I know I was supposed to be wrapping up my favorite 21 series of the 21st Century with my Top Ten, but it’s not happening this week. Y’see I had a bit of a mini marathon watching some of DC’s latest direct to dvd animated movies.
I’ve got to admit that it was pretty cool seeing the storylines that I’d read translated to a new medium. I haven’t watched one of DC’s animated features since New Frontier, so I’ve been pretty much out of the loop, which certainly played a factor in my watching Under the Red Hood, Crisis on Two Earths & Apocalypse back to back.
I started with Under the Red Hood. I’d heard lots of good things about the flick. My best friend said that it was awesome and I remember all of the press that Judd Winick did before it’s release.
Now I’m one of those people who actually enjoys Judd’s writing. I loved the original “Under the Red Hood” in the comics and I’m pretty much convinced that Judd’s the only guy who really knows how to write an awesome Jason Todd story.
Well the movie did not disappoint. I loved everything about it. I loved the brief appearance by Ra’s al Ghul (voiced by Jason Isaacs, an actor that I love.) I really enjoyed the changes that were made to the story for the animated world.
The action was great, the acting was stellar. It was honestly everything I could have hoped for. It was a great way to waste seventy-five minutes.
From there I jumped into Crisis on Two Earths. Again, I’d heard from word of mouth that it would be worth my time. So I had some expectations and fortunately they were fulfilled.
The story was good, though I think there may have been too many characters to give them all justice. It felt a bit cramped and some stuff felt glossed over. I did like how high the stakes were and the confrontations between Owlman and Batman. I really liked how Batman was willing to do what it took to save the day and his team. I really appreciated how he played Johnny Quick.
I was disappointed that Hal Jordan was the Green Lantern and not John Stewart, especially when they had Jason Rusch as Firestorm. But whatever. It wasn’t a bad way to spend seventy-five minutes.
I think I probably should have called it quits at that point. Perhaps I was burned out or something. But I didn’t quit, I carried on.
I can’t say I was a fan of Apocalypse. I had a bias going in. I wasn’t a fan of the original story (I’m not a big fan of Supergirl and I didn’t think the DCU needed another Kryptonian.) And while I’m sorry he died, I was never really a fan of Michael Turner’s art (other than his covers for The Flash, which were amazing.)
So, needless to say, I wasn’t impressed. I guess if you’re a fan of Michael Turner’s art you probably appreciated the animation based on his designs, but I just found it distracting. And since I didn’t like the original storyline, I wasn’t going to dig an animated flick based on it.
As you probably guessed, I really wish I could get those seventy-five minutes back.
Still it was a pretty enjoyable afternoon, so I can’t complain too much.
Anyway, next week I’ll back to wrap up last column’s cliffhanger.
