Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Episodes: 26
Duration: 10 min (per episode)
Justice League: Action: Season 1, Part 1 (DVD) – Series Review
The Justice League is DC’s variant of Marvel’s The Avengers, and it’s clear that both companies are doing their best expanding their cinematic universes. Nonetheless, while the Marvel films are often received better by the press and the fans, the animated DC movies have been scoring well these last few years, introducing old and new characters. With the new live action Justice League movie coming up, other characters are being brought to life again and this cartoon series is surely a way to enforce the Justice League to a somewhat younger audience. We were curious to see how these cartoons held up against the more mature animated flicks we covered on the site so far.
Truth be told, having to sketch a complete storyline for this series is next to impossible, as it’s all about characters from the DC universe duking it out with one another. Each episode revolves around a new enemy, or group of enemies, that take on the Justice League, or at least some of their members. All of this ranges from the typical characters like Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, to somewhat more obscure characters that are mostly known by diehard fans, such as Firestorm, Constantine and so on.
While all of the episodes only span around ten minutes each, they all properly handle a small storyline, and even though these are separate adventures, they are sometimes loosely tied to each other, even if it’s only by small references pointing towards earlier events. Having a bit of a connection to what happened earlier is actually a fun thing, as it shows the series has a certain evolution curve, rather than being simple loose episodes that have nothing to do with one another.
The flow of these episodes is quite fun actually as action reigns supreme, while introducing more and more characters to the viewer. It’s clear that these cartoons are suited for children, but the creators clearly wanted parents to have their share of DC superheroes as well, seeing some jokes are a bit more adult, and there are actually a few rather gruesome things going on, which are surely appreciated by an older audience.
Justice League: Action has a fair share of newcomers to the DC universe in terms of voice acting, but they pick up their characters quite well, and often present them with a lot of flair and in a lighter fashion so children will surely pick up a bit of overacting and raw emotions on the way. One character sticks out above the rest and that’s of course Batman, who is voiced by Kevin Conroy, who has lent his voice on many an occasion, making him the veteran of the group. Of course, we can’t neglect other actors such as Mark Hamill, who is a DC veteran as well, and top actors such as James Woods, who also lend their voice for this series.
Sadly no extras are packed with the DVD edition of the first part of the first season, but then again, having 26 short episodes will already guarantee ample viewing pleasure for young and old, thus you won’t miss that much. It would have been nice however to introduce certain characters via small featurettes, allowing younger fans to get in touch with the superheroes and villains this series shows, as we can imagine there is a hefty amount of strangers in the portrayed characters.
Conclusion
Justice League: Action: Season 1, Part 1 is actually a lot better than we expected, making this series rather ideal for young and old who want their daily DC fix. While the series is less brutal, expansive and intriguing than the lengthier movies in the animated DC universe, it surely pays a fun homage to older series and it approaches the characters with a lot of flair, humor and action, making each episode a short treat.
Justice League: Action: Season 1, Part 1 (DVD) - Series Review,
No Comments