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Cast

Anna Paquin
as Maggie

Kirby Morrow
as Mosaic

Critic Reviews for Mosaic

Audience Reviews for Mosaic

• Apr 07, 2011

  Mosaic: You're probably a bit confused right now. Maggie Nelson: [sarcastic] Golly gosh, ya think? Manikin: A human who can wield our powers? Then the legend has come to life. The Chimeran Princess, at last! Maggie Nelson: At your service. Manikin: Anomaly or no, you are beneath my contempt, human. Maggie Nelson: I'm an actress, Manny. I'm beneath everyone's contempt. The problem that probably killed Mosaic at the marketplace is that it is clearly intended for the Saturday morning cartoon circuit, a market that appears to be very much on its last legs. This sets limits upon the creativity of the screenwriters that do not sit well with the subject material at hand. In the seventy-two minute running time, such subjects as a hidden alien race, an international conspiracy involving the robbery of museums, and a parent unknowingly swearing to wipe out a sub race that apparently includes his own child are all touched upon. But the need to pander to that all-important preteen market severely limits the depths to which these subjects can be explored. Perhaps a series was not picked up because Fox could not stand to invite the comparison. As I previously mentioned, Anna Paquin could read the phone book for a couple of hours and have me mesmerized. Her smooth, soft voice could be poured onto pancakes and eaten. It also helps that the character she is voicing, Maggie, is clearly modeled after her. Her character gets the vast majority of the screen time, and it is a credit to her that she sounds so sincere when delivering dialogue that occasionally devolves into the childish. Kirby Morrow and Nicole Oliver deliver most of the rest of the dialogue, and provide an adequate framework for Anna to bounce her lines off. However, for all intents and purposes, this is really Anna's show, and I submit that you have not lived until you hear her voice coming out of the mouth of a blonde cartoon woman. Granted, it is no substitute for seeing Anna in front of the camera, pulling the wicked face while delivering the sort of lines that just stick in the memory forever. But when you have bought or stolen every DVD you can find in which she appears... The imagery is also quite a nice throwback to the days when animation was done with paper and ink rather than a computer. Looking somewhat like the Japanese animation that flooded the market in the mid-1980s, Mosaic is very pleasant to look at. All of the usual 1980s cartoon staples are present and accounted for. Invisibility is represented by a white outline of a transparent character while characters punch, kick, and throw each other about for what seems like hours on end with nary a drop of blood spilled. Mosaic is unafraid to let the audience's imagination fill in some of the gaps. Unfortunately, it also relies on the audience's imagination a little too much when it comes to critical questions. The ability of the chameleon race to evade detection by mainstream society for so long is very high among them. Also begging the question is how the chameleon race can live for the centuries they claim in an environment that is ostensibly identical to ours. But the story is fortunately enough to distract viewers from such questions. The character of Maggie is at once the strength and the weakness of this pilot. Being a Stan Lee character, as much as possible is made of her attempts to understand and come to terms with her newfound powers. Mosaic is one of the few entrants in the market that actually benefits from this approach. Cast overcrowding in a two-hour feature is a very difficult thing to avoid, but Mosaic gets the balance right by allocating almost all of its seventy-two minutes to a single character. We spend so much time learning of Maggie's world, both inside and out, that at the end when the plot takes on a threatening new direction (presumably for future episodes), it has that much more impact. Mosaic leaves the viewer wanting more. About the only problem, as previously hinted, is that it allows too little time to delve deeper into its subject material. A continuation of this particular episode is not just wanted, it is practically necessary. I would have liked a deeper, more inventive plot, but what was delivered certainly kept my attention all the way through. A break-in and murder at a New York City museum sparks an investigation by Interpol Agent Nathan Nelson. When he finds an ancient artifact at the crime scene, Nelson takes it home to conduct more research. A freakish combination of a lightning storm, a pet chameleon and the rune stone gives his daughter, Maggie, mystical powers to shape-shift her appearance at will which includes the ability to mimic other people and animals. Now Maggie must utilize her new-found super powers to solve the mysterious kidnapping of her father and to learn the secrets of an ancient, long-forgotten race of people. The fantasy adventure film Stan Lee Presents: Mosaic tells the tale of Maggie Nelson, an average teenage girl who one day discovers she has superpowers. Around the same time, she befriends a mentor, who informs her of her role in helping bring peace to factions that have been at war for hundreds of years.
  Sergio E Super Reviewer

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