Warner Bros. Pictures
I’m kind of new to this whole Teen Titans thing. I’ve never read any of the comics, I’ve never seen the TV series and I’m only now getting familiar with the characters through the DC Universe series Titans — which now makes watching the movie based on the cartoon a very weird experience with its more adult content.
Teen Titans GO! is a popular animated series on Cartoon Network I would assume, so of course there was the natural progression to bringing the series to the big screen with the feature length Teen Titans GO! To the Movies … get it?! In the movie, Robin is obsessed with all of the big screen superhero movies and naturally assumes that as Batman’s sidekick, they will eventually get around to making a movie about him. But, as he learns, no one cares about the sidekicks. And unless he and his team have an arch villain, there’s even less interest. As luck would have it, during the premiere of the latest superhero movie — to which the Teen Titans can’t even score an invite — a villain takes the opportunity to steal a crystal, and then he has to contend with the intervention of the Teen Titans (who keep calling the guy Deadpool, even though he’s Slade, aka Deathstroke but they never use that name in the movie). Robin then realizes that they can’t actually stop Slade, they need to thwart his plans then let him go because that’s how the hero/villain thing works. But Robin is in for a big surprise when the truth about Slade and superhero movies is revealed.
Perhaps I’m not the right age group for this movie, but I’m not sure kids are either. Why? Because Robin’s a dick (and not just in name). The whole point of the movie is that Robin wants his own movie. HIS own movie. He goes above and beyond the interests of his team to convince the director of all the superhero movies (yes, one person directs every movie and she reminded me of Elizabeth Banks) to give him a movie. And he puts not only his team, but the entire city in danger for his own self-interest. It’s not a great message to send to the kids. We have enough ‘it’s all about me’ attitudes in this world as it is, we don’t need to be telling young children that that is how they should behave as well. Selfishness is not something you’re born with.
Aside from that, the movie has a couple of other issues. The first third of the movie is overloaded with songs. Too. Many. Songs. And not good songs either. Just annoying. And for a movie aimed at children, there is an uncomfortable obsession with ass. Like close-ups of Robin shaking his, and various other ass jokes. I mean, yeah, kids love fart jokes but this goes beyond that and it’s off-putting. The film is nicely animated though, with some bright, vibrant colors that come through nicely on Blu-ray. The sound is also top notch with voices front and center and the surrounds getting a workout from the music and sound effects. Of all the characters, the one I most enjoyed was Starfire, voiced by Hynden Walch. She’s the most innocent and forgiving of the bunch, and even after Robin basically pushes his team away, she still shows him what real care and kindness means. Her saying ‘goodbye’ to him (temporarily, of course) was the one moment that tugged at my heartstrings and it was because of Walch’s terrific voice acting.
The Blu-ray release of the movie contains a few extras but nothing to really write home about.
- “GO!” – Lil Yachty Music Video (2:09) – Yes, an animated music video for one of the movie’s annoying songs.
- DC Superhero Girls: The Late Batsby (4:14) – An unrelated short featuring a teenaged Batgirl who tries to sneak out of the house to join her sisters in some crimefighting.
- Red Carpet Mayhem (2:08) – The Teen Titans attend the premiere of their movie.
- Teen Titans GO!: WB Lot Shenanigans (3:56) – Humans in over-sized Teen Titans costumes sneak onto the Warner Brothers lot and crash a few of the exhibits on the studio tour. Easily one of the most annoying bonus features ever.
- Everything is Fake (0:49) – An animatic version of another annoying song that thankfully did not make it into the movie.
- Teen Titans GO!: Translated (2:18) – Several short clips from the movie replayed with various international translations including Portuguese, German, Spanish, Italian, and Hebrew.
- Silkie Sing Alongs – The movie’s three annoying songs presented this time with sing along captions.
- Storyboard Animatics – Two short scenes presented in their rough animatic versions side-by-side with the final animation, showing there wasn’t much difference between the two stages.
I really, really wanted to like Teen Titans GO! To the Movies but I just could not get past the songs and how Robin is portrayed. If he’s portrayed like a self-centered jerk on the TV series, I’d have to think twice about letting my child watch that. But if you do have children who want to see this, I’d recommend having a long talk with them afterwards to explain that behavior is not acceptable. The Blu-ray presentation of the movie is another top notch production from Warner Bros. but overall it’s just not a very good movie and the extras are lacking.
Teen Titans GO! To the Movies is now available on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment generously provided Hotchka with a Blu-ray version of the film for reviewing purposes.
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