Craig Marinaro
11-08-2001, 10:42 PM
Hey! Craig Marinaro here…I’ve been a rather casual comic book fan ever since I was a little kid. Adore and worship B:TAS, enjoy S:TAS, BB, et. al.
And now…the review!
<img src="http://www.toonzone.net/shows/justiceleague/jllogo.gif" align="right"><I>Justice League</I> fell a bit short for me. I won’t deny for a second that it’s one of *the* most aesthetically pleasing things I’ve ever seen done for TV animation. The animation itself is top-notch—several shades above anything Timm & crew have done before. The movements are almost feature film-quality fluid, and several of the poses and expressions (particularly on Batman and Flash) are to die for. Our protagonists are painstakingly designed to look as spiffy as possible, and the alien invaders and their ships and other gimmicks are horrifically beautiful.
Indeed, just the thrill of seeing these heroes all together in high-quality animation for the first time is enough to keep one enthralled for the endurance of the three-part pilot, and that seems to be what they were banking on. Unfortunately, the script can’t live up to the visuals.
The basic plot is just another “aliens invade Earth and make trouble” story, with a bit of a “body snatchers” angle thrown in. The “alien invader” cliches abound, and most of them have already been done by the WBA crew in S:TAS. Every scene that isn’t a fight scene seems little more than an excuse to get to the next fight scene. Naturally, the fight scenes *are* absolutely riveting. But those looking for much substance or depth will be disappointed.
Of course, it is a rough task introducing a cast of seven primary characters, all with very different backgrounds and personalities, and trying to give each equal screentime, *and* keeping the main plot moving simultaneously. For one thing, I think Wonder Woman’s showing up might have been saved for a future episode (perhaps the next story arc). Her debut is rather jarring—two *very* brief scenes displaying her background, and then she just bursts onto the scene with little fanfare. There’s already too much material they had to cover here to give her the attention she deserves.
All of the characters were pretty shallow, although I’m sure they’ll become much more three-dimensional in future episodes. Flash is the roguish jokester, Green Lantern is the no-nonsense take-charge guy, etc. A lot of the dialogue is corny (they work so hard to get Flash to be irreverent and devil-may-care that his lines are occasionally downright obnoxious; and the inevitable “Superfriends” nod in the final scene left a sour taste in this reviewer’s mouth at the end of the episode).
Batsy isn’t softened any for this series, thankfully—he doesn’t talk to any of his cohorts any more than he has to, and whenever the opportunity arises to do things by himself, he jumps at it. He excuses himself from joining the League as an official member, saying he’s “not a people person.” He spends a lot of the time just trying to keep up with the others, firing batarangs and running like hell while the others coast along. He’s obviously a bit out of his league (no pun intended), and it should be interesting to see how they deal with that in future episodes.
Wonder Woman is charming, with the right balance of naiveté and toughness. Her lasso of truth seems to have been abandoned (she just has a regular run-of-the-mill lasso here). I was rather upset that Supes is back in the public favor, with absolutely no nod to the “Legacy” debacle. But he *does* look a bit prematurely weary (lines under the eyes and the like)…perhaps there’s a story forthcoming.
J’onn J’onzz was probably the most sympathetic character in the thing, since he was the only one emotionally entangled in the plot at hand. Hawkgirl was…um…a wild ‘n’ crazy gal, mostly. No further comment.
The voice work didn’t leave any impression, really. Not that it was bad…perhaps it’s just too early to judge.
But despite its faults, the JL pilot was obviously created primarily to entertain, and entertain it does. It’s a highly enjoyable way to spend an hour-and-a-half (with commercial breaks), and I’d heartily recommend it to all. If future episodes build on it, the series should certainly be something special. I’m looking forward to it!
-C
And now…the review!
<img src="http://www.toonzone.net/shows/justiceleague/jllogo.gif" align="right"><I>Justice League</I> fell a bit short for me. I won’t deny for a second that it’s one of *the* most aesthetically pleasing things I’ve ever seen done for TV animation. The animation itself is top-notch—several shades above anything Timm & crew have done before. The movements are almost feature film-quality fluid, and several of the poses and expressions (particularly on Batman and Flash) are to die for. Our protagonists are painstakingly designed to look as spiffy as possible, and the alien invaders and their ships and other gimmicks are horrifically beautiful.
Indeed, just the thrill of seeing these heroes all together in high-quality animation for the first time is enough to keep one enthralled for the endurance of the three-part pilot, and that seems to be what they were banking on. Unfortunately, the script can’t live up to the visuals.
The basic plot is just another “aliens invade Earth and make trouble” story, with a bit of a “body snatchers” angle thrown in. The “alien invader” cliches abound, and most of them have already been done by the WBA crew in S:TAS. Every scene that isn’t a fight scene seems little more than an excuse to get to the next fight scene. Naturally, the fight scenes *are* absolutely riveting. But those looking for much substance or depth will be disappointed.
Of course, it is a rough task introducing a cast of seven primary characters, all with very different backgrounds and personalities, and trying to give each equal screentime, *and* keeping the main plot moving simultaneously. For one thing, I think Wonder Woman’s showing up might have been saved for a future episode (perhaps the next story arc). Her debut is rather jarring—two *very* brief scenes displaying her background, and then she just bursts onto the scene with little fanfare. There’s already too much material they had to cover here to give her the attention she deserves.
All of the characters were pretty shallow, although I’m sure they’ll become much more three-dimensional in future episodes. Flash is the roguish jokester, Green Lantern is the no-nonsense take-charge guy, etc. A lot of the dialogue is corny (they work so hard to get Flash to be irreverent and devil-may-care that his lines are occasionally downright obnoxious; and the inevitable “Superfriends” nod in the final scene left a sour taste in this reviewer’s mouth at the end of the episode).
Batsy isn’t softened any for this series, thankfully—he doesn’t talk to any of his cohorts any more than he has to, and whenever the opportunity arises to do things by himself, he jumps at it. He excuses himself from joining the League as an official member, saying he’s “not a people person.” He spends a lot of the time just trying to keep up with the others, firing batarangs and running like hell while the others coast along. He’s obviously a bit out of his league (no pun intended), and it should be interesting to see how they deal with that in future episodes.
Wonder Woman is charming, with the right balance of naiveté and toughness. Her lasso of truth seems to have been abandoned (she just has a regular run-of-the-mill lasso here). I was rather upset that Supes is back in the public favor, with absolutely no nod to the “Legacy” debacle. But he *does* look a bit prematurely weary (lines under the eyes and the like)…perhaps there’s a story forthcoming.
J’onn J’onzz was probably the most sympathetic character in the thing, since he was the only one emotionally entangled in the plot at hand. Hawkgirl was…um…a wild ‘n’ crazy gal, mostly. No further comment.
The voice work didn’t leave any impression, really. Not that it was bad…perhaps it’s just too early to judge.
But despite its faults, the JL pilot was obviously created primarily to entertain, and entertain it does. It’s a highly enjoyable way to spend an hour-and-a-half (with commercial breaks), and I’d heartily recommend it to all. If future episodes build on it, the series should certainly be something special. I’m looking forward to it!
-C