JLA
Adventures: Trapped in Time
(2014/DC Comics/Warner DVD)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: B Film: C+
This
Justice
League of America
animated feature will be sure to please young children, who are just
getting familiar with the DC Comic-verse. For older fans, however,
the reign back on a few of the company's characters (especially
Solomon Grundy who doesn't even mimic his trademark phrases) will
weigh a little tiresome. The fifty-three minute film is good clean
fun and is family friendly though predictable and in many ways feels
rushed.
We
have all of our favorite characters here - Batman, Superman, Wonder
Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, Cyborg, and Robin (Where was Green
Lantern?) along with their hated adversaries - Lex Luthor, Time
Trapper, Bizarro, Black Manta, Captain Cold, Cheetah, Gorilla Grodd,
Toyman, and my personal favorite - Solomon Grundy. New characters
for kids to identify with are Karate Kid and Dawnstar, who live in
the future and act as our protagonists for this particular adventure.
The
story centers around a diabolical plot sprung to life by Lex Luthor
to capture and use Time Trapper to create rifs in time so that Lex
can stop the Justice League from ever existing. This presents a
difficult challenge for the Justice League as they must scramble to
find the weakness in Time Traveler before he erases them!
The
animation is nothing special here nor the animated title sequences
before or after the feature, which I found a little disappointing for
having seen several better DC animated movies. Female fans will
embrace Wonder Woman and Dawn Star who both have some great moments
to shine. Sadly, we don't see much of Batman in this film - I guess
they thought he was a little too dark for the audience that they were
aiming for.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image and lossy Dolby Digital 5.1
sound are as good as they are going to be in this format. Bonus
Materials on the disc are two bonus cartoons from the DC Comics
Vault. They include The
Mysterious Time Creatures
from the All-New
Super Friends Hour: Season Two and
Elevator
to Nowhere
from Super
Friends Season 5.
It also has trailers for Teen
Titans Go, Beware The Batman, The Lego Movie,
and Tom
and Jerry's Giant Adventure.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.vimeo.com/jamielockhart
