Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros Animation has released the latest in the DC animated catalogue, Justice League: Gods and Monsters. This latest endeavor comes from DC and Batman the Animated Series wunderkind Bruce Timm. Timm’s involvement in DC animated projects is normally a sign of high quality, but unfortunately … well we’ll get to that in a bit.
Justice League: Gods and Monsters sets out to be dark (and obviously so). While past DC animated fare has always been heavy on violence and adult themes, this time around they just feel like cheap tricks rather than naturally arrived at story points. The film deals with an alternate universe to the one most comic fans are familiar with, Superman is the son of General Zod, raised by migrant workers rather than the Kents. Batman is Kirk Langstrom (Manbat from the comics), who in this reality is a vampire. Plus we get a Wonder Woman who is from the planet New Genesis. By taking us into an alternate reality, Bruce Timm and Co. had full reign to do whatever they wanted without any worry of alienating fans. Unfortunately they chose to make something dark, bland, and boring.
In terms of pure aesthetics the animation looks good enough. While nothing mindblowing it is, as always with DC’s animated offerings, well done and well choreographed animation. However the art style and color palette they chose for this film is so much brighter in lighting and color than the dark subject matter that it feels disjointed in its execution. This same incomplete feeling is rampant throughout the film, the idea of a violent, more militant, and even murderous Justice League never really goes anywhere. While one line gets shoehorned in the end to, I guess, try and wrap things up with a lesson, it feels forced and unearned.
No character has any kind of arc through the film, they end up more or less as they started, but worse yet they’re all boring throughout. The closest thing to interested I got while watching was an extended flashback into Wonder Woman’s past. This part is actually pretty good but all too brief. The rest of the story has a few twists and turns but most of them are telegraphed pretty early on so you’ll probably see them coming a mile away. Overall the story isn’t terrible but it’s presented plainly and the voice acting falls so flat that you’ll have a hard time ever getting invested in any of the characters.
As it stands now, DC’s animated films have continued a slow and steady decline in quality. Hopefully with the next few slated to come out, including one of my personal favorites The Killing Joke, they will make a return to their former selves. As it is now Justice League: Gods and Monsters is a whole lot of Meh.
Warner Bros. Animation
One area that has not fallen is the transfer quality of their Blu-rays. The 1080p transfer looks great, setting aside one’s taste in the animation style. Colors pop, blacks are black, crisp pictures and smooth movement. The 5.1 Surround sound is well balanced and clear. All you can ask for in a Blu-ray. As usual the special features provided are thorough and plentiful compared to most studio offerings today.
Special Features:
- “Alternate Realities: Infinite Possibilities”: The team from DC discuss Elsworlds tales of alternate realities and roads not taken.
- “Calculated Risk: The Making of Gods and Monsters”: The standard behind-the-scenes look at the production of Justice League: Gods and Monsters.
- “The New Gods: A Look at Jack Kirby and The New Gods”: Darkseid, Highfather and all the rest are covered by today’s top talents.
- “From the DC Comics Vault””: Two classic episodes of DC animated shows “Phantoms” from Legion of Super Heroes and “Brave New Metropolis” from Superman: The Animated Series.
- “Batman: Bad Blood”: A sneak peak at the next DCU animated original movie, Batman: Bad Blood.
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