Director: Sam Liu
Distributor: Warner Bros Home Entertainment
Duration: 80 minutes
Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (DVD) – Movie Review
In the many DC animated movies we’ve encountered the Teen Titans several times, and for many of us, they are pretty much the kid version of the Justice League. The group has often made sure they are not to be underestimated even though they consist out of teens and kids, their powers often speak for themselves. In this movie, we’ll see a new addition to the team, namely Terra Markov, who is able to control everything ‘rock/earth’ related. Sadly, she doesn’t really feel at home in the team, and even shuts herself off from those who want to help her.
This movie starts off by introducing how Starfire (Kari Wahlgren) came to our world, as her warmongering sister had taken over her planet, and now she’s out to kill Starfire. Nonetheless, Starfire has been here for five years, and has grown closer to Nightwing (Sean Maher), to the point they are actually going to be living together. The romantic plot is often used to make this movie a bit more personal, and truth be told, it’s fun to see things like this evolve in the DC animated movies.
Love stories aside, the Teen Titans have had Starfire for their leader for five years now, and now they are working on yet another new mission, namely hunting down a group of cultists under the yoke of brother Sebastian Blood (Gregg Henry), who is an immortal seeking to gain more and more power.
Of course, as the Teen Titans are getting in his way, he hires a well-known villain to hunt down the teenagers and their adult leaders. With Deathstroke (Miguel Ferrer) on the cultists side, you simply know things are going to get rather dirty. If having a super-villain watching their every move isn’t bad enough already, the Teen Titans have a new member, Tara ‘Terra’ Markov (Christina Ricci), who creates a lot of internal problems as well. While she joined the group, she isn’t ready to trust anyone, and she pushes everyone that shows her friendship away. It’s clear she has had a rough past.
The flow of the movie is rather fast, as there is constantly something going on, and the troupe finds itself going from one battle to another, be it against enemies, or inside their very own group. You’ll get sufficient information about what is going on nonetheless, but it would have been nice to see a bit more background about brother Blood’s character, as it feels like his ‘story’ isn’t fully fleshed out in this film. Overall things move at a very pleasant pace, making this yet another interesting story from the animated DC universe.
As is quite common with the DC movies, the voice acting is simply superb. There are no remarks in this department, and it’s clear that the casting director always looks for those who bring the characters to life, and they also try to stick with the same cast for the different movies, making the characters feel very authentic. Taissa Farmiga, who voices Raven, is a fairly new addition to the DC animated cast, but she has settled in her role quite well, making the gloomy character very likeable. Terra was voiced by Christina Ricci, who for many still remains Wednesday from the Addams Family. She does prove she has a lot more up her sleeve(s) and is perfect to serve as a voice actress in the DC universe. The other cast remains the same as in the other movies, and they simply complete one another, making this a qualitative piece of acting.
Extra wise, the content of this DVD edition of The Judas Contract is quite interesting, but for two thirds fairly useless. You’ll get three sneak peeks of movies, namely Batman and Harley Quinn, Superman / Batman: Public Enemies and last but not least, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. While the first movie, Batman and Harley Quinn is very fun to see, as this is a movie that isn’t out yet, the other two sneak peeks are quite useless, seeing both movies have been out for years already, thus they are either hard to find in shops, or fans have probably watched them already.
Conclusion
Teen Titans: The Judas Contract is yet another great addition to DC’s cinematic universe, which gives the Teen Titans their time to shine. While most movies often star Batman or the Justice League, it’s fun to see these equally great superheroes get their time in the limelight, all wrapped in a good storyline that is well known for the fans of the series. If you like action, interesting characters and a great voice cast bringing said characters to life, you’ll certainly love this movie.
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