Review
Justice League vs. Teen Titans
"Justice League vs. Teen Titans" is a Justice League animated movie featuring the debut of a new superhero team called the Teen Titans and is the sixth entry in the ongoing continuity in the DC Universe line of direct to video releases. The Justice League's opening ceremony for their new headquarters is ruined by a team of supervillains called the Legion of Doom but the battle feeds into two new developments: Robin/Damian Wayne being inducted into the Teen Titans to learn about trust and teamwork and a world threatening inter-dimensional demon warlord named Trigon. The two storylines intersect and the Titans have to defy the odds to save their comrade Raven, the world, and the demon-possessed Justice League. What results is a satisfying coming of age experience and uniquely cool addition to this movie line.
"Justice League vs. Teen Titans" is inspired by various eras of Teen Titans in comics and animation but, like the previous movie "Batman: Bad Blood," is an original story. The movie begins with the Justice League fighting the Legion of Doom after the brand new League headquarters, nicknamed the Hall of Justice on social media, is attacked. Robin, Damian Wayne, is relegated to crowd control and he isn't pleased with it. Lex Luthor, Cheetah, Solomon Grundy, Weather Wizard, and Toymaster are no match for Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, and Cyborg. Wizard tries to runaway but he ends up possessed by a corrupter, one of the demon sons of Trigon, and puts up quite a fight. Instead of sticking to his task, Robin arms the Batplane, flies it into the possessed Wizard, and generates a three kiloton blast. Batman admonishes Robin about teamwork. To his dismay, he finds himself being sent to train with the Teen Titans to do a little "socializing." Naturally, Robin is guarded and insufferable around Starfire, Blue Beetle, Raven, and Beast Boy. Meanwhile, Clark Kent gets possessed by a corruptor. Things get heated between Robin and Blue Beetle and the former is nearly killed. Raven uses her empathic healing on him but she is weakened and both feel glimpses of the other's pasts. Batman and Cyborg begin to suspect something is up after reviewing footage. During date night with Diana, Clark runs off still trying to fight the influence of Trigon and the corruptor. Damian suspects Raven is keeping something secret. Clark continues to fight the corruptor but confronts Atomic Skull as Superman, who is unaware of his current predicament. Suffice to say, Skull is nearly killed. Wonder Woman and Batman intervene. Batman uses Kryptonite but fails to excise the corruptor. Starfire realizes Damian is in her room looking for information on Raven. She is frustrated and has an online chat with Nightwing. He inadvertently gives her an idea. Batman has Cyborg narrow his search to Superman sightings and supernatural events. The possessed Superman flies to the Middle East and unearths an ancient circular structure. Starfire takes the Titans to the carnival for a night of mandatory fun. The festivities are interrupted by Trigon and his corruptors. Raven takes the Titans to her former home, Azarath, in another dimension and reveals her origins to them. She admits Trigon is her father and an inter-dimensional demon who conquers worlds. He wants Earth but needs Raven as a conduit to open Earth to his conquest.
The Titans return to the Tower and the Justice League demands Raven. Robin stands up for her and wants the Titans to protect her. As the discussion turns into a standoff, the League is possessed by corruptors. They force Raven to capitulate and bring Trigon to Earth. Blue Beetle manages to excise Cyborg at the last second. Raven activates the infernal shrine. 24 hours later, Cyborg comes back on-line and the Titans draw up a plan. They boom to the Middle East and Superman is rescued when Robin stabs him with Kryptonite. Flash and Wonder Woman are freed soon but it's too late, and Trigon arrives. Cyborg and the Titans make a perilous journey to Trigon's realm to retrieve the crystal he was imprisoned in by Raven previously. The Justice League makes a futile attempt to stall Trigon as he marches on Kahndaq City. Robin is forced to confront his baggage and fight a corruptor masking himself as the late Ra's al Ghul, his grandfather. Instead of choosing to uphold the al Ghul legacy, Robin chooses the Titans. Raven gathers a shard of the crystal and traps Trigon. She decides to stay behind to keep a constant watch on Trigon but Robin sways her to come home with them. 10 days later, the Justice League confirms no demonic activity and congratulates the Titans. Cyborg abruptly appears with pizza and sees the rest of the League on the big screen. After the awkwardness ends, Cyborg notices Raven is wearing the shard on her forehead. Trigon angrily screams out in vain. As the Titans' celebration continues into the night, a mysterious girl approaches the Tower on a moving boulder.
The core themes of "Justice League vs. Teen Titans," is family and trust. Primarily, Robin and Raven are connected by unfinished chapters in their past and have to deal with the choice of upholding their duty to fulfill the family legacy and take over the world or put it all away and forge their own path. Overall, the Titans are brought together because of their dysfunctional families, origins, and outsider status. Starfire flees her homeworld after a coup ousts her family from leadership and she takes refuge on Earth. Blue Beetle has a mysterious alien device with an unrevealed purpose fuse to his spine. Beast Boy has green skin and hair and can turn into any animal. Raven is the half-human, half-demon daughter to the world conquering demon warlord Trigon who wants her at his side. Robin was groomed among assassins by Ra's al Ghul to help him take over the world and initiate a new world order but he ends up as the partner of his father, Batman, and joins his war on crime. The Titans bond over their collective outsider status and become more than just a team.
To a lesser extent, the themes also apply to the Justice League as the celebrity parental figures looming over the Teen Titans and occasionally imposing their will on them. The Justice League are in full mastery of their powers and abilities. The Teen Titans are still learning how to use their newfound gifts and use them together. Like in the various eras of the Teen Titans comics, this version comes into their own and leaves the shadow of the League. The interpersonal conflict over what to do with Raven rapidly evolves into a coming of age tale where the Titans are the ones who have to save the world when the League is compromised by possessing demons. Sure, it's a given the title of the movie is a little misleading. You could argue it's taken advantage of the big hero vs. hero theme in entertainment this year. But those teams always butt heads every so often in the comics. And look at all those classic Godzilla movies. The majority of them had a "vs" in there. How much of the runtime was the actual advertised battle? How many times was there another adversary manipulating things?
Robin and Raven are at the forefront of this movie. Robin's character arc is concluded after his previous appearances in "Son of Batman," "Batman vs. Robin," and "Batman: Bad Blood" while Raven's story is unveiled as the movie goes on. On paper, the movie is a logistical nightmare with 10 major protagonists with 4 debuting officially in a 78 minute movie. Fortunately, like a finely set up game of chess or the flawless and continuous juggling of chainsaws on fire, the characters are all efficiently used and don't evaporate into the background. Through the new Teen Titans team, we also have the benefit of more heart and humor in the movie's overall tone. Organically, the audience learns enough about Blue Beetle, Starfire, and Beast Boy's back stories, their unique traits carry over from scene to scene, and perhaps some things are seeded for the possibility of more Teen Titans movies that could center on them.
Starting with Blue Beetle. We know broadly, he's a teenager who had a piece of bug-shaped alien technology fused to his spine and it can encase him in a suit of armor plus generate pretty much any weapon he needs. The downside is Jaime is not in full control of the device, named Scarab. He also sort of has a temper, demonstrated when Robin prods him in the training room. Jaime Reyes has yet to learn the true sinister purpose of his Blue Beetle armor. In the comics, the Scarab devices were sent as advance agents for planets targeted for conquest by the alien race, the Reach. However, for those who watched the more recent DC animated series, exploring this would be a retread since Blue Beetle and the Reach was already a major plot point of "Young Justice: Invasion" and an ongoing arc on "Batman: The Brave and The Bold." Would time-skipping over this version of events rob this Jaime of some big time character development? Or would it free up the crew to try and find a new story to craft for Jaime? Time will tell. Overall, it was fun to have a peer closer in age that doesn't roll over when Robin spouts his usual B.S. and calls him on it.
For Beast Boy, all we know is his genetics kicked in when he was 11. He turned green and got the power to turn into an animal. And he believes himself to be funny and witty. I think Beast Boy's biggest contribution to the movie was showing comedy with a slant towards corniness can work in these movies. Among the Titans in this movie, Beast Boy probably has the most potential because he has the longest comic history at a little over 50 years. This continuity could break new territory and explore the origin of his powers and the murder of his parents or put a new spin on a possible backstory with Steve Dayton or the Doom Patrol. Naturally, as a Doom Patrol fan, I wouldn't mind the latter. There was even a point when Garfield was an actor in the comics. Like Beast Boy has a large swath of animals to change into, they crew has a large swatch of narratives to take Beast Boy into.
Starfire gets in a full appearance after two cameo phone calls to Nightwing in "Batman vs. Robin" and "Batman: Bad Blood" which drew a little bit of mixed reactions from fans for being too provocative despite this being an adult-geared PG-13 line. Whatever. But back to the topic, she expands from being Nightwing's lady friend to the leader of the Teen Titans and exiled princess. Starfire had a particularly grueling Shakespearean origin in the comics. Komand'r, her older sister, was passed up and royal succession fell to Starfire. Komand'r resented her and allied with a conquering race called the Citadel to take over Tamaran, their home planet. Starfire was sold into slavery to another race called the Psions who experimented and tortured her. She escaped to Earth and made a life for herself. While we've gotten to see the sisterly conflict in the "Teen Titans" and "Teen Titans Go!" animated series and a royal sibling squabble in "Justice League: Throne of Atlantis," there still seems to be a lot left to explore with Starfire. For one, the development of Starfire being the team leader is highly lauded. I also liked that they did away with the 'exchange student naivete' from past animated incarnations and explored a different version. But still, the Skype scene between her and Dick Grayson was hilarious. A future story could explore how she came to be the leader and tie into the origin of the team perhaps or even reveal more about her journey from Tamaran to Earth.
As mentioned already, Robin's journey continues. His methods don't get much accolade from the League so he's sent to train with the Teen Titans to learn about trust and teamwork. Surrounded by four strangers and going in with disinterest, it's typical for Robin to revert to being as insufferable as he was earlier in the movie continuity but he lightens up as the story transitions from the battle at the Hall of Justice to a night of mandatory fun at a carnival. Starfire complained to Nightwing he had a negative effect on the rest of team, but being surrounded by peers for once had a positive effect on him. The old Robin surely wouldn't have given a little blonde girl his toy sword or enter into a public dance off. And we do also see him learn from setting off a three kiloton blast by himself to teaming up with the Titans and tricking possessed Superman to get close enough and "inoculate" him with Kryptonite. Besides running in parallel to Raven's arc, the reason for another spotlight on Robin becomes clear and he's able to achieve more closure. In the finale of the previous movie "Batman: Bad Blood," Robin sees his mother Talia al Ghul for who she truly is - a selfish villain obsessed with control and becomes that much more invested in the Batman Family. However, in 'Bad Blood,' it's clear that he still idolizes his late grandfather Ra's al Ghul as evident in a scene between Damian and Alfred. Going into this movie, he still has a toe in that world of assassins and megalomania. Robin's one-on-one fight against the Corruptor demon impersonating Ra's and the figurative choice of the past (Ra's) or the future (Raven and the Titans) allows Robin to finally sever himself from the shadow of the Demon's Head.
"Justice League vs. Teen Titans" marks Batman's sixth straight appearance and the Justice League's third appearance in this ongoing continuity. Like "Justice League: Throne of Atlantis" and "Batman: Bad Blood," Batman is given a smaller role yet the writing and pacing makes it seem like he and the Justice League are sufficiently present in the story. The opening battle is a classic Justice League vs. Legion of Doom romp. The set up for the battle is seamless much like any cold open you would see on "Batman: The Brave and The Bold" and who doesn't like action right at the start? There is no mistaking that the Teen Titans are stars of the movie and the League are playing catch up to the plot like a principal searching for Ferris Bueller but because of the format, we're allowed to explore more of Cyborg, Superman, and Wonder Woman in particular. Batman is for the most part static and doesn't have any development but does the typical Batman stuff like outsmarting a much stronger supervillain, being a detective, and turning down good pizza. Maybe if it was nachos? The Flash has several amazing action beats at the beginning and end of the movie, but suffers the least focus. It says something when the most memorable part of his appearance is how Superman neutralizes him. On the other hand, it probably would not worked for Flash to "compete" with the Titans for laughs from the audience. Nonetheless, fingers crossed he gets more of a spotlight in the next Justice League film. As mentioned, we get to explore a different side to Cyborg through his interaction with the Teen Titans. He's the youngest member of the League but among the Titans, he can be just Victor Stone. The two pizza scenes are fairly amusing, as a result. Although Cyborg made it clear he's staying with the Justice League, I can see him being tasked as the League's official liaison with the Titans. I had no beef with the other three Leaguers being absent. We don't need an exhaustive play by play of where everyone is. We certainly did need it in animated series like "Justice League" or "Young Justice."
With a movie that introduces the Teen Titans and draws inspiration from the New Teen Titans comic, it's not a stretch that the central antagonist of this movie was Trigon. Trigon's desire to make Raven take up the "family business" of conquering planets and eating souls ties into the movie line's ongoing theme of bad parents and 'what is family?' but on the other side of the coin, he does share undeniable superficial features with the first antagonist of the League in "Justice League: War," Darkseid. Towering behemoth, army of demonic entities, shooting up his eye beams all over an unsuspecting city, crazy deep augmented voices, gets beaten by being forced through a portal... but perhaps Trigon's appearance comes at the right time. For those that indulge in all forms of DC animation, it might be a welcome sight to see a more faithful interpretation of one of the Big Bads in comics lore.
Another boon of the movie is that Trigon isn't the only villain to make their return or debut. Starting with the Legion of Doom -- you can't go wrong with a classic. The line up is small but something tells me, there's a lot of growth potential as more movies come along. Just like in "Batman: Bad Blood," a supervillain team pops up at the opening the movie and sets things up with the added benefit of doing some implicit world-building. Luthor is back. We see what scheme he was cooking at the end of 'Throne of Atlantis.' We get to see the payoff for Superman's disdain for Luthor from 'War.' We get classic Superman-Luthor banter. Cheetah from Wonder Woman's Rogues Gallery. Weather Wizard from Flash's. Solomon Grundy from Batman's. But really, Grundy needs to start wearing some rubber suits or something. He just got electrocuted into submission by Batman a couple months ago in "Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem" and here Batman tricks him into anesthetizing himself on some transformers. Grundy need better agent. While it was disappointing not to see the Winslow Schott or the Jack Nimball Toyman, the former has already been dealt with in this continuity and wouldn't fit in this instance. The introduction of new character Toymaster was an interesting amalgamation of traits from other toy-based bad guys. Plus it was kind of funny to see the geek battle the jock. I know I shouldn't say this, but the animation for when Toymaster flails as he's being tasered was pretty amusing. When it comes to anyone in the Flash's Rogues Gallery, you can't go wrong. They're as entertaining as any Batman villain. Weather Wizard and Flash's battle was classic. It was nice to see a little familiarity already when Flash does his Roadrunner taunt or calls him "Wiz." The Legion might have been defeated but they're not ones to stay down for long. It was smart to only introduce the team and not use them as the principal threat. In the next movies, the crew has the option of revisiting them in small increments - whether it be more battles in media res or plotting behind the scenes - and building up to potentially a movie that stars them as the central villain. It's better than doing another origin story slash bringing the band together story like we've seen over and over ad nauseum.
Honorable mention for the others as well. Another Superman villain, Atomic Skull, makes a brief appearance. Sure, he was just a punching bag like in "Superman vs. The Elite," but there was some nice comedic relief to see possessed Superman go all out on him leaving Skull dumbfounded and whimpering. The Titans' training scene hints at the existence and perhaps future appearance of another classic Titans enemy, the terrorist organization known as H.I.V.E. who had a decent run on the "Teen Titans" animated series and are the focus of the current season of CW's "Arrow." Don't mind seeing them again. I mean, League of Assassins is so yesterday. Bee-live. What? And lastly, during the end credits, we're are left with Terra heading towards the Titans Tower. Comic and animation fans know well who she is. With a "Killing Joke" movie on the horizon, maybe we'll be seeing a "Judas Contract" inspired story in this continuity and that shelved "Judas Contract" DTV finally greenlit in the next few years.
World building is done best when you don't notice it until someone points it out towards the end of their review. The Justice League now has one of its classic headquarters and are no longer crashing at S.T.A.R. Labs and they have a supervillain team gunning for them. Guess we'll be waiting a little longer for that Watchtower sub-plot to advance in the wake of the events of 'Bad Blood' but we do get to see that tower Nightwing alluded to and Starfire. Aside from Starfire, a lot of characters are introduced: Blue Beetle, Raven, Beast Boy, Solomon Grundy, Cheetah, Weather Wizard, Toymaster, H.I.V.E., Atomic Skull, Trigon, Angela Chen, and Arella. Silas Stone, Shazam, Green Lantern, Steve Trevor, Themyscira, Tamaran, Blackfire, and the Lazarus Pits come up in dialogue. Pieces of Starfire, Blue Beetle, and Beast Boy's past are revealed. Overall, it was plus for the story to naturally expand on the nature of magic, other dimensions, mythology and the supernatural in this movie continuity. In addition, it kept things new. The first movie was about an alien invasion from space. The second was about an invasion from below in the ocean. Here, it's an inter-dimensional invasion. Another plus was expanding on the world at large. There are new locales like the Titans Tower and the unnamed ambiguous city near it and a bit of the Middle East, and we get to see more of Metropolis - the Hall of Justice, Clark's apartment, and a little movie fest.
In similar fashion, the world building is supplemented by various references and cameos of DC characters and locales. Usually, this is where I start going on and on about them but it's become too big this year so instead, from here on out, I will point you to a working list I've posted over at the Toon Zone Forums where I am a moderator. Overall, it was so awesome to see so many things cherry picked from classic animated series, previous movies, popular culture, and the comics. And you can't go wrong with a Looney Tunes reference and two cheeky nods to Bruce Timm. My favorite references had to be the two choices for holograms in the training room simulations. Anyway, here's my list of trivia. Click 'Toggle Spoilers' and enjoy.
Phil Bourassa and the Dusty Abell stuck to the classic look for many of the new characters introduced in this movie, both heroes and villains, such as Blue Beetle, Raven, Beast Boy, Starfire, Lex Luthor, Solomon Grundy, Cheetah, Weather Wizard, Trigon, and Terra. Atomic Skull and Toymaster were the most unique of the new ones. It does feel like Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash, Cyborg, and Robin had some minor tweaks to their suits. Wes Gleason turns in other solid choice in casting and voice direction. Frederik Wiedmann's music has the standard the usual superhero action but gets to experiment with the almost cliche teen drama and gets ethereal with supernatural genre, especially Raven's theme. "Justice League vs. Teen Titans" marks the second movie in a row done by Sam Liu and it doesn't look like he's running out of any steam yet. Having worked on adaptations of classics like "Batman: Year One" or originals like "Justice League: Gods and Monsters," Liu manages to balance and transition between genres in "Justice League vs. Teen Titans" starting out with superhero action going to teen drama with a dash of John Hughes, and ending in a supernatural thriller. Bryan Q. Miller wrote the screenplay with living legend Alan Burnett and crafted an original story that proudly bears the DNA of the 60s, 70s Teen Titans, New Teen Titans, and Teen Titans the animated series. In essence, it is a sleek, modern update of New Teen Titans.
The voice cast puts in another powerful performance in this movie. Jason O'Mara turns in another strong go as Batman, even going so much to explore a third voice when he's around Robin. Jerry O'Connell showed some improvement with Superman who was more likeable and gregarious. Rosario Dawson keeps Wonder Woman iconic as well but with a sub layer of vulnerability. Like O'Connell, Shemar Moore gets to expand Cyborg's range. Other returning actors like Christopher Gorham, Stuart Allan, and Sean Maher are more of what we've come to love. Newcomers Jake T. Austin as Blue Beetle, Taissa Farmiga as Raven, Brandon Soo Hoo as Beast Boy fit into their characters like a glove. Some might critique Farmiga for being too flat or deadpan, but remember it's Raven. That's part of her character. Kari Wahlgren gets in a full fledged appearance as Starfire coming off of "Batman: Bad Blood." While she voices a more mature version, Wahlgren still gets in a sense of sweetness. All in all, to better enjoy the Titans means putting aside thoughts of the cast from the "Teen Titans" animated series. Embrace the change. Jon Bernthal got to be both Punisher and Trigon in the same year. Never would have guessed it. Bernthal certainly has the gravitas for one of the evil of the evil in DC Comics. Nice to see Laura Bailey among the cast but her role as Angela Chen and Cheetah was short and sweet. Hope she nabs a bigger role next time around. Ra's al Ghul was recast with T.C. Carson but no complaints with him. Rick Wasserman was a perfect fit for one the good 'ol Rogues, Weather Wizard. Steve Blum returns as Lex Luthor. Nothing bad about Blum himself, but it's still a bit jarring to hear him voice Luthor.
When it comes to enjoying new stories, new characters, new teams and new worlds, two in-continuity movies a year never seems enough. The film crew could have done the safe thing and done a big origin story for the Titans much like how Cyborg's origin story was part of "Justice League: War." Full primers on all the Titans tied into the arrival of Trigon like with Cyborg was tied to the arrival of Darkseid. It would have been nice. But it would have been the same boring way of telling the story. The plot would have been bogged down with telling everyone's origin stories. However, thinking back to the "Teen Titans" animated series, we didn't learn their origin story until the final season. Or they could have focused on Starfire and Raven because 'Robin Robin Robin.' But on the other hand, Robin gets closure and his arc is (hopefully) done with and wrapped up. And his story more closely parallels Raven's than Starfire or any of the others. A lot like "Batman: Bad Blood," "Justice League vs. Teen Titans" succeeds in that part of the movie breaks from the formula of the past two years worth of in-continuity movies and presents a uniquely new kind of story while continuing to draw from the continuity, sneak in more world building and seed future stories. More so, it's able to play with different genres that previous movies didn't or couldn't - horror/supernatural and teen drama. One of my favorite scenes was the carnival excursion. Even though it was ripe with teen movie cliches (pop music, montage, one-upping each other, peer psychoanalysis, a dance off, slow motion mockery), it worked. Looking ahead for the Justice League, just barely getting by against Trigon (and to a lesser extent of Ocean Master wielding the Trident of Poseidon) hopefully was a wake up call and we'll get to see a spell casting hero added to the team.
The negatives I have with "Justice League vs. Teen Titans" are mainly with the League. The ongoing Superman-Wonder Woman sub-plot is often confusing as to its usefulness and takes me out of the movie on multiple viewings. I'm still on the fence about it being needed because there is a payoff. Plus, Superman is a bit more "Superman" and Wonder Woman's cooled off since 'War.' Still, Wonder Woman being the worried girlfriend was off putting... It's great to see them both in this relationship for the first time in animation, it serves as a nice contrast to half the team having a life outside the team versus Batman and Cyborg being the team workaholics, and it certainly links up to the main story but Flash and Green Lantern really need greater focus. I didn't quite understand Beast Boy's weird transformation in Trigon's realm. Could have used a line in there. Maybe Raven's protection spell, Beast Boy's physiology and the realm all had a bad reaction? I think the final battle and resolution works and the outcome makes sense with the story. But this movie repeats the same notion of the Justice League being too weak on its own to stop the main antagonist and its the new character(s) that magically has the strength and fortitude at the last second to save the day. It was odd to discover the Teen Titans never directly fight Trigon as well. Making the Teen Titans the dynamic characters at the cost of the Justice League being static hurts the movie. "Ra's al Ghul" making an appearance makes sense for Robin to have full closure with his past but please, please let there be a moratorium on Ra's and The League of Assassins. They've been used over and over and over. Animation. Television. Movies. Quit it! As always, reusing old Young Justice designs for background characters irks me. But at this point, it's more of a running joke. Sure, it must save money in the production budget -- but my eyes are automatically searching for them every time now. I didn't find it a negative but I'm pretty sure there will be some that don't like the movie closely adapting the Trigon story or infusing a bit too much of the "Teen Titans" animated series. But I think this a case of damned if they do, damned if they don't. To me, the success of everything since "Batman: The Animated Series" was cherry picking what's cool in the process of creating new stories for the audience.
The special features of the Blu-Ray are the standards of what the DC Universe line has come to be known for - geared towards a casual audience and not the hardcore fans. The spotlight special features focuses on brief histories of the Teen Titans, Raven, and Trigon with comments from Dan Didio, Mike Carlin, Marv Wolfman and James Tucker. "Growing up Titan" is the longest feature and comes in at 23:46. It explores the history of the Teen Titans but is nowhere near inclusive and only looks at the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 00s in broad strokes. Awkwardly left out is the Teen Titans animated series, which arguably had as big a role as Wolfman and Perez's run on New Teen Titans. "Heroes and Villains: Raven" and "Heroes and Villains: Trigon" at 6:05 and 5:17 respectively are basic primers on the characters geared for the unindoctrinated. Basic. But the highlight of these three features is hearing insight from Mr. Wolfman. The sneak peek of the next movie "Batman: The Killing Joke" is 10:15 and features finished footage, behind the scenes at voice records, comments from Bruce Timm, Sam Liu, and more. The DC Vault had a nice varied selection of classic animation that reflected the main movie's themes. "Batman: The Brave and The Bold"'s "Sidekicks Assemble!" is about Robin, Speedy, and Aqualad getting out of the shadow of their mentors to help save the day against Ra's al Ghul. "Teen Titans" "The Prophecy" is part of that series' version of the Trigon story. And again, no commentary track. A music feature with Frederik Wiedmann would have been a boon here since he got to deviate from his usual superhero soundtrack, using lyrical songs for the first time, and the decision process of finding from pop singles leading up to the inclusion of the three songs, including the KPOP single "Crazee Boy" from Sara Choi. The limited edition box set comes with a Robin figurine and now bears the stamp of which unit out of a possible 5700 you own. A Raven figurine would have been cooler but beggars can't be choosers. It's appreciated they're still putting some thought into the collectiblity of the movies.
"Justice League vs. Teen Titans" is a very recommended purchase. 2016 is certainly shaping up to be one of the strongest years for the DC Universe movie line. "Justice League vs. Teen Titans" filters the audience's lens through a teenage band of super-powered outcasts who come to the aid of one of their own as they overcome impossible odds to prevent the utter destruction of the planet. Touching on several eras of Teen Titans, the story weaves together action, drama, heart, and humor - culminating in an epic journey for a bunch of freaks in training to be heroes.
Rating
Main Feature: 4 out of 5
Special Features: 3 out of 5
Average Rating: 3.5 out of 5