To expand upon my quick thoughts in the video, Stan Lee is an American biographical documentary film directed by David Gelb (Wolfgang) celebrating and charting the life of prolific comics creator Stan Lee.
I grew up in the 90s and loved all the Marvel cartoons that would come on Fox Kids. Spider-Man: The Animated Series, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, etc. Once they started making them into live-action movies, I would always buy them when they came out on DVD. Since I knew Stan Lee was the creator of many of these heroes I always wondered what his next cameo would be. I’m not the biggest fan of documentaries, but seeing as Stan Lee was such a big part of my life since childhood, I had to check out this documentary on his life.
The documentary is presented through old home videos, interview footage, voice clips, animation, and various other media. This helps keep the viewer interested as they are not watching the same type of footage over and over. It also stays in line with Stan Lee’s personality as he was an animated guy. The way that the footage is edited together is done in such a way that to keep the viewer guessing as to how it will look in the next scene.
Overall, the documentary is very informative and goes through decades of Lee’s life. Going in I was expecting the documentary to mostly focus on his Marvel career, which does play a big part, seeing as it was made for Disney Plus. However, the viewer is also treated to the ins and outs of Lee’s rise to prominence within the publisher. The start of which was pure happenstance.
I give Stan Lee a Solid 6.6/10. Movies are very difficult to make in general and documentaries are a whole different beast. The time and effort it takes to make someones life interesting in such a short amount of time takes talent. Stan Lee manages to be informative and eye opening about the illustrious career of the man who made Marvel as popular as it is today!