G.I. Joe, it seems that all the movie studio’s are on a break from creating the original content. We see this in most of the movies put out by the action genre with such titles like X-Men, Transformers, Iron Man, The Hulk, pretty much anything that was an icon of our childhood memory they are going ahead and remaking.

Now this by itself isn’t a bad thing, when you look at the advances in animation and computer graphics, truly one can see how the remakes really do bring you closer to the action in ways that before were just not possible.

Now having never really seen the old G.I. Joe franchise, I hold a unique view compared to my wife who grew up with those cartoon’s. For me, the movie was visually stunning. The cinematography was amazing, the graphics were pushing the boundaries instead of just doing the same old, and the martial arts sequences were well thought out (two kids going at it in ways that you wouldn’t think 9 year olds would, just amazing!). The movie felt like it was appropriate in length, and there wasn’t much in terms of a focus on romance that we have found in other remake movies (or sequels, cough, Transformers 2, cough) that cloud the actual point of the movie. That isn’t to say that there wasn’t chemistry or sexual appeal, but I think it was proportioned appropriately for the content of the movie.

In terms of the downside, I did think it was unclear in terms of identifying with each character, as names and such were getting all jumbled up (at least for me). It seemed that my wife was more able to keep up with things than I was, so perhaps that part was geared for people who were familiar with the franchise verses newbie’s like myself who weren’t familiar with each of the characters and their back-story and relationships with each other.

There definitely was room for a part 2, and to be honest, that might be just what the franchise needs. This film was really an entrance onto the movie community that certainly paves the way for new developments to come. I would like to see that the creators and directors put their collective thinking caps on, and try to come up with new ideas and formats that do separate the movies from the cartoons and comics–similar to the separation that we see in Smallville from the movie or the previous TV series and comics, but still hold true to several guiding principles that will keep the die-hard fans from revolting against the writers!