The latest in the long line of DC animated films follows the trend of keeping Batman or Superman involved, but branches off a bit more to be focused quite a bit more on The Flash instead. For the most part, these movies have been entertaining to me, but I don't consider them particularly great, so how does this one pan out? It's time for another REVIEWPOINT as we break down the action film's hits and misses.
NOTE: SPOILERS BELOW. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE AND DO NOT WANT TO KNOW DETAILS, SKIP THIS AND COME BACK LATER
As always, let's start with the bad news first.
THE MISSES
1. CYBORG
Seriously, why is Cyborg the top priority at DC right now? They're shoving him down everyone's throats. I understand that they want to diversify and I have no problems with that, but come on. It's blatantly obvious how badly they want him to catch on by just how much he's being shoehorned into things. Has there been a single DC venture that hasn't featured Cyborg lately? They're making him a member of the Justice League, he's in every animated film, the Injustice video game, etc. Give me a break. What happened to Steel, Martian Manhunter (I know he's not black, but his human disguise should be), Mr. Terrific, etc?
2. THOMAS WAYNE
Shouldn't he be something like 30 years older than Bruce? You mean to tell me this guy who was a doctor suddenly became Batman, learned how to fight, become a detective, a scientist in other realms, and so forth...and he can do all this when he's something like 60 years old?
3. EXAGGERATED ART STYLE FOR CHARACTERS
Something that DC tends to do in a lot of their animated takes is draw the characters to look out of proportion and with weird features such as giant chins, weird lips, beady little eyes, or bodies that are so oddly shaped and muscular that these top-heavy people would fall over in an instant? Shit, look at Superman here with his bulging body and tiny little head:
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| This is an even uglier design than the one in All Star Superman |
THE HITS
1. THE OLD CREW
Any time you have Kevin Conroy, Tim/Sam Daly (or George Newbern), and Dana Delany back voicing Batman, Superman and Lois Lane, I'll enjoy at least that. Those voices are just so immensely tied to the characters that I can't escape them, and if I hear something else, it just doesn't sound right to me.
2. AQUAMAN VS WONDER WOMAN
While I find these two to be boring and bland for the most part, I liked the idea of having the two worlds feuding with each other as the war. When it comes to the core Justice League (and no, I'm not looking at you, Cyborg), I consider these two to be the two most likely to do something like this. Batman never would, Flash never would, Superman is about 50/50, Green Lantern for the most part doesn't fit the mold unless he's under the Parallax situation, but both Wonder Woman and Aquaman have these attitudes that would fit this scenario.
3. BRUCE CRYING
For some people, they think Batman should be this emotionless psycho who is just on a warpath for crime and completely shuts himself off from the world. To me, it should be the opposite. Batman is the persona he puts on in front of everyone, even himself as often as he can, as a protective shield for his emotions. Bruce finds it hard to let his guard down because he's afraid of being hurt again, as on the inside, he's still fueled by the death of his parents. Having Bruce cry reading the letter from his father is exactly what I was hoping would happen and I'm so glad they added that in there. The comics need to do stuff like that more often and show that instead of just redeeming villains, there's a chance you can redeem heroes as well.
END NOTES
This isn't as bad as Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, All-Star Superman, Superman vs. The Elite, or Superman: Unbound, but it isn't as entertaining as Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Batman: Under the Red Hood, Justice League: Doom or Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. It suffers from the same problems as nearly all of the other ones, but hey, I'd rather see them pump these out than to stop, especially considering how they can't seem to get their live action universe going for the life of them.
Would I recommend it? Only for true comic book fans to watch when they're bored as something to do. I'd never recommend it to someone as an actual movie and give them the impression that it's The Godfather or anything.
If you want to check out some more recent Reviewpoint articles: White House Down | The Lone Ranger | Man of Steel
What were your thoughts on the movie? What should the next Reviewpoint be?
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