My thoughts...

Justice League: The New Frontier

(Tue 02/26/2008 06:54pm)

Justice League The New Frontier isn't perfect. On the cover to the DVD, Superman's costume has a red and yellow shield instead of the red and black shield he wears in the movie. Other than that...two thumbs up...10 out of 10...five stars. Whatever.

I'm a huge fan of Bruce Timm's work with the DC lineup of heroes. I own all of the Batman, Superman and Justice League collections. I enjoy watching them. When I can find them that is. My girlfriend's kids always have them and have grown to love the characters through watching the DVDs.

When DC announced that Darwin Cooke's limited series was getting made into a 70 minute movie, I admit that I was skeptical. I didn't think 70 minutes was enough to do justice to Cooke's story, and I was so used to Timm's version of the Justice League that I didn't think I could like any other version.

I was wrong. The animation on the movie is absolutely perfect for the story. And the voices...I was blown away. Who would have thought Klye Maclachlan's voice would be perfect for Superman? And Jeremy Sisto's Batman was dead on. Kevin Conroy's voice will always be associated with animated Batman, but Sisto made the part his own. Every voice was spot on and Andrea Romano deserves a huge pat on the back for her work in assembling the cast.

Although the original story was cut to fit the time constraints of the movie, it wasn't cut with a butcher knife. It was trimmed with razor sharp surgical steel, because the story is intact in every way that matters. Berkowitz did a terrific job of adapting Cooke's masterpiece.

I liked that Batman and Superman, while extremely important to the storyline, weren't the focus of the story. Either was Wonder Woman. This story belongs to Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and a to a lesser extent, Flash. I hope the writer and director of the live action Justice League movie take good notes, because this would have made a hell of a live action movie. DC should make this a prime time series and run it side by side with Heroes on Monday nights. They'd have a hit with a wide spectrum of audiences.

This is an absolute must see and own. I'll probably have to buy another copy, because as soon as they watch it I'll never get it back from the kids!