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Justice League - The New Frontier (Two-Disc Special Edition) DVD
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- Sometimes Old is Better than NewI was looking forward to this new installment in the animated Justice League series. Having not read the D. Cooke graphic novel, I was not sure what to expect. I was disappointed by the slow pacing, the unremarkable villain, and the lack of chemistry among the characters. The voice talent here, seemingly upgraded from the regular actors from the regular series, is so lackluster. I like many of the actors, but found their voice acting to be so uninspired.
Having watched this, I wondered what made Bruce Timm's original JL and JLU series so good. I think the answer is its concise format: each episode (or double ep) tells a story and gets out. "New Frontier" does in this movie format what perhaps Timm would do in the first and last five minutes of his episode(s). The rest is just wasted time. I don't recommend any JL or JLU fans to watch this -- and yes, I agree, this (unlike JL and JLU) really is not for young children. Sorry Hal Jordan, but "Outstanding!"? Not.
Rating:
- Everything feels rushed, which is the main reason why the movie is average at best.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.
Rating:
- DC hits it out of the park with this one!Now THIS is how DC is going to put Marvel's animated movies to shame. It blows their previous release, Superman: Doomsday, completely away! I was only able to read Vol. 1 out of the two trades released from the DC comic series, and the trade was very good. The movie glazed over several plot points in the interest of time but what we have left is 75 minutes of heart-felt story that takes our favorite DC characters and adds new dimensions to them. At it's heart, New Frontier is mainly Hal Jordan's story. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman all play their roles but I think Hal is the core of this story. It tells the story of how the DC heroes reacted to the world giving in to the Red Scare during the beginning of the Cold War years and shows how they deal with it. The main antagonist of the story is a being called The Centre, an ancient creature that has been on Earth since before the dinosaurs and hates that humans have taken it over. We also get The Flash and Martian Manhunter heavily engrained in the story. And with the PG-13 rating, the violence is not held back. Plus, the DVD bonus features are great! I especially loved the history of the Justice League feature. I highly recommend this one.
Rating:
- NOT APPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN!!!I rented this for our children, ages 5-13. I quickly found out that even though this is marketed for viewing by children (despite a PG-13 rating), it is anything but appropriate for kids.
Before the credits even appeared, the movie depicted a suicide. The movie shows a character picking up a pistol, turning it toward the camera (which is the viewpoint of the character), and pulling the trigger. There is a bang, and the screen goes black. Then there are credits.
The next scene takes place at the end of the Korean war. An American soldier a Korean soldier are struggling with a knife. The American manages to pull his pistol, place the muzzle alongside the Korean soldier's cheekbone, and shoot the Korean soldier in the head. There is an explosion of blood and what appears to be brain matter. The Korean soldier falls back in slow motion as the blood flies, and the American lies on his back with his enemy's blood splattered across his face.
The short bit that we watched before I turned it off also contained profanity.
My kids are not fainthearted, and I am not a prude. This movie was just terribly inappropriate for kids and should be avoided by all parents who don't want their children exposed to scenes of gratuitous, bloody, explicit killing of human beings.
Rating:
- Watch it before you show it to the kidsLoved the whole retro feel, but please watch this before you show it to the kids. It is PG13, and besides some mild language there is a very disturbing scene in the first 5 minutes I wasn't prepared for. It was tastefully done, but I really wished I had known. I thought the Green Lantern story line was great, but the last part felt like Origins from Justice Leage and wasn't really necessary. It was kind of rushed at the end, but it left me wanting more.
DVD : Justice League - The New Frontier (Two-Disc Special Edition)
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