DVD : Justice League - The New Frontier (Single-Disc Edition)

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- Potentially great if it weren't for that stupid, stupid plot
There's a lot to like about Justice League: The New Frontier, but I'm afraid all of that is counterbalanced by one of the silliest stories I've ever seen in animation.

Set mostly in the 50s and featuring the DC hero fashion of that period the paranoid US government have blackballed all superheroes, claiming that they have something to hide beside their identities and dismiss them as Commies. The Flash is even ridiculed because of his RED costume. But soon they will have to come together again to fight a common enemy when (and I'm not kidding) a large floating, living island of dinosaurs called The Center plans to wipe out humanity.

I've read hundreds of comic books in my life and that is seriously the dumbest crap I have ever heard. Every other part of JL: TNF is far superior to this 'Center' nonsense, so it's such a shame that the main plot drags it down. I especially like the story about the Martian Manhunter and the Flash. Most of the JLA get a look-in but these two have the most substantial plots.

The animation style will be familiar to those who are fans of Warner/DC cartoons such as Batman and the 50s production design creates a nice atmosphere.

But that idiotic plot...

The Blu Ray looks brilliant in 1.78:1 1080p with a surprisingly good DD+ sound design. I do wish that Warner would give more of their feature length comic-book animations such as Batman - Mask of the Phantasm (Keepcase), The Batman Superman Movie, Batman & Mr. Freeze - SubZero, Batman - Mystery of the Batwoman (Keepcase) or maybe even some of the Scooby-Doo animated movies. Come on Warner...give us what we want/demand.

Rating:

- over-hyped but ok
I watched this particular endeavor...I'm a fan of the Justice League/JLU and other Batman, The Animated Series continuity series (Batman Beyond, Batman TAS, JL, JLU).

While this was much better than the last direct to video Superman, where they didn't even cast Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor, it was not as good as JLU.

For starters, I love Lucy Lawless...but her Wonder Woman just wasn't as good as the JLU series. Beyond the voice differences, the animation just wasn't as clean.

Don't get me wrong, it was a decent hat-tip to the Golden/Silver Age artwork, but comic-book artwork has so seldom worked on in animation...which is why I liked the stylized Batman TAS, JLU type animation and artwork. It was smooth and worked quite well.

I think Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman was a better direct to video.

Rating:

- I had hoped for better
I threw the DVD in the trash after watching it. I don't understand why they feel the need to make superhero cartoons that are completely inappropriate for children. The movie opens with a man shooting himself in the head, and then moves on to one of the to-be heroes killing what looks like a child soldier at close range. I'm all for intelligent plot lines aimed at a wider audience, however, you would think that the billions of dollars made by the Pixar films over the last decade or so would have convinced film makers that this can be done without making the movies inappropriate for kids.

Rating:

- Too violent for a kids movie
I'm 25 and I found it pretty entertaining in a comic-book fan since, but the opening scene has a guy shoot himself in the face. What! whats the rateing? I bought it for my little brother, I'm glad I watched it first. The opening scene is just weirdly violent. The rest is alright, but it does get a bit violent again here and there. Great Movie, but not for little kids.

Rating:

- Perfect comic book adaptation - one of DC's best produced DVDs
This was probably the best adaptation to feature from a comic book story. Not only the story was very true to the original, but the art itself was also inspired by the comics. Darwyn Cooke assisted in the creation of the DVD, and the only thing that was missing from the story were subtle elements that were removed for the sake of length. Originally, the story was presented in a large multi-issue format, so a two-hour DVD could not have everything. I would definetly recommend this to fans of classic DC stories and to comic books fans. For Children, the action and subject matter may not be what is expected if they are used to watching other TV animation, but overall, it is a great classic superhero story. The special features on this set were detailed and gave a lot of background to the DVD. There is also a great Batman: Gotham Knight Preview as well. This is to be the prequel to the upcoming Dark Knight film.

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