Justice-League-The-New-Frontier
October 22nd 2010 22:16
Justice League - The New Frontier - Review
Information:
Directors: Dave Bullock
Writers: Darwyn Cooke, Stan Berkowitz
Producers: Bruce W. Timm, Darwyn Cooke, Gregory Noveck, Kimberly Smith, Michael Goguen
Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English, Portuguese
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Number of discs: 2
Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Release Date: February 26, 2008
Run Time: 75 minutes
Synopsis:
Inspired by the best-selling graphic novel by Darwyn Cooke and produced by the multiple Emmy® award winning animation legend, Bruce Timm, The New Frontier is the epic tale of the founding of the Justice League. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are all here of course, and so are Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Flash - whose incredible origins will be told for the very first time. Strangers at first, these very different heroes must overcome fear and suspicion to forge an alliance against a monster so formidable, even the mighty Superman can not stop it. If they fail, our entire planet will be "cleansed" of humanity.
Review:
The opening couple of minutes gave me a lot of hope, but nothing has time to resonate. A major moment will happen, and then a split second later something unrelated happens, and it deflates the importance of whatever had just occurred. The editing is really poor in this regard... with four or five stories occurring at the same time, everything seems chopped together and unfocused. Way too much is packed into 70-minutes.
That's not the only problem here, though.
In a lot of the other DC animated material (while more mature than most cartoons) the target audience is usually still very young. In something like Batman: The Animated Series there are flaws that can usually be forgiven because it is understood that the cartoons are intended for a younger audience. They often make things way to easy, fast, and simple considering the circumstances. But that show is not made for the mind of a 30-year old. Its made for a kid. And I go in understanding this... so my expectations are different. I can totally respect and thoroughly enjoy those shows.
THIS movie, though, is too violent and adult themed to be intended for children. The PG-13 rating they went for backs up that this was not intended for young children... yet the simple, easy, clunky stuff that I often forgive Batman: TAS for doing is still present. The producers should have made a decision... either the movie should have been geared towards a younger audience (but in a way that adults could still appreciate, like most of their shows), or the movie should have been consistently mature... meaning that if there is going to be , violence, coarse language, and decidedly adult situations the storytelling and editing should be respectful of that audience. Since this movie IS supposed to be intended for adults and young adults, they really insulted my intelligence by using the same easy methods that they do on children's programming.
I saw a comment that said "I loved the movie and fans of the DC: The New Frontier comics all seem to love it."... I think there's a reason for that. People who were fans of the comic were able to plug in all kinds of ideas that were missing from this sloppy production. Ideas are introduced, and never followed up, over and over again in this movie. Important moments never have time to breathe. Maybe it works on some sort of a "companion" level to those who are fans of the original work, but as a standalone movie it leaves a lot to be desired.
The performances are generally fine, with the exception of Jeremy Sisto, who may be the worst incarnation of Batman I've ever heard (the only one I'm not familiar with is the THE BATMAN interpretation). His voice just does not have the tonal qualities I'd like in a portrayal of the Dark Knight.
Go in without your hopes too high. There are individual sequences that have their merit (such as when Batman makes a threat towards Superman that long-time comic fans will appreciate, or the scene where Wonder Woman returns after a long absence), and for many it will be worth watching for those good sequences... but as a whole it doesn't work.
Grade - C (plus) - Average to below average.
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