Justice League: Doom

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are finally seeing actual story and art continuity in the DC animated movies! Yes SUPERMAN/BATMAN: APOCALYPSE was the follow-up to SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES, but they looked so different that you would think they were unrelated. JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM feels and looks like an actual "episode 2" following "JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON TWO EARTHS". Same writer, same voices, same art style, same music, same character we used to know and love. Loved by all, except their enemies.

The enemies of the Justice League, led by the immortal Vandal Savage have formulated a clandestine plan to eliminate the superheroes. One by one, they manage to turn the heroes' strengths against themselves, prey on their physical and psychological weaknesses, and effectively put them out of commission. Even worse is the revelation that this plan was initially concocted by one of the League's own members. It does not stop here however. Vandal Savage, convinced that humanity is its own virus, intends to wipe out half the population of earth and return the world to a new stone age. He and his allies would then rule the survivors and bring order to the planet. But nobody counted on the last minute intervention by Cyborg, an up and coming superhero most would remember as one of the Teen Titans.

Loosely adapted from Mark Waid's "JLA: Tower of Babel" story arc, JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM really gets into the minds of our favorite heroes. In its short run time, we get to experience our heroes' insecurities, weaknesses, fears, but also get to see how they overcome those limitations individually and as a team. That is what separates heroes from just people with superpowers! Voice acting is awesome as usual and as always it is a treat to hear most of the cast of the Justice League animated series in their respective roles again. So memorable are the performances of Kevin Conroy, Tim Daley, Susan Eisenberg, Carl Lumbly and Michael rosenbaum that whenever most people open a comic book, it is their voices they hear as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter and Flash respectively. Nathan Fillon reprises his Green Lantern role from Emerald Knights, another refreshing attempt at a continuity nod. One funny thing though, Tim Daley's voice seems to have deepened to the level of Kevin Conroy's 90s era Batman voice.

Snappy, naturally flowing dialogue complements the terrific cast chemistry. With a brisk pace that never lets up on the tension, Justice League: Doom could have been a near perfect score. Something HAS to ruin that and sadly in this case, it is the art and animation.

Animation is a little bit disappointing, looking more like a high budget TV series than a movie standard. Aside from a few outstanding scenes, particularly the battle sequences, the animation is nowhere near the fluidity of, say, Batman Year One or All Star Superman. The Japanese anime-ish style is strongest now more thanks to Telecom Animation Film, a Japanese anime company who's credits include BRAVE STORY, TIDE LINE BLUE and, believe it or not, later episodes of INUYASHA.

Not that its bad, in fact it is good. The characters look really hot but sometimes you get anime-styled facial expressions creeping in and that just looks..........weird. Designs aside, the level of detail in the artwork is just one big let down. Other than tights, there is no reason why civilian clothing or even capes have no folds in them at all. Even worse is how weapons and cybernetics are drawn. Many of Cyborg's robot parts, particularly his face plating, looks like face paint.

One gets the feeling that most time and effort went into this year's BATMAN YEAR ONE and JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM was produced merely as a "side project" since they had Dwayne McDuffie's exceptional script lying around. No point of it going to waste. Anyhow, should Warner Premiere decide to create an entire Justice League movie series, pumping just a bit more money and effort into the animation production would help things a lot. They already have top notch writing and acting talent, veteran producers and directors who respect the DC comics. No point mucking things up with mediocre technicalities.

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Vandal Savage steals Batman's files on his Justice League teammates and uses them to learn the weaknesses of the heroes. He then sends the Legion of Doom to take out the Justice League one by one. Entertaining animated DC movie adapted from the comic book story "Tower of Babel." Some things were changed, of course. For instance, Hal Jordan and Cyborg were shoehorned into things because DC wants them to be a big deal these days. Most importantly, in the comic it was Batman villain Ra's Al Ghul behind everything. Here it's Vandal Savage and the Legion of Doom.

The voicework is mostly good. It's great to see Kevin Conroy, Susan Eisenberg, and Tim Daly back, as well as some of the other actors from the Justice League series. I've been unimpressed by the stunt casting of the DCAU movies from the late '00s to today. The animation is fine. The movie's not without flaws. As is often the case with these movies adapted from comic stories, they seem to take for granted the audience is familiar with the mythology and history behind the various characters and stories. This doesn't bother me specifically because I am generally familiar with the source material, but it could be a problem for viewers who don't read the comics or haven't watched many of the animated movies or the TV series. There's something to be said for making these stories accessible to both fans and new viewers. If you're a viewer familiar with the material, you should definitely like this. If you're new to it, I still think you will be able to enjoy it. You might not get every little detail but you won't be lost in the plot, I'm sure.

Justice League: Doom, could as well be tagged Justice League: Contingency plan, because literally that was what it was all about.

What justice league is complete without the Bat, being totally involved? This wasn't an exception as it was all based on the contingency plan of the Bat falling into the wrong hands.

Mark Waid-penned JLA story arc, "JLA: Tower of Babel" where the Legion of Doom is formed to eliminate the Justice League using protocols created by Batman to take down the group should any member ever go rogue.

The movie was adapted and written by Dwayne McDuffie whose notably works include Ben 10, Static Shock, writing and producing the animated series Justice League Unlimited. Dwayne wrote this adaptation shortly before his death in February 2011 at age 48.

Directed by Lauren Montgomery, who also directed the animated version of Wonder woman, Green Lantern: First Flight, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.

Lauren took the Dwayne adaptation of tower of Babel, and brought about JL: Doom, which I have to add is one of the best, Direct to DVD movies DC has released (behind Superman and Batman: Public Enemies of course).

But what else can I add without spoiling the movie for you, let's see…..

Voice acting:

The voice actors were from the old series (Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited and Green Lantern: Emerald Knights) all reprising their roles, from Tim Daly as Superman, Kevin Conroy as Batman, Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman but to say a few, this made you feel at home and comfortable. By DC using former voice actors you don't feel alienated by any of the characters.

I believe DC went all the way to make sure the movie was perfect.

Phil Morris played the voice acting for the villain Vandal Savage, who was tired of the world and her ways and decided to end it all, and be the ruler of what is remaining. Wonder when villains will try something else other than take over the world. But no matter how much they try, it never gets old to see the Bat and Sup, take them down.

Animation:

The animation and art style is, exquisite and you get to enjoy it.

All in all in this short review, all I can say is buy and watch this whether you are a fan of the DC comics or not, a fan of cartoons or not, this is a movie made for everyone. it gets my 7.

Justice League: Doom has one of the best storylines of any DC animated movie I've seen thus far and that makes it stand out from the rest.

It tells the story of a congregation of super villians who mastermind a plan to steal Batmans files on the Justice League in order to pick them off. Those files being the secret ones he holds on each members weaknesses and his plans to take them down should they turn bad.

With the excellent Kevin Conroy as Batman, Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern and the sultry voice of Claudia Black as Cheetah the cast is top notch.

The story plays out well though the finale returns to the usual tropes. This could have benefitted from additional time, perhaps even up to another 30 minutes.

Regardless this is a good effort though I still think the DC animated movies should become a "Universe" like the live action and retain a bit of consistency.

The Good:

Fantastic voice talent

Excellent plot

The Bad:

Why does Bane look so weird in these things?

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Explosions kill but leave no marks, even when it's practically going off in a persons face

I still can't take the name Legion Of Doom seriously

I agree with Batman

Bottom line, this is an workhorse story and animation with great voice acting. Kids will enjoy it, adults might if they shut their brain off a bit.

Andrea Romano once again assembles the A-list of voice actors - most of the original Justice League cast is back, and for that I'm thankful - the exception is a Nathan Fillion voiced Green Lantern (probably trying to tie in with the recent movie spin offs). He does a good job. Also, Cyborg is added to the mix (perhaps to promote his new role in the comic?).

The character design is solid, unlike some of the other DCAU entries (I'm looking at you Death of Superman).

Unless I am mistaken, they reused the theme from "Crisis on 2 Earths" for the opening sequence - this is kind of a quibble, as I'd say it's the most epic theme ever written for any of the DCAU titles - but seriously, give this composer more work, he is awesome.

I hesitate to call this "bad" but the story is a bit "meh". The Legion of Doom is assembled of mostly C-list villains, headed by Vandal Savage. I don't have a problem with pulling some of the more obscure DC characters out, but none of these villains is particularly well characterized (this is a criticism of the script NOT the voice acting, which is well done). The strength of the story comes in the grudging relationship between Batman and the Justice League and also his relationship with Superman. It is a bit weak in the transition to the 3rd act, making the villains look remarkably short sighted, this could have been handled better. It seems a bit dumb to make these DCAU titles PG 13, having the villains threaten and kill people occasionally, but have their evil plans strictly G rated.

I'm not sure if it's a function of the story-boarding or direction, but the scenes are kind of workhorse, lacking the incredible dynamism demonstrated in "Shazam and Superman: Return of Black Adam" and the accompanying shorts, directed by Joaquim Dos Santos It would be nice if these animated "movies" felt more like movies - bigger, better action than we get from typical animated TV shows. Bruce Timm and company set a pretty high bar years ago, if all else fails, get Dos Santos to consult.

While this is not horrible, a similar story was done before in the Justice League TV show, and I would say it was done better in Season 1, "Injustice for All" and especially in Season 2, "Secret Society", which I think was also written better, with better action.

Overall, it's great to hear the original (perfect) voice cast back, just wish this entry brought a little more "boom" with them.