This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Halo Legends ReviewVideo Games are growing rapidly as a medium, and in turn the games are growing larger in their own respects. An example of one of these franchises is Halo. While to many it's just a series of shooter games, it actually has a complex story arch and an incredibly vast universe. Halo Legends explores this aspect of the series through animated shorts. These shorts vary from more serious and dramatic pieces, to more light-hearted shorts. While there is certainly room for improvement, Halo Legends can certainly hold its own as a great staple of the Halo franchise. Each short is directed by a different director that is well known for their skill in animation. The project was led by Frank O'Connor, the creative head of the Halo Franchise. Some of the other directors include Shinji Aramaki, Hideki Futamura, Toshiyuki Kan'no, and Yasushi Muraki. The shorts feature many voice actors, including Josh Grelle, Greg Ayres, Luci Christian, and David Matranga. Halo Legends allows the viewer to explore the expanse that is the Halo universe from multiple different perspectives. These perspectives vary from an Arbiter struggling with the conflict between his beliefs and the beliefs of his superiors, to a squad of ODSTs (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) following a Spartan on a mission to take out a prophet.None of these scenarios seem too far-fetched. They all feel at home in the Halo universe, and for the most part it seems as though the directors did their research. Having different directors for each short was the right call. It gives each short a distinctive voice, and makes each perspective feel unique. Something else that I enjoyed about the shorts were the animation styles. Each short has its own distinct style of animation, to help create the unique atmosphere of each short. The animation is beautiful in its own respect, but it also helps accomplish the goal of setting the atmosphere quite effectively. One short, The Duel, fell short in this. The animation itself was fine, but there was a filter over the whole short. This made the short look blurry, and it became annoying to watch after a while. A creative decision that I feel was intelligent was the decision to use the pre-existing Halo score instead of writing new music for the shorts. It helped make the shorts feel more at home in the Halo universe, and gives the viewers who are familiar with the Halo franchise a greater emotional response. That, and the Halo score is some of the greatest music ever written. An issue that I had with the film was how some of the directors ignored integral aspects of the Halo lore. I have previously stated that the directors did their research, which is a statement I stand by, but there were a few moments that left me puzzled. The most obvious examples of this are when certain characters interact that could never have been able to interact based off of the previously established lore. All in all, Halo Legends is a great film. The directors took great care in producing stories that fit well into the Halo cannon, and it holds up as an animation regardless. That being said, there were some creative decisions that were detrimental to the overall quality of the film. While my opinion may be biased, I would give Halo Legends a solid 7.5/10.

I will tell you about every episode and what it's all about. As a big fan of the series I found many things in almost every episode that made me pleased.First of all, I don't understand people who complain about Halo Legend's animation styles or anything related to the fact its animated. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the movie itself, only that not all like animation in the first place.I've always loved the Halo series and I regard myself as a big fan. For a long time I waited for some kind of Halo-related movie that would tell me more about the Halo universe and its history, show Spartans kick some butt, introduce me to other Spartans than John-117 and reveal their mysterious origins and have some comedic relief. Well, that's what I got when I found Halo Legends.ORIGINS: I was pleased to learn about the history of Halo universe. Many "gaps" in my knowledge were filled in. Throghout time I've wondered what kind of weapons the Halos were, and I was satisfied to see it here. These episodes were informative and epic, thanks to familiar music from Halo series. And especially in the Origins II, Cortana is hot. Now that's what you call a bonus.THE DUEL: The artistic value of The Duel is enormous. At first it might feel a bit weird, but let me tell you: It gets better each second. The Duel introduces you more to the world of the Covenant and that there are very humane sides to elites. It also reveals why the "Arbiter" rank is so disgraced in the Halo series. Action's beyond my wildest dreams.HOMECOMING: I loved being introduced to how the Spartan soldiers are "made". There is Halo action, well-written tragic moments and, well, I don't have to wonder anymore why/how the Spartans are so "cold" soldiers and such war machines.ODD ONE OUT: This episode was very good. Not at all corny comedy, I was really amused! And about it being an "insult" to the series, that is just a bunch of B.S.. I'm not the kind of guy who sees a human in a fictional comedy jumping 20ft. in the air and gets angry like "that's not possible!". You just don't have to take it dead-serious. Spartan Thirteen thirty-seven is hilarious. I would like to see more of his adventures..PROTOTYPE: Kind of lame on the story, comes off to me as a cliché. Its cool to see some explosions and fast action, but it didn't feel as important or interesting as all the other fights with Spartans or ODST. Prototype didn't even tell anything about the Halo universe and feels out of place, but still can be enjoyed as a short action flick.BABYSITTER: This one tells about an ODST squad and a Spartan on a mission to assassinate a Covenant Prophet on a planet full of aliens. If that didn't catch your attention, nothing will. Good action, Spartan shows off and makes every Halo-fan smile and there's a unique twist at the end which I personally liked. It only raises the question what have the Spartans gone through?THE PACKAGE: I don't think anyone will deny, this is the best part of Halo Legends. Fantastic opening flight scene that puts the opening of Star Wars3 to shame, awesome explosions, beautiful "choreography" during fights, FPS, it's frigging HALO. Nothing really disappointed me as a big fan to the series. Halo Legends satisfied my hunger for knowledge about the Halo universe, Spartan action, cool death scenes, comedy and more.

This series of seven stories can't be beat. I love every minute of this series and I still can't believe how good the finale was. The animation is amazing and the voice-overs were excellent. The lipsyching is a little off but I don't care. The action is awesome and the "camera" angles are fantastic. The Package has amazing CGI and when the Spartans are completely covered by their armor they look real. The cartoons are incredibly detailed and so is the blood. The paintings for the duel are great and the energy swords look great. You need to see Halo Legends I gave it a ten out of ten and if that doesn't persuade you to see it I don't know what will. Overall Halo Ledgends is a must see for anyone who enjoys action movies but be forewarned Halo Legends is rated PG-13 for a reason.

I'm not big fan of Halo series, but i played first two games, so i decided to watch these movies... They differs from each other pretty much, so i'll try to rank each movie: 1) The Babysitter - 8/10 Pretty good story, not too much action, but in this kind of story it is not needed. It's psychological drama, i like that kind of stuff, there is nothing unnecessary, animation is on high level as well. 2)Homecoming - 7/10 Pretty nice picture, some action, some drama in flashbacks, all is nice. But still i didn't feel too sorry for the main character, probably, because movie is too short, they didn't have enough time for revealing whole drama. 3)Prototype - 7/10 The same as previous. Nice action/ drama... But too short. 4)The Duel - 6/10 Picture is weird, but not bad, there is some drama and action, but elites in this Japanese-like environment is little stupid 5)Origins - 6/10 Well it's just movie about background of Halo setting. Not bad, probably fans of the game would like it, but as i already sad, i'm not big fan. 6)Odd One Out - 3/10 It's parody, but it's not funny, and animation suck. 7)The Package - 1/10 Probably one of the worst animation movie i ever saw. All is terrible in this one. Horrific animation (it's not so bad when characters don't do anything... but when they start to move it's just terrible), lame story, stupid dialogs... All is bad. The only thing that could possible pleased someone is easter eggs.