"Mankind is not evil, just uninformed."

Rating: Null/10 (22 April 2004)

That's what Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart, Captain Picard of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" fame) said of human beings in a scene ultimately deleted from the theatrical film but used in one of the trailers.

Based on the popular Marvel Comic book, this somewhat overlong, surprisingly un-action packed but not completely uninteresting film chronicles the exploits of runaway misfit Rogue (a miscast Anna Paquin) before she acquires the powers of flight and super strength and brawling loner Logan, AKA: Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, in the role that made him a star) and their crossing paths with the X-Men and joining them to help thwart magnet master Magneto's (Ian McKellan, Gandalf of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy) evil scheme to mutate human beings so that all life on Earth can be united in commonly being mutants. Then again, unification doesn't sound quite so bad after all. Magneto's reasoning, of course, is that there can no longer be prejudice against mutants if everyone is a mutant. Ironically, as this film depicts it, mutants will eventually inherit the Earth anyway because they are, after all, the next step in human evolution.
And in real life, the mutants probably would have taken over the world by now, but for the sake of drama, mutants are made just slightly less powerful enough to keep them from completely taking over the world.

Now this isn't a bad film, but as a comic book fan, I'm not sure I like it as a comic book adaptation. Hugh Jackman is a capable albeit less bad ass and less gruff Wolverine, and Patrick Stewart & Ian McKellan are well cast and well matched as Professor X & Magneto, but the film is too tightly focused on the overly popular Wolverine character to give enough space for character development for the other X-Men. James Marsden is already too young to be an effective Cyclops but it's even harder to gage his acting ability when he has so little to say and do. Halle Berry and Famke Janssen make the most of their roles as Storm & Jean Grey, respectively. Tyler Mane is an imposing Saber Tooth and Rebecca R-Stamos is hard to ignore as the blue shape shifter Mystique. Ray Park (Darth Maul of "Phantom Menace"), is just annoying as Toad.
The special effects are bright and colorful, but there isn't enough action to go along with it. The X-Men are also made down right pathetic during their fight with the obnoxious Toad character. That is, when Storm isn't blowing stuff at him and zapping him with lightning.
All in all, I preferred the animated series Fox had back in 1992. The sequel is an improvement of sorts.