|
Movies •Books •Music •Food •Tv Shows •Technology •Politics •Video Games •Parenting •Fashion •Green Living •more >

Lunch » Tags » Movies » Reviews » Justice League: Doom » User review

Justice League: Doom
Justice League: Doom

Animated Film directed by Lauren Montgomery

< read all 3 reviews

Felt like another JLA scuffle.

  • Apr 22, 2012
Rating:
+3
Batman comes upon a bank robbery being committed by the newest incarnation of the Royal Flush Gang; a violent crew who's styles are motivated by the faces of playing cards. After the group is taken down by the Justice League, Batman's secret files are stolen and each member of the Justice League is attacked. -summary


Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and the Flash are five of the most powerful superheroes in the DC universe on their own. Collectively as the Justice League, they are far more powerful than most forces can handle. They have taken down powerful sorcerers, gods, and even cosmic threats. So it made sense that normal people, in this case Batman, would feel it necessary to deal with them should they ever go rogue. Justice League: Doom directed by Lauren Montgomery is a retelling of Mark Waid's Justice League: Tower of Babel. If you come into this expecting a faithful adaptation of the original source material then you will be disappointed, as many of the elements that made the original story so epic are pretty much lost. However, if you watch this as its own movie for the sake of cool action, then it's more enjoyable as you get that classic superhero vs. super villain rumble.

The first thing to hit me about this movie that began to immediately put me off was the artwork. The character designs are of the same mold as Justice League: New Frontier, Crisis on Two Earth's, and the Young Justice TV series. And quite frankly, I'm just not a fan of these bland designs that come off way too thin looking. The only character with an intimidating feel was Bane, in fact, I found the villains to be better drawn for the most part, but in the case of lead villain Vandal Savage, his character design resembled Sebastian Shaw from the pages of X-Men too much for my taste. At least the animation was done well enough, with some quick paced battles in the form of hand to hand and bright energy attacks. Green Lantern was probably the most interesting here using his wild imagination to conjure various constructs, such as giant punching gloves and slingshots. The backgrounds use a bit of CG, and there are some nice moments like the raging ultra-violet rays from the sun, and a good close up of the suns flames. The movies visuals are pretty good overall. The voice acting was a throwback to the original cast of the Justice League: Animated Series with Kevin Conroy voicing Batman, Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman, and Tim Daly as Superman who voiced the character in Superman: The Animated Series. There's nothing here I can see myself complaining about.

The plot follows Vandal Savage as he contacts an arch nemesis from each member of the JLA's rogues gallery; Bane, Star Sapphire, Cheetah, Maalefaak, Mirror Master, and Metallo. Together they form the Legion of Doom, and they assemble solo traps for their enemies which were originally created by Batman to defeat each member. By eliminating the JLA, Savage is left to put his personal plan in motion.

When I watch the movie as its own entity, it holds up with the action and drama meshing well enough to create a smooth pace and an entertaining ride. The traps that are sprung on the JLA have a level of cleverness to them and in the eyes of casual fans, I'm sure it will be very exciting. But everything felt by the numbers and the traps were just another gimmick to build up to the high impact showdown by the end. Plus, in animated form, one of the traps were a complete rehash from another DC animated movie. There's just no excuse for that.

Something else that really bothered me about this story was how Batman was written. He comes off way too paranoid here, and I felt the writing team did a poor job fleshing out his true reasoning. Even if I never read the book, I understand that the JLA are very powerful, but the writing team could have used the animated series as its pool source to strengthen Batman's argument, such as using the Justice Lords power trip which lead to the Cadmus Project being created, that would have been a great example to back up Batman's stance. The story feels like he has a complex because they have powers and he doesn't. Batman just doesn't think this way. The book was far more intricate with much better character development all around; in regards to Batman's reasoning in which he used the confrontation with Agamemno as his main motivation, with how the JLA felt betrayed which led to them kicking him out of the group, and even the main villain Ra's Al Gul who came up with a very ingenious plan to throw the world into complete chaos.


I would have also preferred to see the main team from the animated series also. Cyborg takes the place of Hawkgirl, plus Barry Allen replaces Wally West as the Flash. This was clearly to further promote The New 52 series, but it felt strange to me watching a smarter version of Flash instead of the rambling fool who almost always delivers with the laughs.

Justice League: Doom is far from a bad DC movie. It has some good action scenes and the fast pace helps the movie go by rather quick. If you enjoyed the previous movies in the series, or any of the other DC animated films then you'll more than likely enjoy this. As for whether or not this is for the kids, it has a great deal of action, but I don't recall anything here too offensive.

Special content:

It's rare I review extras but the two disk edition does have some good stuff. First, there's a small documentary on the late Dwayne McDuffie. For those who may not have heard of him, he was a well respected writer in the comic book medium and well known amongst comic fans. He wrote several episodes for the Justice League animated series, and was a co-founder of the minority ran comic book company Milestone Media. he also wrote the animated shows Static Shock and Ben 10. The docu features many writers, producers, etc. They speak very positive of him and his accomplishments, plus how much he meant to them and the industry. The feature is about 35 minutes and it held my attention. The quality is really good and the speakers were very clear.

The other extras feature a sneak peek on the next DC animated movie Superman vs. The Elite, and since I'm a fan of both, this is another movie I'm looking forward to. The next goodie are two episodes from the Justice League series Wild Cards 1 & 2. These episodes feature the Joker as the main villain, and he has planted a bomb somewhere in Las Vegas. The Justice League try to defuse it under constant retaliation by the Royal Flush gang, and although things may appear to be straight forward, the Joker has an ace up his sleeve. These two episodes were picked by Bruce Timm, and I think they were some good picks. If I had to choose what to add, I probably would have selected those also. The action is awesome and the dark humor canon with the Joker is well intact, plus it has one of the best endings in the series.

I recommend this two disk collection. Even if you come away not liking the movie, the two episodes are worth owning if you don't have the animated series. But whether you enjoy the movie or not, I highly recommend JLA: Tower of Babel as good reading.

Pros:
-Good animation and action

Cons:
-Feels way too average, fans of the book will be disappointed

What did you think of this review?

Helpful
15
Thought-Provoking
15
Fun to Read
12
Well-Organized
15
Post a Comment
April 25, 2012
I got JLA: Tower of Babel for Christmas and I plan on reading it over the summer, so I may skip watching Doom for now.
April 25, 2012
Definitely read it before coming into this. The best adaptation of Tower of Babel took place in the Justice League TV series in the three parter Starcrossed. That arc was awesome all around.
 
April 23, 2012
We have very similar things to say about this release; most especially when it comes down to the casual fans. I fave JLA Vs. Legion tussle is still in the JLA animated series--well drawn out story and awesome emotional fights. Nice review!
April 24, 2012
Yeah, even though I'm not bothered by the changes from the book like you are in these things. But everything felt too by the numbers, and they could have at least went the route with the Red Kryptonite. Instead of the wash, rinse, repeat, Metallo assault.
 
April 23, 2012
The special features are always excellent on these DC films, great review.
April 23, 2012
Thanks. The only thing I don't like about them is that they some times keep me waiting for like 1 - 2 years for that next movie after watching the trailer or sneek peek. It can be so damn aggravating.
 
1
More Justice League: Doom reviews
review by . February 29, 2012
posted in Speech Bubbles: Comics & Graphic Novels
Action-Packed....But Just a Routine Justice League Vs. Legion of Doom Brawl!
DC Animated Universe’s many adaptations of different comic book storylines have resulted with both good and disappointing results. I wasn’t that excited upon hearing about this creation and yet, I was optimistic to see one of my favorite storylines come into animated form. Director Lauren Montgomery and writer Dwayne McDuffie (who passed on in 2011) is a movie that takes some of the basic elements from Mark Waid’s JLA story arc “Tower of Babel” and re-interprets it …
Quick Tip by . January 16
I don't want my opinion to have too much weight on this matter as I'm no expert on these action-packed direct to DVD animated films. During the Christmas season, me and my folks were exposed to a bunch of them courtesy of Netflix and, for the most part, they have all been incredibly entertaining with some compelling stories. BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD: Wonderfully twisted story, beautiful (low budget) animation. ALL-STAR SUPERMAN: Brilliant animation, good story. SUPERMAN/BATMAN PUBLIC ENEMIES: …
see all Justice League: Doom reviews (3)
About the reviewer

Ranked #2
Serious gamer and hardcore comic reader.      Currently in my Nintendo Wii U:                  Currently … more
Consider the Source

Use Trust Points to see how much you can rely on this review.

You
Madpenguin
Your ratings:
cover
Superman/Batman: Public E …
Green Lantern: First Flight
Green Lantern: First Flig …
Batman: Year One (2011 animated film)
Batman: Year One (2011 an …
Superman/Batman: Apocalypse
Superman/Batman: Apocalyp …
rate more to improve this
Recent reviews by Madpenguin
Transformers: Regeneration One Vol. 1
Transformers Regeneration
a review of Transformers: Regeneration One Vol. ...
E801ABB65AF6B99848AFC479CC397B9
Conan PS3
a review of Conan [PS3]
Nova 1: Annihilation - Conquest
Nova 1: Annihilation - Conquest
a review of Nova 1: Annihilation - Conquest
see more reviews
About this movie

Wiki

Justice League: Doom is the third animated film in the Justice League film series. It is based loosely on Tower of Babel storyline.
http://dcmovies.wikia.com/wiki/Justice_League:_Doom

Justice League: Doom is an animated superhero film loosely based on Mark Waid's JLA story arc, "JLA: Tower of Babel". The movie was adapted and written by Dwayne McDuffie right before his death in February 2011, and is directed by Lauren Montgomery. While not a direct sequel to Crisis on Two Earths, the film uses the same character designs by the Lead Character Designer, Phil Bourassa. It will be released on February 28, 2012.[1] The film also features various actors reprising their roles from Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited and Green Lantern: Emerald Knights respectively.[2][3] It is the 13th film in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line.

The Blu-Ray combo pack includes Featurettes only for Blu-Ray called “Guarding the Balance: Batman and the JLA”, a mini-Featurette called “Their Time Has Come: Cyborg and the DC Universe’s New Diversity”, while both Blu-Ray the 2-Disc DVD edition has "A Legion of One: The Dwayne McDuffie Story", a Sneak Peak at Superman vs. The Elite, and two bonus episodes of Justice League.

view wiki

Tags

Movies, Animated Movies, Comics, Animation, Comic Book And Graphic Novel Adaptations, American Animation, Dc Animated Universe
see all

Details

Director: Lauren Montgomery
Genre: Action, Adventure, Animation, Fantasy
MPAA Rating: G
DVD Release Date: Feb. 28, 2012
Studio: Warner Bros. Animation
see all (6)
First to Review

"Action-Packed....But Just a Routine Justice League Vs. Legion of Doom Brawl!"
© 2013 Lunch.com, LLC All Rights Reserved
Lunch.com - Relevant reviews by real people.
()
This is you!
Ranked #
Last login
Member since
reviews
comments
ratings
questions
compliments
lists