Movie Review: Justice League - Crisis on Two Earths

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Action and a very fun premise

Cons: Lack of character development

The Bottom Line: 

Two worlds collide

Superheroes fight themselves

Plenty of action

Average Super Heroes

I know I would enjoy superheroes more if I took the time to read the comic books.  It’s just a case of too many books, not enough time.  But when I heard of the idea behind Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, I was definitely intrigued.  So I jumped into the movie without the benefit of the TV show or knowing who all the members of the Justice League are.  Maybe that was part of the problem, but I found it just average.

It’s a typical day for the Justice League as they are working on their new base of operations.  That is until Lex Luthor (voiced by Chris Noth) shows up.  He claims to be from a parallel Earth, an Earth that is being overrun by the evil twins of the Justice League.

While Batman (William Baldwin) is hesitant to leave their Earth to go save another one, Superman (Mark Harmon), Wonder Woman (Vanessa Marshall), Green Lantern (Nolan North), Flash (Josh Keaton), and J'onn J'onzz (Jonathan Adams) quickly go with Lex.  But fighting a league of villains like their own may prove to be too much.  Can they defeat…themselves?

As I say, the idea is intriguing, but it doesn’t really get developed.  Then again, maybe I’m asking too much out of a 75 minute movie.  It was produced around the same time as the Justice League TV show, and maybe that would have helped me some since part of my concern with the movie was the characters.  I felt like they were pretty much all flat.  Heck, the one guy I’d never heard of before isn’t someone I still really know.  And if it weren’t for the Green Lantern movie last summer, I’d still be lost on who he is.  And we don’t really learn anything about the bad guys other than that they’re bad.

The story is really just an excuse for a bunch of super hero sized fights.  There are a couple of small twists to the story, but for the most part its straight forward.  Nothing wrong with that, but it could have been more entertaining.

The voice work was fine.  The big names (among those not already listed we've got Gina Torres and James Woods) and the small names worked well together.  Again, there was nothing that made it stand out, although any time emotion was called for, the cast did deliver.

The animation was hand drawn but done for TV.  It tells the story, but it was produced fast with little to no attempts to be more artistic.

It’s not that I hated the movie; I was entertained while watching it.  But when it was over, I was left asking if that was it.  I guess I was just expecting something more epic.  They certainly could have gone there from the premise.  But to do that, it would have had to be longer.

So if the premise interests you, you’ll enjoy Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.  Just don’t expect anything mammoth from it and you’ll be fine.