Bruce Timm is a name that looms large in the minds of DC fans. His work on “Batman: The Animated Series” and subsequent series in the DC animated universe is highly regarded for the tone of storytelling, accessibility to a wide audience and its reverence to the source material. Now he turns his attention to a new original animated film.
Justice League: Gods And Monsters is set in an alternate universe where these versions of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are very much not familiar. Heck, the alter egos aren’t even the same. That’s beside the point though. The biggest alteration, other than the characters’ back stories, is how they dole out justice.
A lot of time is spent establishing not only the plot but the characters. This feels more like an exercise in “what if” rather than something designed to stand the test of time. This is my biggest problem with DC right now, there seems to be a lot of time and energy spent on simply running around exploring different dead ends rather than forging a cohesive forward-moving multi-media universe. That said, this is a fantastic look at how small changes have major consequences.
This Justice League is a tool of the government dispached to dole out justice. Think of the trio as an elite force who are battle-hardened and less worried about popularity than doing thier job effectively. And there are no other heroes in this world, which is key to show how their power is near absolute, which is a driving force in this story. Things are not necessarily rosy for our trio of heroes and they find themselves looking a bit inward (or at least forced to).
The animation has a distinctive look that shows Bruce Timm’s hand in the character design. His visual style which helped unify the DC animated universe is here again so fans will certainly find a lot of familiarity in these unfamiliar characters. While this is essentially a “dead end” as far as the overall DC universe is concerned, it is, perhaps, the best one I have seen in a long time.
Interestingly, the three shorts that preceded this film are not included in the special features. They are online, so they are available, but should have been included on the disc. Just search for Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles. What we do get starts off with a great featurette on the making of this film and, more importantly, why. There’s another featurette on DC’s history of alternate universes. Then we get a peek at the upcoming DC animated film, a previously available featurette on Jack Kirby and his New Gods, and a few DC animated series episodes. And if you get the limited edition there is a Wonder Woman maquette packed in.