Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms is officially out as of August 31st which means we’ve gotten our second Mortal Kombat movie of the year. The first was the live-action production released months ago, but this one follows the story of Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge and is therefore an animated film once more. That animated medium is one that many people believe suits the franchise better given its video game roots, and Battle of the Realms producer Rick Morales is inclined to agree.
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Morales spoke to ComicBook.com ahead of the release of Battle of Realms to discuss the movie’s big and small moments as well as the decisions that went into creating those Mortal Kombat experiences. The producer has an extensive history in animation across different properties like Scooby-Doo!, Ben 10, Justice League, and the upcoming Injustice: Gods Among Us movie, so he admitted that he’s naturally biased towards animation. Even so, he said the animated format works so well because it allows for such pure character designs to come through.
“I think I’m biased, because I work in animation. I love animation,” Morales said. “And I just think that so much of this stuff, even the superhero stuff … As good as the live-action films are – and they’re truly fantastic live-action, superhero films and things like that – I still, in my heart of hearts, feel like it works better in animation, just because you can get such a pure design to the character.”
Morales continued by using Superman as an example and said that people animated designs of those sorts of heroes aren’t questioned as often. He said the same logic applies to the Mortal Kombat characters we see in Battle of the Realms.
“Nobody questions Superman flying around with the cape and the look and all that, in a very pure design sense. I think it’s the same thing with these characters. In my mind, they just look cooler as animated characters.”
Giving credit where it’s due, Morales praised what’s done in the games as well, the most recent Mortal Kombat game being Mortal Kombat 11. He said the “stuff that they do in the video games now, it’s so well done,” though he said the animated movies are able to pull off a different focus on the characters that perhaps doesn’t come across as well or as frequently in live-action productions.
“We can portray it in a slightly different way than what they can in the video game, where it’s like hyper-realistic, CG stuff and all that,” Morales said. “And I think we can take it down to a more stripped down, basic design level and sort of show these characters in that light. And I think that they work really well there, where when maybe sometimes in live action, they don’t.”
Given his confidence in animation among other reasons, it makes sense then that Morales also said he didn’t feel any pressure having to follow up the live-action movie.
Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms is out now on Digital, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack. You can check out our review of the movie here.
