In Asgard Odin rules with a strong hand that has created a peace between his lands and the ones of the Frost Giants. His oldest son Thor (voiced by Matthew Wolf) however is young, full of a warriors pride, and has an itch for battle as warriors do. Being the Prince of Asgard comes with it’s advantages and disadvantages, namely having anyone Thor trains with allowing him to win every time to the point where he is no longer being trained. Without the proper training Thor wants to prove to his father Odin (voiced by Chris Britton) and to Lady Sif (voiced by Tara Strong) that he is a true warrior with great battle skills by going to find the legendary lost sword Surtur. On his journey that will end up causing more trouble than he ever expected, Thor will have the help of his younger brother Loki (voiced by Rick Gomez) and the Warriors Three. Though even with the sorcery of Loki, the skills of the Warrior Three, and the power from Surtur the group will find that the Frost Giants are no push overs that put the group in danger along with the safety of Asgard itself.

Young Thor, No Hammer, And The Warriors Three:
I’m a big fan of Thor, he ranks in my top 3 favorite characters from the Marvel Comics characters, so when I found out that ‘Thor: Tales of Asgard’ was being made I was pretty excited. Seeing the cover art the animation looks like it was going to be about the adult Thor but one with a sword but when flipping the case over it’s quickly seen that it’s not about an adult Thor but instead a young one. Not only that but he won’t have his hammer Mjolnir. Still, with these aspects I was excited about watching this animation because it does not tell how Thor gets his hammer but instead shows his first steps from a brash child into the hero he is distined to become.

This animation was fun to watch with lots of aspects going for it. One being that the artwork is done quite well and with it being on Blu Ray the look of everything is beautiful. This is no old style cartoon but one that shows that animations like this has a good place in the world of movies. Still, as good as it looks, ‘Thor: Tales of Asgard’ is about the story and the story is decent. I won’t say it’s steller because it’s tough to come up with a Thor plot that hasn’t been done or is not that predictable. For the most part this movie is predictable but not to the point that it takes away from the movie. I was pleastantly surprised though by a few moments in the story that I was not expecting that not only makes the movie more enjoyable but adds to the story and the history of Thor. But one of the most surprising parts that I liked that I thought I wouldn’t was Thor not having his hammer. I’m used to the hammer, I like the hammer, so seeing an animated movie without it didn’t sound good at all but it actually is. The sword Surtur, which is some sort of very powerful sword that only the spear of Odin can stop, turns into a flaming blade that can turn men into nothing. But even with no Mjolnir in his hands, there is still a funny moment in the movie that allows Thor to get his hands on another style hammer to foreshadow his future.

As much as I was enjoying watching this, there are some aspects of it that I didn’t like. The main one being the Warriors Three and how they are portrayed. These three characters have also been a favorite for me and are supposed to be a true group of warriors to fear and respect. However, the way they are shown in ‘Thor: Tales of Asgard’ is somewhat weak (for their nomral portrayal I’m used to seeing them) and liars. In the movie they have supposedly been going out on journeys that have them in big fights against hordes of villians but when Thor first stows away on their ship all that the Warriors Three have been doing is going out to a tavern to drink and then going back to Asgard and telling everyone they were out fighting.

I also didn’t care too much for the title of the movie, “Tales of Asgard”. What tales where told? I don’t know because there was none told of Asgard but only of Thor getting the sword Surtur. When I first knew only the title of this movie I was expecting there to be multiple stories lasting around 20 minutes where each one would tell a different tale about the history of Asgard and the gods/warriors that live there. After watching it, I was diappointed that I was only given a little over an hour of just a story about Thor getting a sword and how he stops being such a whiney little boy. As good as this movie was I was left wanting more from it and more stories of Asgard.

This dislike is part of how there could have been another story told, that is the plot point of Sif and the Valkyrie. In ‘Thor: Tales of Asgard’, Sif leaves to join the Valkyrie, an all and only female group of warriors that hate men. Only this is shown very little in the movie and when it is it’s done where it’s like I should have already known what’s going on with it. This could have been a good 15 minute to 20 minute story where it tells about Sif and the Valkyrie, why she was joining them, what they do as Valkyrie warriors, and showing her fighting with them. But it’s not, and again I was left wanting more here with this story.

Thor on Blu Ray:
This animation is pretty impressive on Blu Ray. As I said above, the looks of the art work is pretty amazing but what I was most impressed with was the audio levels. Listeing to this movie was easily done without having to turn the volume up or down. Even with all the fights, bangs, and yells being done in this I didn’t have to mess with the volume at any time. It’s also more amazing that right after a battle scene would happen the levels of the dialog was just as clear as the louder sounds in the movie were. I understood and heard clearly everything that happened in this movie from the lower talking to the louder sounds of explosions while not one time touching my volume control.