Justice League vs Teen Titans [DVD] [2016]

I wasn't a big fan of the Teen Titans cartoon. I liked it for the most part, but it had too many annoying anime tropes that pulled me out of it. Otherwise I thought it was well written and definitely had some fun times. This movie is a little different. The team dynamics aren't like they were before. I'll try to do this as spoil free as I can. So it seems like they took the characters and made them a little older than they were in the TV series. Which kinda works. Robin grew up and became Nightwing. Starfire is now in her late teens/early twenties and in charge of the team. Beast Boy and Raven are in their mid-teens. So the story basically starts with the new Robin(Damien Wayne) joining the team reluctantly. They don't want him, he doesn't want to be there. You can kinda see where I'm going. Even though I didn't see many TV episodes, I did see enough to have a feel and expectation. So it's a little weird with Starfire being a little more culturally aware than she was. I actually liked her being the rube that just didn't understand human ways. Also, in the New 52 universe Cyborg was never on the Teen Titans. It's not bad, just takes some getting used to. I feel I should mention at this point that the Justice League isn't really in this that much. They are integral to the story and there is a point that we see Justice League Vs Teen Titans. But this is mostly a Teen Titans movie. The story focuses mostly on Robin and Raven. It's pretty much good for all ages. Older fans might not like the new team setup. And at times it gets a little dark with hades and possession story points. I'm not going to tell you what movies your kids should watch. When I was a boy I think my family would have let me watch this. But I know people now that might not let their kids watch this. You know your child better than me.

The story is pretty much a repeat, not really anything new. If you are familiar with Raven's character then you'll pretty much already know what will happen. Some parts of the movie I can do without; not a fan of the DDR game like moment. Overall the movie was entertaining.

The title of the movie? There is about 10min of the film where the title is appropriate. Raven to the Rescue, or some iteration of that is the truth. Bad guy is Raven's father who forced himself on her mother. Batman, Bruce Wayne, sends new Robin, Damian Wayne, to titan tower to learn teamwork. Justice League is victim to the bad guy power and titans ultimately distract him as canon fodder so Raven can trap him in a gem shard. Title notwithstanding, I enjoyed the movie. There were some interesting moments where characters share nuggets of personal information with each other. Great animation.

DC Comics may not make good live action movies, but their animated movies are always very close to their comic source. The added benefit of this collection is you get a graphic novel which allows you to see how true to the characters the animated team stayed, and you get a nice collectable figurine, which you can display pretty much anywhere. The movie itself does a great job of bringing the Titans together and showing how difficult it is for the young "sidekicks" to truly learn how to function as a team, but also put aside their egos and discover how far they are willing to go, to be the heroes they believe themselves to be. The movie also shows how the Justice League sometimes overlooks their sidekicks, and leave them behind because they don't think their sidekicks are willing to go to the depths that they themselves go. When the Justice League face a challenge that they don't yet understand and become compromised, it's up to the Titans to band together and battle this new threat, as well as the Justice League, in order to free them. The character building in this movie is by far the best parts, but there are also some good action sequences and some great banter between the characters. This is definitely a good pick up, and is appropriate for all ages.

***Spoiler Alert***Read at your own risk***This movie introduces the Teen Titans to the DC Animated Universe based on the New 52 DC storyline. Despite the title, there are not as many action scenes involving the Justice League versus the Teen Titans as one might have expected. In fact, the summary mentions a showdown pitting the Justice League "against the likes of Beast Boy, Starfire, Blue Beetle and Nightwing," but Nightwing is not involved in the actual fighting (Robin is, of course--it could have been a typo). Still, the story itself is a good one, and the interactions between Damien Wayne (Robin) and the Teen Titans is interesting, even if ultimately predictable.

I have been a fan of the DC animated entertainment universe probably since 2005 and this was a great introduction to a new cast of characters for the most part. it bridged A gap of some sorts between the young justice cartoon network series to the animated features while also skewing things slightly to the original new teen titans comic series. One of my major complaints with this particular DC animated feature is the addition of new voices for some returning characters which does throw off continuity for those who watch many of the animated features however I did wait a while and picked up the special addition that included the figurine plus the digital copy at a $13 price tag so with those two things in mind it is a solid four stars from product features, to product, to end results; and stick through to the end of the credits as it sets up the brand-new teen titans movie releasing in April at Best Buy, or pre-order NOW at bestbuy.com! PARENTS: I would keep this 8yr old plus. Happy Viewing-SL

I love the way they bring the Teen Titans into the story along side the Justice League

This boxset includes the Damien Robin in scale and style to the Nightwing figure in the other boxset.