Fan Review by Mari

**********SPOILERS PROBABLE****************

When I was around eight to ten years old, a cartoon show called THE SUPERFRIENDS was very popular. It was from the Hanna-Barbara company (TOM & JERRY, YOGI BEAR, SCOOBY-DOO and THE FLINTSTONES are among the hundreds of cartoons they produced over several decades). Later, my brothers were into HE-MAN and the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE and GI JOE. Watching this new animated feature film brought back many fun memories for me. All the kids in our neighborhood would get together and role-play the SUPERFRIENDS show, when we weren't in the house watching it.

I ended up liking this movie much more than I would have predicted, not only because of the nostalgia it evoked, but because of its uniqueness. It had a few flaws, but honestly, for the most part, I liked it, and I pride myself on being a movie snob who would rather endulge in independent cinema than comic book material aimed at 8 to 25 year old males.

The story, quickly, takes place in a decade time-frame from the 1950s to the 1960s, with the finale of the Korean War, fear of Communism and Cold War being hottest topics of debate. A being who calls itself "The Centre" observes the creatures of Earth and then decides that Earth is so beyond redemption that the only solution is for it to be annihilated. I got lost a few times as to who or what the Centre is. I often confused a certain alien character with being this villain, but at the end I suddenly realized I was mistaken.

I have to say this: Being a huge Bugs Bunny fan, I had a big smile on my face during his "cameo". I was also pleased to see that BB was drawn correctly, the way he appeared in the older cartoons that the alien was watching.

It would be fair to say that this isn't exactly a film aimed at kids, although it is marketed at DVD retailers under the category Children/Family. There is some shocking violence, such as Batman laying out some bodies during the rescue of a child, the fatal shooting of a Russian soldier, and the horrific crash-landing of Wonder Woman's Invisible Jet. There are several uses of the phrase, "Son of a bitch!" as well.

The one part that actually bored me to tears was the part where the Centre does finally reveal itself as some kind of round object that opens up and spits out a bunch of dinosaurs that then try to kill and devour the heroes. I thought it was silly, but that's me.

I enjoyed the anatomy Hal Jordan and how the Green Lantern came to be, but I was kind of let down that we didn't get to see Kal-El's beginnings as Superman, nor Diana Prince becoming the Wonder Woman, nor Bruce Wayne witnessing the murders of his parents, or how he met Robin. I guess it was only supposed to be the origin of the Justice League story, not of each hero.

I enjoyed The Flash's scenes quite a lot. It was weird for Aquaman (only a cameo at the very end) to introduce himself as "Arthur of Atlantis". It just didn't sound quite right. I don't remember his history, but I remember his name as being Arthur Curry. But since "Batman" went by "Batman", why not just say, "I'm Aquaman"?

I was very impressed much of the animation here. I figured this film would be a badly animated piece of crap, like, sorry to say this, SUPERFRIENDS. Sure we loved those cartoons as kids, but if we were to try to sit through them today? The animation was very cheap (perhaps Hanna-Barbara went though some major budget adjustment in the 70s). Sometimes we would simply jeer at the fact that only a character's mouth would move! This film has some beautiful animation sequences, lifelike and multidimensional. One scene I love is at the beginning, when Ace and Hal are flying and you see a heat-wave momentarily shimmer against the sun.

And being a fan of that natural phenomenon called "color", I was very taken with its use in this movie. Vibrant colors are used, and very cleverly, to set the tone for each scene. Below is one of my favorites.

The cast is made up of respectable and talented voices. I liked John Heard as "Ace"! The other voices are David Boreanaz, Kyra Sedgwick, Neil Patrick Harris, Lucy Lawless (appropriately playing Wonder Woman as robust and focused on specific causes, rather than sexy and glamourous, as the silly 70s TV show and some cartoons have), Miguel Ferrer, Brooke Shields and of course Jeremy Sisto, who gives Batman a very calm and whispery voice, and while it has an layer of bitterness and even some menace at times, is a delight to listen to.

I'll be honest: comic book stuff just isn't my favorite thing. You have to be a fan who has followed each storyline of each hero, and to know his/her history as well. Also, it's really not enough for me just to "hear" Jeremy's voice to get into a movie. I want to see him too. That being said, I'm still hoping for a chance to see A CAT'S TALE one day.

I have to at least give this feature a B+ or A-, just because I was so impressed with it when I was sure I would be totally bored.

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