It's Just Movies

— by JOSUE SANCHEZ —

Expectations are running higher and higher with each new DC animated movie that gets released.

So far, they have successfully managed to turn over a handful of straight-to-DVD films that have been graciously received by the fans, and it’s well deserved. While the live action DC superhero movie front has been on idle since “The Dark Knight,” they have been launching one hit after the other in animated movie form.

The very first live comic book expression was “Superman: Doomsday.” Up until that movie, I had never seen a better fight between a hero and villain, live action or animated. I must admit, I was impressed, and this definitely was the beginning of a great trend.

That was followed by “Justice League: The New Frontier.” This one was not the modern day Justice League; it was a 1950s art deco-ish animated masterpiece. Again, it was action packed and this time it brought together all the top comic book superheroes in the likes of Superman, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, etc. It is also interesting to point out this movie was a Green Lantern origin story, and you’ll understand why I point this out momentarily.

My only complaint — and my usual complain about all these superhero team movies — is that they don’t know how to make good use of Superman. Perhaps, because he is so powerful, the challenges presented in these adventures do not require the teaming up of all these heroes, perhaps he could quickly resolve them all, but in an effort to bring them all together, they usually find a way to hurt or injure Superman, dumb him down or, as usual, bring Kryptonite into the mix.

“Batman: Gotham Knight” was the next to be released and it was different from the rest — it had a various short stories, all done by different artist and styles. This was a great success and I definitely enjoyed it (of course, some of the stories I enjoyed more than others).

The next one in the series (and the one that impressed me the most) was “Wonder Woman.” The story, the action and the art have been the most impressive to date in my opinion. If you haven’t watched it, finish this article and get it immediately, it’s that good.

Now, when I heard they were making the next movie that I’m about to point out, I was surprised. For me, it seemed pretty risky to make another Green Lantern origin movie, but I should have known not to worry. “Green Lantern” was a fresh take on the story and had various origins stories in it, like Green Lantern’s biggest enemy, Sinestro. I pat on the back the geniuses that are behind the writing of these giant stories that span beyond our own galaxy and on to unfathomed territories.

I have purchased all of the movies mentioned above, and have not been let down. Perhaps the weakest one to date, in my opinion, is “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies,” which is the last one on the list I will mention before discussing the priceless trinket (clip below) included in this article. “Public Enemies” set Batman and Superman against a platoon of other superheroes, not necessarily just known villains. As excited as I was for this movie, the plot wasn’t as rich as I would have preferred. Nevertheless, it had so much excitement and action, with an amazing group of superheroes and villains (some I had never even heard off) all enveloped together, that it could make any comic book geek’s head explode.

This brings to the upcoming release for “Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths,” based somewhat on the successful comic book series title “Infinite Crisis.” If it is even remotely similar to the comic series, this may be on its way at being the best of the series. And what’s not to love about alternate universe versions of our favorite superheroes fighting ours?

In the clip below, we get a taste of the action — we see Batman, Superman and the Flash all in the middle of a battle. They are all acting just the way we like them, even the though they are using some new actors for the voice overs, i.e. Mark Harmon as Superman.

What direction will they take this “Crisis?” Will it follow the comic books or will they put their own spin on it? The title reads “Two Earths,” yet in the comic books there were infinite worlds, so will it just be two worlds? Expectations are running high for this film, because it has big shoes to fill.

“Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths” will be released on Feb. 23.

Follow Josue Sanchez on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Josue_can.