Babylon 5: The Road Home

You will like this movie (for the most part), if you like the original show, 3D cartoon animation in general, and if you don't mind that this is the 3rd multiverse movie of 2023 (after Flash and Across the Spiderverse).

My two major complains about this movie are the weak direction and the face design of most of the characters. Their eyes are too far apart and sometimes it is hard to recognize them (I confused Lockley with Ivanova a couple of times). Also the Shadows are not terrifying at all and they look like a generic bug-like enemy, as it is the first time we see them so clearly. The movie would have looked great 20 years ago, but now, these 3D models and the spaceship action scenes feel a bit amateurish and visually outdated, to the point where it looks more like a cel-shaded videogame. And I say that as someone who tried to create 3D cartoons back in 2004. That said, most of the characters are here, and there are many different settings, that must have been a lot of work to model and animate.

Thankfully, I'm here for the story, which I find it to be fine for a cartoon movie (but perhaps not for a live action movie). Plot-wise, it might feel a bit too convenient that Sheridan travels to the most important places, in the time of need for the plot to happen, but at least it is explained in a "scientific" way (unlike the convenient teleportation of only spidermen in the movie Into the Spiderverse). Of course, if you've seen the series, you must suspect that everything should return back to normal by the end, without perhaps any world changing events. So, it's not so much about Sheridan's destination, but about the journey. And as far as his journey goes, it is decent one and it has a few surprises, but it also has some flaws.

The dry humor is somewhat amusing, but it didn't make me laugh, and sometimes it was placed in serious situations where it didn't fit. For example, when Sheridan jokes about Celsius and Fahrenheit after everything he has been through... it feels very out of place. Also, I do think the Celsius and Fahrenheit debate should have been solved by 2260. Then, they waste time talking about Sheridan's story, but they don't believe him and THEN they call a telepath to confirm the story. Man, you are in a hurry and you talk like it's the most relaxed day of your life! Come on! It's times like these when the pacing feels off. If I was on a tight and unknown deadline, I wouldn't make jokes or engage in small talk... I would get straight to the point and get things done.

I love that the story visits almost every familiar character, and that wouldn't have happened in a movie otherwise, because most of the cast has sadly passed away. I'm glad that their cameos wasn't a mere a checklist to be shown for shock value or fan-service (like in the Flash movie). We get to witness many key events and alternative timelines, like what happened with the Icarus in Zahadum and the destructive creativity of the Vorlons if they lose the war. It is like a gallery of the best events that the creator, JMS, could come up with, to please the long time fans and to lure new audience. I suspect that the target audience was also kids, due to PG-13 rating, which is understandable from a financial point of view.

This is essentially a mini anthology of what-if scenarios that don't add a great deal to the B5 lore. This is good because it is a neat stand alone story, and it doesn't conflict with the B5 lore and there are no plot holes. But it also may be bad, because it could feel quite all over the place if you haven't watched the show. On the other hand, the many plot points may spark the curiosity of any new viewer that may want to learn more about what happens in the show. I guess it feels like a piece of a puzzle that you didn't know that it was missing. So, even though I'm not crazy about the visual style or some lighthearted story beats, we must accept that the only way to have more Babylon 5 on the screen, is through animation. And I would love to see the B5 comicbooks and novels converted in this format!

If this is a pilot for a new series (like the first B5 movie was), please, have someone to check the animation and the story quality. For example, the Shadows could run instead walking fast, Lyta could use her own weight to pull the lever (or telekinisis), the dramatic moments feel weak and lack a punch, and in the final scene when the camera moves away from the Babylon station... the background remains static! This is a mistake only an amateur would do. Of course, translating characters into "drawings" is a huge challenge. And the director has done many LEGO DC films that I like. So, I don't know what went wrong here. Again, if this is a pilot, it can be excused, because even the first B5 movie was rough around the edges and we moved past it. All that said, I prefer watching a series of this quality, than Star Trek Lower Decks or any of the Star Wars animated series. I tried them, and I find their stories, humor, character arc and action to be very weak and childish.

Animated movies are not cheap or easy to make and direct. And it is easy to judge and nitpick every tiny detail. But we should admire and respect the work and effort that went in on this project, despite its flaws. The Babylon 5 spirit is there, and that's what matters the most. And if this movie is a proof of concept that sparks an animated TV series of some lost B5 chapter... that would be awesome!

It is absolutely great to see B5 return after so many years; a feat very few franchises are able to pull of after decades ... and with so many of the original cast still able to participate in the project none the less. Unfortunately, quite a number of the original cast have "passed beyond the galactic rim" in real life and leave a bit of a sore wound in their place.

Pacing seems to be all over the place for the movie's 75 minute runtime. Many of the scenes feel rushed and then - occasionally - things get overtly leisure for a while for no obvious reason before again getting all hurry-up-galore. I will need to have a rewatch to figure out if there is a deeper meaning for this, but on my first watch... it just felt misplaced. And talking of misplaced ... I remember the original B5 series having a great sense of humor with gags and jibs that "worked" in context. In "The Road Home", for the most part, stuff felt so out of place.

Now with all that having been said, I still feel like this does deserve a 7/10 rating. I may be rating somewhat high due to the amount of nostalgia, but ... that's just the same gut feeling, which guides most of my ratings.

I was a little apprehensive when I heard the big announcement that it was an animated feature, turns out I needent have worried.

So many franchises are barely recognisable to their original fans. Whether thats for better or worse depends which side of the argument you are on.

But with Straczynski keeping the helm steady, B5 managed to make the jump from live action to animation and still feel like authentic B5, along with providing us an entertaining and enjoyable standalone story as well as a secret door option for a reboot/continuation, without undoing or ruining what came before.

Seeing so many beloved characters back in the screen was heart warming. Knowing exactly how many have been recast because the the actors/actresses died young is heart breaking.

But seeing everyone go around one more time was a genuine treat.

Watching this took me right back to the 1990s when I started Babylon 5. The characters were fairly accurate, with Zathras getting a lot of scene time with Sheridan, which was nice. Some scenes were quite funny as well, with really dark moments to balance it out. I just wish there was more Londo, as he was only in a few scenes. The voice acting was very good, with Delenn being very well done by Rebecca Riedy. The storyline covered many memorable moments from the original show, and added some more information to events only depicted lightly previously. The animation was ok, but could have been more accurate on a few of the characters, and poor Marcus Cole barely got any screen time.

For fans of B5 it's fun to see all of the interesting alternate realities and see old characters again, but the story doesn't make all that much sense and the dialogue is kind of forced a lot of the time. They just jump around a few hypothetical realities with no real rhyme or reason (for most of them, anyways) and eventually the movie decides it's time to stop. The movie has more flashbacks than are necessary, maybe just to pad out the runtime a little bit, since this is a pretty short movie at around 75 minutes.

The updated, higher-fidelity models for shadows, their ships, etc are very cool to see, although the animation falls flat sometimes.

At the end of the day it doesn't add a whole lot to the B5 mythos apart from exploring some alternate realities which were alluded to in the series and potentially setting up a reboot, but it's fun enough to rent for fans of the series.