsky (creator of Dexter's Laboratory) has captured lightning in a bottle with his latest brainchild, and in doing so has demolished the mold for cartoons both present and future. Indeed, calling this show itself a cartoon seems somehow disrespectful and stereotypical. Here, the freedom allowed by the medium brings the story of Jack and his vendetta against a millenial nemesis named Aku in the far future feverishly to life. Every background, set piece, character, and detail are all strikingly imagined, almost shocking in their originality. The minimalist nature of the animation itself gives the program a unique and powerful vitality, and the abstract and sometimes surreal stylization is unlike anything ever seen in cartoons. Tartakovsky avoids the clunky and often lifeless quagmire of more detailed and lifelike approaches to action animation and instead opts for he intensity and impact of a comic book in motion, and the results are both awesome and beautiful.

More than anything else, Samurai Jack truly feels like a work of art, like something that is crafted rather than produced. It's a testament to the fact that animation in the U.S. can be cutting edge, revolutionary, and mature. Truth be told, I haven't been excited about a new television program in quite a while. Time will tell, but Samurai Jack seems destined for masterpiece status - not only here in America, but quite possibly worldwide.

A welcome break from a summer movie season glossed over with CG effects and heavy-duty wire work, Kiss of the Dragon leaves flamboyancy by the wayside and instead delivers as a leaner, meaner action movie. Here, the fights are viscerally brutal and physically intense - bones are broken, faces bruised, necks snapped, and hands bloodied. Indeed, I found the scenes of martial arts combat far more thrilling. Not relying on the aid of wires, Jet Li's furious fighting is all the more satisfying to watch since it is all based on his astounding skills in the martial arts. Li is also able to bring a little razzle dazzle to the action scenes without overstepping the bounds of believability - Li's character uses laundry equipment, a flag, and even a billiard ball, along with uncanny abilities based in acupuncture to dispatch his foes. There are some fine performances to be had in KOD to boot - Bridget Fonda shines as a tragically vunerable American expatriate turned street hooker, and Tcheky Karyo gives a terrifying turn as a psychopathic rogue French official. The film's only weakness stems from an underdeveloped plot - at a brisk hour and 50 mins (short for a movie these days), the storyline isn't allowed enough time to mature and grab the audience. Definitely worth seeing for the action.

WARNING: Contains some minor spoilers.

There's something about Titan A.E. that, despite its flaws, commands recognition, particularly from those of us who are sci-fi buffs and animation conossieurs. It is a film that utilizes a medium long relegated (in this country at least) to kiddie fare to best bring to life the characters and worlds which make up the film's story. Other sci-fi films could learn a thing or two from Titan A.E, after all sci-fi in general naturally lends itself to the freedom of animation, where the extra-terrestrial and the extraordinary can be easily created on paper and now, the computer screen.

The combination of CG and traditional cel animation works surprisingly well in Titan A.E., far better than any of the earlier teasers hinted at. In most instances, the 2D characters interact rather seamlessly with the mostly CG environments. However, one cannot help but feel at times that the hand drawn figures seem out of place, particularly among the more spectacular CG sequences. If Titan A.E. has one real glaring flaw, it's that animation quality can often appear inconsistent. In some of the more involved action scenes, such as the chase through the Sessashim hydrogen trees, certain CG objects seem to move with a noticeable lack of fluidity. This occurs only a few times throughout the film, yet it gives the impression that the film may have been rushed through post production.

Titan A.E. may have its downs, but it also has plenty of ups. Bluth and his legion of animators created this film to dazzle and amaze, and dazzle they most certainly do. For all of the more mundane CG work on this flick, there are an equal number of jaw-dropping effects sequences. In the first five minutes, we see the Earth of 3028 violently ripped apart by the sinister Drej; fleeing escape vessels are pulverized by flying hunks of the exploding planet, while the shockwave and debris pulverize the moon. Later on, cale and crew must speed through the exploding hydrogen trees on Sessashim while being pursued by Drej fighters. Nothing in film looks quite as good as the final confrontation among the gigantic ice crystals of the Tigrin system. Some of the best and most creative CG work ever put to film can be witnessed during this sequence, particularly when the protagonists use the reflective qualities of the massive ice formations to outwit a pursuing ship.

Complimenting the often-mind-blowing CG is a cast of traditional cel-animated characters (with the exception of the Drej, where CG helps to give them a mysterious supernatural appearance, since they are entirely composed of energy). Quite the contrary to the inventive computer animation techniques, the characters are distinctly Bluthian in origin. I could not help but think of "Space Ace" (Bluth's laserdisc follow up to the "Dragon's Lair" game) upon seeing the peanut gallery of critters Bluth has created for this film. While sometimes at odds with the CG environments, the 2D animated characters give the movie its heart, and are certainly more believable than any rendered characters that may have been substituted (only Pixar has seemingly been able to create halfway believable humans using computer animation).

There's already plenty here to crown Titan A.E. the best sci-fi movie to be released this year, but not only does this animated feature quash films like "Mission to Mars" and "Battlefield Earth" underfoot with it's imaginative scenes, it also tops them (quite easily, I might add) in story and characters. Titan A.E.'s plotline may not be the best or most original space opera out there (it often blatantly borrow from "Star Wars"), but it certainly is more imaginative and engaging than most sci fi features these days. Considering that Titan A.E. is a space opera, its characters are surprisingly well-defined and unique in their respective personalities, thanks in part to some fine voice acting and intelligent dialogue. Only Bill Pullman as Korso gives the most questionable performance of the flick (Pullman too often delivers his lines without any real sense of emotion).

It is overwhelmingly satisfying to see an animated film that does not cater to the age 4-12 bracket, and is instead more concerned about spinning a thrilling sci-fi yarn. Indeed, Titan A.E. posseses a much darker tone than most audiences are used to in an animated feature. Think the hanging death in "Tarzan" was bad, how about a villain being dispatched by having his neck visibly broken? Nevertheless, Bluth's latest work isn't totally free from the disney mold. Gune, the turtle-like scientist voiced by John Leguizamo, reeks of the now old-hat comic relief role seemingly needed in every animated film. His cry of "who's your daddy now?" as he flies into battle against the Drej is enough to make more serious-minded people cringe. None of these flaws however, should keep anyone searching for a good animated film or a decent sci fi tale away from the theaters. In both cases, this highly enjoyable movie is the best to date this year

Mission: Impossible 2 follows the rules of any good summer action flick; there's plenty of stunts, explosions, and gunplay, all wonderfully directed and choreographed by the man who elevates cinematic violence to an art form, director John Woo. Too bad it's all crowded into the last hour of the movie. Indeed M:I-2, which, apart from characters Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and Luther (Rhames) seems to be connected to the first film in name only, tries to cram so much action into the last 60 minutes, the first half seems rather dull in comparison. The effect is akin to waiting an hour for food, and eating all of it so fast due to hunger that you don't get a chance to enjoy it. M:I-2 would have been more engrossing if the action was spaced out better. Aside from this, M:I-2 is a totally watchable, fairly entertaining action vehicle. The plot lacks the wonderful espionage motif of the first M:I, but suits the more action-oriented nature of the film . Of course, John Woo's action sequences are top notch, though they are somewhat generic compared to the more imaginative action pieces in the original (nothing in M:I-2 measures up the spectacular TGV / Chunnel sequence in the original; IMHO one of the best action sequences ever put to film). Overall, a good action film that could have benefited from tweaks in its structure