Justice League
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Warner Home Video / 2001 / 60 Minutes / Not Rated
Street Date: April 23, 2002 
To say AOL/Time-Warner has been struggling with live-action films based upon their DC Comics franchises might be an understatement. For years they have been trying to resurrect their Superman franchise, while somehow the Batman franchise went full circle and became the cinematic equivalent of the old television show, all colorful and lighthearted. Thus, we had to suffer the dreck that was known as Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. Yet all the while, they've been having an ample amount of success with the new animated versions of their key superhero franchises. Go figure. Since the debut of Batman: The Animated Series in 1992, Warner's animation department has been producing a solid slate of superhero shows. Yes, most of them are based upon Batman, but Superman had a decent run while on the WB a few years back. All have now become staples for Cartoon Network, so when plans were announced to bring the Justice League to life, fans of the comic book series were salivating, especially since the crew behind Batman: The Animated Series was involved. From the moment "Secret Origins" opens up, you realize this isn't your old Superfriends. The animation is bold and detailed, plus there's absolutely no sign of The Wonder Twins or Aquaman. (Don't worry, Aquaman makes an impressive appearance later in the series.) The story centers on an alien invasion of Earth, and how it leads to the formation of the Justice League. Recycling elements from many films, including the nuclear disarmament plot from Superman IV. "Secret Origins" creates a solid back-story for why each hero becomes involved, but leaves enough room for future episodes. Even though this is only the first episode of the series, certain personality character traits are instantly noticeable, such as The Flash's devil may care attitude, and The Green Lantern's somewhat militant attitude. Princess Diana, better known as Wonder Woman, is a bold and brazen, much like here Amazonian sisters; while J'onn J'onnz, the Martian Manhunter seems to be the most sympathetic hero of all. The most impressive part about the way these characters have been fleshed out is that they have their little tiffs within the Justice League, adding a hint more realism to the characters. A very solid show. Video: How Does The Disc Look? All right, I not totally stunned, but Justice League is presented in full frame, which is how the show was animated. But what is disappointing is the fact that Paul Dini and the other people behind Justice League have been framing the show to be seen in widescreen since day one. If you've watched the show enough times, you can tell there is a hefty amount of wasted space on the top and bottom of the frame. Aside from this major oversight, the image on this disc looks fine. Unlike the darker Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League's color range is much brighter. From the solid greens of Green Lantern's outfit to the crimson reds of The Flash, the colors really pop off the screen and are perfectly saturated. Blacks are very deep, and contrast is quite impressive and consistent across the entire scale. The transfer is completely devoid of any compression artifacts, which shouldn't be much of a surprise since the show runs only 60 minutes. Overall, quite nice. Audio: How Does the Disc Sound? Presented in English 2.0 Dolby surround, unlike other animated shows, Justice League uses the surrounds for much more than just the music. Effects are nicely rendered in the rears - ships zip around, the winds howl on mars, and laser blast echo in the room. As one would expect, the dialog reproduction is dead on. The tracks are fairly active throughout the whole episode, and there is a surprising amount of low-end elements when necessary. The rear channels aren't very defined, but Justice League contains a very solid surround sound mix. Also included are English subtitles and Closed Captions.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There? I suppose you could call the extras on this disc "supplements," but there's just very little on this disc. First up is a set of single-page Character Biographies for each superhero, plus a weak Cast & Crew listing which is less exciting than watching paint dry. As one would expect there is a set of video trailers which hype other animated movies on DVD, including Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Batman & Mr. Freeze: Subzero and The Batman/Superman Movie. Of course, no animated release from Warner wouldn't be complete with some form of Scooby-Doo cross promotion, in this case yet another trailer. Considering the efforts that were put into this show, I thought Paul Dini and others would have had at least some form of featurette about the creation of the show. I also thought the original press release said there would be an additional episode of Justice League included on this disc, but alas, all we are given is the first episode. DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC? There is a simple set of DVD-ROM features on this disc, which include links to DC Comics, Warner Home Video, Cartoon Network and other related web sites. The package also promotes the potential of future on-line events, though no exact information is given. Parting Thoughts I suppose $19.98 is a fair price for a nice transfer, but I was disappointed in this release. Where are the extra episodes? Where's the behind the scenes material? And most importantly of all, why was this not presented in widescreen? Running a paltry 60 minutes there was plenty of room to include the widescreen version, which is the preferred aspect ratio of the show's creators. I know this is just an animated show, but the fans expect a little more. |
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