Is Marco 5: Epilogue Any Good?

## The final installment of this beloved animated spy franchise might be somewhat bad, I guess.

Since 2005, the *Marco* movies took the world by storm thanks to lovable yet memorable characters like Marco & his little mischievous kiddos who are more popular than him and his beloved buds, its signature brand of *James Bond-*inspired action scenes accompanied with smart yet quirky *Looney Tunes-*esque sight gags, and its marvelous reputation as the most popular animated film series while also breaking numerous box office records as the most profitable cartoon of all time. Now, ladies and gentlemen of all ages and Marco fans everywhere, Anaya Animation presents the finale you have all been waiting for so long... *Marco 5: Epilogue,* an entirely different science-fiction twist on this franchise that might seem like it won't live up to its Oscar-winning predecessors, but it's still yet worth waiting for.

The good thing is, we still have another adventure with Marco & his gang as they find their world to be full of mayhem; but the bad news is, Sony Pictures decided to put the franchise to bed with this one, and its lackluster marketing campaign would probably make this bomb at the box office next January (thanks Universal, you all had to leave poor Marco aside in favor of your yellowish pill-shaped Minions). But hey, at least Paramount Pictures is gladly joining in for this finale and I'm really excited to see Marco & his friends once again. Here's the real deal: is *Marco 5: Epilogue* gonna be any good? Or would it become the worst cartoon misfire from Anaya Animation? To sum it all up, here's everything we know about the upcoming *Marco* film hitting theaters and Anaya+ next year.

### 1. This *Marco* film won't be another espionage comedy, but instead some dystopian *Star Trek* adventure.

As you've already seen the film's outlandish trailers, the premise for this movie isn't anything you've ever seen before in the world of cartoons, not even in adult animated fare; having a similar premise to the Bob Clampett-inspired *Mitchells* movie released this year by the studio who brought you *Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse*; and ironically, *Hotel Cloudylandia 3: Traversmania.* The film has Marco & his buds enjoying their good retired lives, until then something awful has happened: Marco's friends and the rest of humanity get taken by space cubes to outer space! Now, it's all up to Marco & his new overly sympathetic Christian friends to save their missing friends from the atrocious fate that awaits them, while also returning their broken world back to normal and stopping Marco's most infamous creation yet: an *Terminator*-like AI algorithm clone of his generically named AI who seeks revenge on all humans that not even Arnold Schwarzenegger could defeat such menacing threat. Let's just hope this won't be an obvious made for cash rip-off of *Traversmania,* please.

### 2. Just like his turned-upside-down world, Marco is also going through some changes too.

Everyone loves Marco. He's technically the prime example of the kind and optimistic weirdo who likes to make a difference in today's ever-changing world, and also by far the most expressive CG cartoon character I've ever seen. Being the most talented genius mastermind of espionage known as Little James Bond in the first two films, a crazy sympathetic mad scientist who likes making Dronebots in the third film, and teenage Sherlock Holmes in the fourth film; here he becomes some cool enigmatic- and highly caffeinated -superhero known as Marcoman (no, not the live-action superhero who fought the purple Invincible Hulk from Hollywood). Prior to that though, Marco gets transformed to some weird Dracula that's as lame as what he has become, and yet he's ashamed of being such a monster in front of everyone he knows best. Even more depressing for Marco fans, his longtime girl Aileene leaves him aside in favor of someone bigger and cooler than him I suppose. But guess what? The lonely Marco gets a new girl who goes by Talia, some Mikayla-like teen girl voiced by Chloe Garcia-Moretz who gave him the frappe that made Marco into well, Marcoman.

### 3. The film's new nemesis is a smart but menacing AI clone of Marco who isn't perfectly human.

Unlike the other films in this beloved franchise, in which baddies Marco's age like the crazy maniacal Joe and Trey Parker's megalomaniacal teen rapper Edgar often steal the show in their respective films, this film has a new different approach to villainy by introducing Marco's ambitious AI clone who has no respect for the human race (and guess what? He's actually 40 years old, much like Marco's future self). However, he does have feelings too as he was programmed to be good, but then Marco- you know the clumsy person he is too -makes him go terribly berserk by accident due to poor computer science. His henchman is another hologram named Madcap who almost resembles Ben Mendelsohn's Sir Clay from the Clayman flick *Animated* with his cool pinkball weapon and verbal movements, and also someone who likes to cheer up his ruthlessly petty boss and several fans with some lip syncing, too.

### 4. All of the other characters from the same *Marco* universe would return for once, even the baddies.

What more amazing news for this film other than seeing your favorite new but somewhat forgotten characters here? This film features a variety to choose from: classics such as Marlene and Bradley, funnymen Abel and John the athletic kid cop from downtown, legends like Erick and Ian (the rich teen who inspired Marco by "overcoming the bad things in life with the good things") aside from the legend that is Marco himself, and even the more obscure ones like Triple Duo and Roberto. Yes, of course all the bad guys would return if you also count Alondra and her fiancé Joe; also keep in mind Bom Bin would host his grand circus fest where he performs his most funniest clown gags yet and Pohlino giving us Italian gelato this time around.

### 5. Since the Minions powerhouse known as Universal left Marco as how the Minions left Gru, Paramount Pictures is now the one in charge of the film's lackluster marketing.

And despite Paramount's efforts of promoting this film with a free studio tour where you can greet Marco & his friends, the marketing for this film is sheer below average and rather ironic. Universal is best known for having successful box office strategies (now you can see why the *Jurassic Park* movies, the *Fast & Furious* films, and even the *Despicable Me* franchise are so darn popular nowadays); and for some reason they left Sony aside with Paramount, another major film studio that might not reach Universal's stakes despite having *Transformers* and *Titanic* under its stars, helming such atrocious marketing campaign that Lionsgate started before leaving Sony. However, I'm pretty sure Paramount would change things for good, as they were the first ones who wanted to produce the original *Marco* film since 1997. Just add more Nickelodeon vibes and that would probably make things much better. Congratulations Marco, the Minions had left you and now you work with SpongeBob and company, how splendid.

### 6. Adam Sandler is going to voice Marco this time, not Hugh Jackman.

Oh yes, of course my favorite comedian of all time is indeed the funny Adam Sandler we all know today, and I'm really excited to see him voice our lovable teen spy Marco for his final film. Best known for voicing Treeman and Count Von Drac in the *Hotel Cloudylandia* films, this would mark Sandler's third time voicing an Anaya Animation character as well as his fourth time voicing a cartoon character from Sony Pictures, as he was better known for being the Slavic accent of Dracula in the first three *Hotel Transylvania* films. Although Hugh Jackman does an arguably awesome job as the iconic titular character, I'm pretty sure Adam Sandler would do an even better job voicing Marco while bringing him that genuine charm he had back then before... perhaps *Grown Ups 2.*

### 7. The film was originally going to be titled *Marco 5: Family Staycation*

Sure, this film was actually going to involve Marco & his buddies stay at home for a nice family vacation indoors. However, when the 2021 Marco Toon of the same name arrived before *Joaquin & Emiliano: The Rise Of Marco* via cruise boat, director/screenwriter Gennedy Tartakovsky decided to change all that under the new name *Marco 5: Epilogue* marking the final film in this beloved spy franchise. Heck, it would have been fine if Marco & his friends took another staycation at Iandonia expanding that Marco Toon into a feature film. However, since this is going to be helmed by Gennedy Tartakovsky and first time director Kevin Armand, I think this film would hopefully fare well enough at the movie theater. Is there going to be more Dexter references here like in the fourth film? You'll find out really soon...