I had the opportunity to sit down to watch the 2007 animated movie "Mosaic" here in 2021. I hadn't even heard about it, nor did I know what it was about. But I saw that Stan Lee was behind it and the fact that I hadn't already seen it, of course made me want to watch it.

And let me just say that "Mosaic" certainly was watchable, but it was hardly an outstanding or memorable animated movie.

The animation style was adequate, for sure, but it just didn't come off as having that special ingredient to it that makes it pop and stand out amongst countless other animated movies of the same type.

The characters in "Mosaic" were interesting enough, and luckily then the main character Maggie was interesting enough to carry the movie.

All in all, this was a fairly bland viewing experience, which results in my mediocre five out of ten star rating.

Stan Lee, once one of the most innovative & imaginative driving forces in the comic book industry (he gave us the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, The Mighty Thor, Iron Man, the X-Men, Dr. Strange, etc. - with help from such gifted artists like Jack Kirby),now offers us this passable if unspectacular DVD feature about Maggie Nelson (voiced by Anna Pacquin). Maggie Nelson, who looks a lot like Susan Storm/The Invisible Woman from the Fantastic Four, is a young woman in her late teens who aspires to be an actress who is sucked out of her ordinary life into a world of adventure when she gets jacked up with the powers of a chameleon, among a few other nifty gifts (such as super strength, wall crawling like Spider-Man and the ability to become invisible, much like the aforementioned Invisible Woman, whom she resembles quite strongly),and then must help the mysterious man known only as Mosaic (voiced by Kirby Morrow) thwart an evil race of man-chameleons.

Definitely not on par with Stan's best work or even better DTV's like Ultimate Avengers 1 (though the animation quality is about the same) or Justice League: The New Frontier. But I guess Stan needs to keep himself busy and, while the feature is a bit lackluster, it's not really bad enough to be outright bad either. It obviously tries to put a hip new spin/twist on the concept of the teenager becoming a superhero storyline, but never quite rises above it. It has a few inspired moments, just not enough.

Maggie is likable enough, but not as fleshed out as we would like (though the pervert in all men should relish the nightmare scene where she runs through the streets in her underwear and the fact that her invisibility powers make her appear nude even though she really isn't),and she's certainly not as interesting as Mosaic himself. Anna Pacquin (the miscast Rogue of the X-Men films) throws out a decent vocal performance for Maggie, and is supported by career voice actors like Kirby Morrow (well cast as the title character),Cam Clarke, Scott McNeil, Gary Chalk, Kathleen Barr and Nicole Oliver (all of them veterans of the 2002 He-man series, interesting enough).

"Mosaic" has some good ideas but the story is a mess and any discriminating audience will find it banal. this animated film tells an original story by Stan Lee, a brand new superhero from the man himself! When Maggie Nelson (voiced by Anna Paquin) gains chameleon-like super powers, she decides to investigate a mysterious murder at a New York City museum. While piecing together the clues, she uncovers a plot to take over the world.

The film really feels like a television pilot, with animation that isn't terrible but never really warrants any special mentions, a plot that is predictable and filled with clichés and a lot of confusion on the script level. There is a reveal about a young man named Mosaic (voiced by Kirby Morrow) and his relationship the big bad guy that is totally predictable for Instance. It MIGHT have been a twist back in the 60's, but nowadays its cliché. There are also a lot of unexplainable; I'd even say "bad" decisions from a script level. Although it appears to be clear that "Maggie" inherits her powers from a magical artifact, there are constant hints that her pet chameleon is also involved, despite numerous references to a prophecy explaining exactly what is going on. Characters only show hints of a personality (which once again gives the impression that their traits would have been developed over time) and a lot of stilted dialog that is not only badly written but makes no sense (a scene where healing abilities are described as "shapeshifting" comes to mind).

I am tempted to say that if there had been a sequel, this could have been the start of an interesting female series. The more I think about it though, the more this feels more like a dated concept, or a knockoff of a classic superhero story than anything else. There's no doubt that with time this character could have become a classic, but that's because this story Is written as if there are no other superhero comics in existence. As is, "Mosaic" is only good entertainment for pre-teens. (Dvd, November 22, 2012)