the audience applauded

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Captain N: The Game Master was released in 1989, amid the success of Nintendo's NES 8- bit games console and its ever ranging video games collection such as Super Mario, Donkey Kong and Tetris. A kids show, which no doubt was the company's marketing and strategy tool to sell its games and further enhance its reputation as the leading video games corporation ahead of its then nemesis, Sega. Captain N was a short lived cartoon series centering a teenager named Kevin who, as he plays on his NES, gets sucked into his TV screen and he and his dog, Duke join up with Kid Icarus, Megaman, Simon Belmont and Princess Lana to go up against Metroid's Motherbrain, Eggplant Wizard, King Hippo and Dr Wily, Megaman's villain. Princess Lana i'm guessing here hasn't appeared in any of Nintendo's video games seeing as I don't seem to recall her ever doing so, but I could be wrong. Pit is Kid Icarus, um, a Icarus who carries a bow and arrow with him. He starred in a game called none other than Kid Icarus. Megaman is usually tall and blue, but here he is green, his helmet has a visor and he looks like he could be mistaken for a 3 year old/midget, as he is very short and has a weird sounding voice. As for Simon Belmont, I am glad that I am not alone in saying how he has been totally misrepresented in the series. He looks like a poor man's Dolph Lundgren- he of He-Man from the Masters of the Universe film. When in the games themselves, he was more lean, brave, athletic, smart and agile. Another difference was that in the cartoon, he came across as being aloof, arrogant, chauvinistic and dumb,- of which was totally out of character. That said, Captain N was still okay. Whilst the Super Mario cartoons were the most faithful rendition of the video games, the same cannot be said for Captain N and yet its still enjoyable to watch for the story lines and for being able to successfully sustain our interest. It may not be an outright classic but Captain N: The Game Master is a fun animated show that has some great nostalgic moments. If this had been remade today, then i'm sure it would've been a more accurate and faithful rendition of a cartoon celebrating the best of Nintendo's talents. Overall, for a kid's cartoon, Captain N isn't that bad an effort

I almost gave this show a higher rating purely for nostalgia reasons. Although, it's probably the nostalgia that keeps me from giving it the lower rating it probably deserves. I grew up in the 80's and was the perfect age for 'Captain N' when it originally aired. I loved it back then, but then again, I was young and naive. I was happy enough just seeing characters from my favorite video games brought together in one show. Nowadays, my views have shifted drastically. The series was recently released on DVD, so I immediately ran out and picked up a copy. I figured it was a good way to relive one of my favorite shows from my childhood and share with my children in the future. What was I thinking?The premise is this: every Nintendo game is actually a separate world and the worlds are connected by warp zones. Ruling over this "Videoland" is Princess Lana, who is aided by Simon Belmont (of 'Castlevania'), Kid Icarus (Pit, from 'Kid Icarus'), and Megaman. Videoland is constantly under attack by the 'Forces of Chaos', led by Mother Brain from 'Metroid'. During one such attack, Lana is forced to call on the power of the 'Ultimate Warp Zone', which is prophecised to bring a powerful warrior to fight the forces of evil. The powerful warrior: a kid named Kevin Keene, from the real world, who happens to be really, really good at video games and his dog, Duke.For a kids' show, it doesn't sound too bad, right? Well, maybe if they had put a little more thought into it. One of my major complaints (and a popular complaint from anyone who's watched the show) was the depiction of the characters. People who have played the video game have certain expectations when the characters are brought to another medium. Belmont, in the video games, gives off the impression of a skilled warrior, noble and strong. In the show, Belmont is portrayed as a narcissistic wuss, frequently running from battle with a high-pitched whine. My only real beef with Megaman and Kid Icarus are their speech mannerisms. By the end of the first episode, I was ready to beat the crap out of them if Megaman preceded one more word with 'Mega' or if Kid Icarus added '-icus' or 'maximus' to another statement. A lot of people complain about Megaman's appearance, complaining that it isn't his famous blue armor. It looks to me like they modeled the character after the packaging for the first Megaman game released for the NES back in 1987, so I see no real reason to complain. I won't even bother wasting space in discussing the so-called "villains"...not even worth it.Something that got on my nerves, but was to be expected, was how annoyingly corny the episodes were. I know a lot of kids' shows are corny so I can't hold it against 'Captain N', but there were points where I was left baffled at how completely stupid something was. Example: what was the purpose of making the elven king of Faxanadu (Episode 2.8 - The Feud of Faxanadu) a blue Elvis Presley clone? And for that matter, why was the dwarven queen a Barbara Streisand wannabe? And I still don't understand the whole Puss 'n Boots episode (Episode 2.7 - Once Upon a Time Machine). Something about that whole episode seemed completely off.Of course, after watching the show, it is obvious to see that it was basically used as a 30-minute long commercial for the newest in Nintendo's line-up. With episodes centered completely on 'The Adventures of Bayou Billy' and 'Paperboy', you could practically hear the cash registers in the background. And don't get me started on the character of Gameboy, the walking, talking advertisement for Nintendo's newest hand-held game system that became a series regular in season 2. After spouting off about the series's weaknesses so much, one would think I found nothing good about the show, but that's not true. It did occasionally have a moral to the story and besides, my complaints come from the standpoint of a matured adult, which isn't exactly the target audience for the program. When I watched the show years ago, I loved it. The idea of a kid being sucked into his favorite video games and getting to meet all of the characters he loved. I was addicted, and I overlooked the many inconsistencies. So, while it's definitely not award-winning material and it never really stays true to the subject matter, I still can't wait to introduce the show to my kids when they're old enough.

Why did they have to ruin those video game characters like that. Geez!!! None of them looked they way were suppose to look. I'm a HUGE Megaman fan and it was insulting to see what they did to him. Since when was Megaman actually a Bobby Hill look-a-like wearing green spandex?! Who in the world is Megagirl?!!!? She hasn't appeared in ANY of the Original Megaman series games or any other series for that matter (and don't you dare say that Megagirl is Roll!!!!!) Plus Dr. Light looks like a stupid little troll and the same goes for Dr. Wily. Simon was a completely vain and stuck-up (he's suppose to be cool, casual, and quiet...) The only convincing character design was Mother Brain. The storyline is very corny. A teenage boy named Kevin Keene goes to a place called Videoland... blah, blah, blah... meets up with video game characters... yada, yada, yada... Kevin goes there to save Videoland. he end... coooooorny. I know this was made back in 1989, but there's still no excuse for slaughtering video game characters like that. I hope there isn't a Japanese dub for this show, because that would be embarrassing for Japan to see Rockman (A.K.A Megaman's name in Japan) look like that stupid little "green" runt. He's suppose to be blue, not green!!! "Mega" this and "Mega" that... give me a damn break.OVERALL Negative 1,000 out of 10. I'm sorry. I was just joking... Negative 999 out of 10!!!!

For a show created to sell video games, this wasn't too bad. Kevin got live every video game fans dream and meet the character he played and travel to there worlds. While the episodes were meant to be silly most of the time, they did have some really good moments. Like when Mother Brain transported Kevin's school to Videoland or when Princess Launa found her father. Plus, Simon Belmont was great comic relief.