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Title: Lego DC Comics Superheroes: Justice League - Cosmic Clash
Movie: :3.5stars:
Video: :4.5stars:
Audio: :4stars:
Extras: :1star:
HTS Overall Score:75
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=66450[/img]
SummaryDC and Warner Brothers have been making great strides with their live action and animated films lately. Much of it being very adult oriented with PG-13 ratings and some of the more adult oriented source material. Some of it is more family friendly like “Monster Mayhem” and the like, but lately WB and DC have been putting out some material for the much younger crowd. They had tried their hand at the Lego movies before with “Lego Batman: The Movie” and it was a moderate success, but after “The Lego Movie” came out WB amped up their game and started putting the same amount of effort into those films as they did their New 52 animated adventures. With the formation of the Justice League subset of Lego films, they struck on a simplistic formula for kids that allowed the younger generation to share in the fun too. “Justice League: Cosmic Clash” isn’t going to strike the same chords as the more adult variations, but it IS meant for young kids to gain an introduction into the DC comics universe, and it’s an admirable job if I do say so myself.
Well, Brainiac (Phil LaMarr) is heading for Earth with no good on his mind. Brainiac has spent a great amount of time collecting planets and shrinking them down to catalog them (for posterity of course) in alphabetical order. He has collected a MASS amount of differing planets, but has one small problem. His E section has a spot with a missing planet. Settling in on good old Earth, Brainiac sets out to shrink down our familial home and get it down to the size of his head. Only problem is, he didn’t count on the Justice League to show up. That is when they’re done with their game of Hide and Seek. Batman (Troy Baker), Wonder Woman (Grey Griffin), Cyborg (Khary Payton), Flash (James Arnold Taylor) and Green Lantern (Josh Keaton) give Brainiac a beating like no other, sending him back to his home world where he must recalculate the odds and give it another try.
Back on Earth the celebration is going on, but not for very long. Brainiac returns with a better ship (albeit no shrink ray) and ends up shooting Wonder Woman, Superman and Green Lantern through time. Realizing that they can’t defeat Brainiac without their most trusted and powerful warriors, Batman and The Flash finish creation of the Cosmic Treadmill, allowing them to slip back through time and rescue their friends before the coming apocalypse of Brainiac’s shrink ray becomes a reality.
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=66458[/img]
“Justice League: Cosmic Clash” is not a film that’s going to stick heavily to traditional Justice League lore. It’s a kid’s movie that takes the concepts of the comics and brings them to life to a 12 and under fun experience that adults can watch, but younger kids will likely really enjoy. The characters are more tongue in cheek than anything, and the opening scene of the movie where the characters are playing hide and seek while tip toeing around Batman pretty much sets the irreverent and childlike tone from the beginning. It’s cheeky, and will make the kids laugh. There’s not a WHOLE lot of plot for this one, but rather most of the movie is spent with The Flash and Batman teaming up to get the main 3 characters back from being lost in time. Lessons like remembering who you really are is harped upon, as well as trusting in your friendship with others. Basically putting a good message in there for the kiddie winks and wrapping it up in a child friendly iteration of our favorite comics. Brainiac is handled quite well, and despite the snarky humor, I actually had a blast with the film. It’s not high art, or in depth Frank Miller level type of graphic novel material, but it was never meant to be.
Rating:
Not Rated by the MPAA
Video :4.5stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=66466[/img]
Warner’s DC animated films have always been rather plagued with banding, haloing and some aliasing in all of their more adult franchises. It’s been long suspect that the artifacting was actually inherent to the source animation rather than anything WB did in the encoding process, and these Lego movies have pretty much solidified that theory as the resulting image look AMAZING on Blu-ray. Shark animated lines and vivid primary colors making “Cosmic Clash” a veritable landscape of beauty. Fine detail is amazing from beginning to end, with every etching on the Lego bodies looking sharp and clean, and I haven’t noticed any major issues besides some VERY slight banding in the sky. Black levels are deep and inky with no signs of crush, and contrast looks spot on. For a lower budgeted animation film I would have expected some more “slop” in the image creation process, but everything looks spiffy to me.Audio :4stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=66474[/img]
The 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio track is solid enough for a DTV type of film. The dialog is always understandable and balanced well with the more action oriented bits. The surrounds get a decent workout with the sounds of Brainiac’s laser blasts echoing from all sides and the swish of The Flash’s super speed as he whips around on the cosmic treadmill. The LFE is tight and punchy, but it’s never a wildly dynamic track that adds in deep thunderous bass. The low budget keeps it fairly constrained and just doing what the track calls for. It’s a nice track and a very stable one, it just doesn’t have that oomph to make it a fantastic one. Extras :1star:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=66482[/img]
• The Justice League Caught on Camera
• Trailersl
Overall: :3.5stars:
“Justice League: Cosmic Clash” is another fun little success for DC and WB in their effort to expand the DC universe to a younger generation. “Cosmic Clash” isn’t going to be for the comic nerds like myself who have a more adult palate, but it certainly makes for a fun little kiddie romp as my nephews can attest to. The Blu-ray looks gorgeous and sounds great too, but has a minimalistic set of extras, which may not be a big deal since this isn’t marketed for the generation who is really into extras. Definitely worth a watch if you have children who are wanting to watch the comics that you grew up with.
Additional Information:
Starring: Nolan North, Troy Baker, Grey Griffin
Directed by: Rick Morales
Written by: James Krieg
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French Spanish DD 5.1, Castillian Spanish DD 2.0
Studio: Warner Bros
Rated: NR
Runtime: 78 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: March 1st 2016
Buy Lego DC Comics Superheroes: Justice League - Cosmic Clash On Blu-ray at Amazon
Recommendation: Good Rental
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