Welcome, one and all, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentleman, I'm gonna be covering an animated television film from 2004. That movie is "Justice League: Starcrossed The Movie".
Now this movie, from what little information I could find on it, is centered around the Justice League cartoon from the mid-2000's. Which is pretty cool, because while I didn't watch a whole lot of the Justice League cartoon, I did watch most of "Justice League: Unlimited", and I remembered that show being great. And this movie is, technically, combining a 3 part episode called "Starcrossed", where it involved the Justice League fighting against the Thanagarians, into a full-length film. Now from what little I remember about the Thanagarian race, they're basically these angel-like humans with wings. Two of these Thanagarians are members of the Justice League, both of which consist of Hawkman and Hawkgirl. And from what I read on the back of the DVD case, Hawkgirl is probably gonna be the center of attention in this movie. I'm not sure how much of a role Hawkman is going to play in this movie, but I'll find out when I start watching it.
Now, as I just stated a moment ago, this movie is basically taking those 3 particular episodes from the show and stitching them together as a full-length movie. So I can technically cover it for this series, seeing as how I don't review TV shows anyways. Now I have no idea if this thing is going to be any good. I have a feeling that it's gonna be decent, seeing as how it's taking place within the Justice League cartoon. But the only way I'm gonna figure out if this thing is any good at all, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Justice League: Starcrossed The Movie".
6 minutes later
You know, guys, I totally forgot how good the theme song was for the Justice League show. Hearing this rendition of it that's playing right now in the opening credits is fucking awesome, and I am loving it.
4 minutes later
OK, I have a bit of a question here. So, I'm gonna assume this movie takes place sometime after the 2 part episode where the Joker set up a bunch of bombs all over Las Vegas. And at the end of that 2 part episode, Hawkgirl and John Stewart ended up being together. And yet, she's already engaged to her Thanagarian lover. I have a question about all this. If this Thanagarian has heard a lot about Green Lantern from Hawkgirl, then wouldn't he know about their relationship together? I totally understand that Hawkgirl would've probably kept that relationship a secret anyways, but it just seems rather strange to me that Hawkgirl never told him, her Thanagarian lover, about that. Just saying. It just seems a little bit strange to me.
8 minutes later
Wait a second here. So Batman disguised himself as an old man to get onto the Thanagarian ship, just so he can overhear what the Thanagarians are really planning? You know, I probably shouldn't be surprised to see this coming, since this is Batman and all, but for a moment, though, there, I was almost fooled by that disguise. At least, until I heard Kevin Conroy's old man voice start to fade. Still though, I'm kinda surprised Batman was able to pull that off so easily.
10 minutes later
You know, I already made this point back in my review of "Wonder Woman" a couple of weeks ago, but I'm gonna mention it again here. It was really cool that Diana was able to fight off this Thanagarian guard all by herself, while being tied up. And she was able to get the knife away from him with her mouth, and free herself by throwing the knife with her mouth at the switch, which caused her to be released from her bindings. I think it would've really sucked if her aiming with that knife was just a bit off, and she missed it entirely. I'm JUST saying, you know, it could've ended a lot of worse.
10 minutes later
So let me see if I understand this. Bruce and Diana were saved when this guy helped them into this Indian restaurant, and also helped disguise Diana a little bit. When the Thanagarians asked if he had seen a man and a woman with dark hair enter the restaurant, they don't bother to go "Oh, and by the way, one of them is wearing a black jacket and one of them is wearing light blue". They don't even bother to ask that, because there are plenty of people at this restaurant with dark hair. How the hell did these Thanagarians not remember what they looked liked?! They've SEEN what they've been wearing, and they don't bother to intrude any further because multiple in this restaurant have dark hair. You know, I think it's safe to say that the Thanagarians are beginning to act a little bit stupid now.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Justice League: Starcrossed The Movie". Let me shut the movie off here...OK. Well...I guess this shouldn't be a shocker, but this was a really good movie. I mean, I had a feeling it was gonna be good because it was centered around the Justice League cartoon. Now, mind you, this thing is nowhere near as good as, say, "World's Finest", but I would say it is better than something like "Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman". So, at least, there is that.
But I'm just stalling at this point, let's get into the writing. The writing here is really good. And for a 3 part episode, this is certainly a really solid story. Now there are some minor issues that I do want to bring up. And when I say that they're minor, I mean they're minor simply because I haven't seen enough of the Justice League show. I should probably explain what I mean. Now, about a little halfway into the movie, the Thanagarians have taken over Earth and put the planet under martial law. And when the Justice League are trying to out maneuver the Thanagarians at that point, they were still in their costumes. So when they hide inside this shopping center, they are trying to figure out a way to get to Wayne Manor, seeing as how the Thanagarians have also taken over the Watch Tower. And the Martian Manhunter thinks that they could blend in with the normal citizens, seeing as how they're still going on about their normal routine despite being under martial law. Wally West, AKA The Flash, thinks that it might not be a good idea, because even he doesn't know who Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Batman really are. And when Batman reveals himself to be Bruce Wayne, Wally sounds rather surprised by this. And I'm trying to figure out why, exactly? Because I would've assumed that when the Justice League was formed, everyone knew of their hidden identities right from the word go. So, am I to assume that Wally West is the only one who doesn't know most of the Leagues identities? It just seems really weird to me that he never knew anything about this. However, this might be because I haven't watched enough of the Justice League show to really hone in on this moment. So I'm probably just completely misremembering a lot of things that I never knew about. Speaking of which, another issue I want to bring up is something I mentioned earlier. I mentioned before that I wasn't totally sure how much of a role Hawkman was going to play in this movie. Well...I think I'm definitely misremembering things, because he doesn't make an appearance in this movie at ALL. I'm going to assume he had more of a role in "Justice League: Unlimited", because he hadn't joined the Justice League at this point in time during the Justice League's run. However, I was kinda thinking maybe he would make an appearance in this movie, seeing as how the Thanagarians were invading Earth after a fake invasion warning was announced by the Thanagarians to the people of Earth.
Yeah, I should probably explain the story of this movie. So, as I just mentioned, the Thanagarians come to Earth to warn the people of the planet that they're going to be invaded by a race known as the Gordanians, who are basically the Thanagarians enemy. But when Batman discovers that a Gordanian ship was destroyed near a peace summit, he finds out that one of the dead Gordanians was already dead long before in their ship, and Batman thinks that they, that being the Justice League and the people of Earth, have been set up. And they were. So, the Thanagarians end up incapacitating the Justice League and take over the Earth by putting them under martial law. And to make a long story short, the reason why they invaded Earth was because they wanted to use it as some sort of a hyperspace bypass so that they can get to the Gordanian home world, and end their war with that race there. It's a bit of a long story with that, but it still totally works here. And as I said earlier, the writing here is really good, and most of everything makes sense here. Granted, I could still poke minor holes into this story, such as when Bruce and Diana are being rescued by this Indian guy who escorts them into his restaurant, they try to disguise Diana a bit by covering part of her hair with a blue bandanna of sorts. And when a couple of the Thanagarian soldiers enter the restaurant, they ask the Indian guy if he had seen two people with dark hair. To which the Indian guy retaliates by asking them to be specific. Again, I want to reiterate this. They had SEEN what Bruce and Diana looked like, so they should've known right then and there that they were this specific couple at this restaurant because Diana was wearing light blue. But no, they don't say anything like that, and they just decide to leave because I guess they're kinda stupid that way. But again, this is all just minor bullshit that nobody's gonna notice except me. So you have to take it all for what it's worth. Aside from that, the writing here is really good. Our characters are all likable. But then again, all of these characters have these established personalities that came from the Justice League show. So if you had seen the TV show, then this movie is going to carry all of that into here. And the one who gets the most development in this movie is Hawkgirl, also known as Shayera. Her character development in this movie is really well done, including the relationship she has with John Stewart. In fact, as I was watching it, it kinda makes me yearn for a solo film starring this character. If DC and Warner Bros. wanted to either make a live-action movie or an animated film dedicated to this character, and hopefully keep identity politics out of it, then I think it would make for a really interesting movie. But that is just me thinking about possibilities that may or may not end up happening. Point is, the writing in this movie is really good, and it does it's job well enough here.
Now as for the acting, well, seeing as how this movie is centered around the Justice League show, it would make sense to have the voice cast from that show to be present here. And that is exactly what happens. All of the voice cast from the Justice League cartoon reprise their roles here. We have George Newbern as Superman, Kevin Conroy as Batman, Phil LaMarr as the Green Lantern, just to name several examples. All of them do a great job with their roles. But then again, I couldn't ask for a better voice cast than this. This is probably one of the best voice casts for a Justice League cartoon show. And that's always a positive to hear their voices again here. I do have to comment on one voice actor, though. And that is Victor Rivers as Hro Talak, which was the Thanagarian general that is leading the invasion. Now, when I first heard this voice, I genuinely thought he was being voiced by Michael Ironside. Because, I know Michael Ironside also voices Darkseid, who is the biggest bad guy of all DC Comics. But then I found out he was voiced by somebody else that sounds a LOT like him. And I'm not gonna sit here and say that Victor Rivers does a bad job here, because he does turn in a really good showing. However, I do have a question about one thing. Is Hro Talak suppose to be supporting an accent? I swear to God guys, almost every time that I hear him speak, it seems as though as Talak was suppose to be giving off some sort of an accent, and it kinda threw me off slightly. Because I don't know if that's how the character is suppose to speak, or if that's how Victor was suppose to give out his lines here. It just seemed a little bit weird to me, because I really couldn't tell you if it was one way or the other. However, that could just be me nitpicking here, because it was something that I happened to notice. But regardless of that minor detail, the acting here is still really solid. Which is something that I expected from the same voice cast from the show.
Now let's get to the animation. Again, seeing as how this movie is centered around the Justice League show, you would expect the same animation and art style to be a part of this movie. Which it is. The animation is really good. However, seeing as how this is the same Bruce Timm style of animation, it is expected to be just as good here, as it was in the TV show. It might not sound like very much, but it's still really solid animation. And the art style is also great here, too. But again, this is from Bruce Timm, and almost anything he had a hand involving DC's cartoons are nothing short of amazing. So, animation and art style is great. And then there's the CG...oh boy. Now, I've often commented in the past about how DC and Warner Bros. usually have a really bad track record in how they handle CG into their animated films. And for the first half of this movie, I was able to overlook that. Because while it was noticeable here again in this movie, it wasn't something that I was going to harp on this movie too much for. However, as the movie continued on, and I continued to see more CG vehicles, the problem became too noticeable, even for me. All of the Thanagarian ships in this movie look like complete shit. And it really is a stark contrast, especially when you consider how good the 2D animation is for this movie. I mean, come on, is it really that difficult to get some decent-looking CG for these vehicles? It can't be asking for too much, right? Well...then again, I guess it might be, seeing as how this problem involving CG vehicles still plagues most of their DC animated films, even their recent ones. So, I guess I just answered my own question there. Oh well, it is what it is. It's not something that's gonna take out of the movie entirely, but it is something that you're bound to notice. So you just have to take it for what it's worth. So overall, the animation, minus the CG vehicles, is great.
Sound-mix here is mixed well, and the score here is really good. It is something that you would hear in an episode of "Justice League" and Justice League: Unlimited". It's nothing amazing, aside from the amazing rendition of the Justice League theme song that plays at the opening of this movie, and again during the ending credits. So it's your standard score that works really well for this movie.
Overall, guys, when all is said and done, can I recommend "Justice League: Starcrossed The Movie"? Totally. Like, if you are a fan of the Justice League cartoon show, chances are, you've probably already seen this. Now again, this movie is not in the same league such as "World's Finest", "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm", or, for me personally, "Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay", but it's still a really solid movie. And I would highly recommend it to fans of DC cartoon's, whether they be their animated films or their TV shows. However, if you're someone like me who hasn't really seen most of, or any, of the Justice League cartoon show, then you might want to watch the show first before you get into this movie. Because if you go into it like I did, you will probably ask questions that might stick out at you, such as Wally West discovering who Batman really is. But again, it's just a minor thing, unless you start to really think about that kind of stuff. Overall, guys, this is a really good movie, and I would, again, recommend it to anyone who is a fan of DC Comics. Speaking of which, seeing as how I mentioned "World's Finest", I'm probably gonna go and watch that movie right now. Because that is a really awesome movie, and it has a been a little while since I last watched it.
Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
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