Legión de superhéroes

I sat down to watch the 2023 animated superhero movie from DC with my 12 year old son. And I had to admit that I was harboring a little bit of expectations to this animated movie from writer Josie Campbell and director Jeff Wamester.

DC does have some fairly entertaining animated movies out there, and while I am not overly much a fan of the superhero genre, then I can still appreciate good storytelling and a properly entertaining movie, even an animated one, when I see it.

"Legion of Super Heroes", however, wasn't all that impressive. Sure, it was watchable, but the storyline was a bit of a swing and a miss for me. The whole thing with alternate universes or future universes just doesn't sit all that well with me.

I will say that the animation and art style in "Legion of Super Heroes" was good, and it made the 83 minutes runtime more bearable to sit through. However, the character gallery in the story was a bit of a swing and a miss as well for me. Supergirl was adequate, but the rest of the characters at that future academy just simply didn't pack any wow-effect.

The voice acting in "Legion of Super Heroes" was good, and that is really important for an animated movie, as it is a make or break kind of deal with the voices. I wasn't familiar with the voices though, but they did good jobs nonetheless.

"Legion of Super Heroes" was not the best of animated movies from DC in my opinion, but it was watchable enough for what it turned out to be. I doubt that I will ever return to watch "Legion of Super Heroes" a second time though.

My rating of "Legion of Super Heroes" lands on a four out of ten stars.

In the 1960s, DC discovered that you could color outside the lines of the accepted backstories with "imaginary" tales ... and nothing has been the same since. Sometimes this works. Kara was a fun and unpredictable character in the 10-year SMALLVILLE run, for example. (BTW, the same two creators who are doing the breakout Wednesday series today). And sometimes it does not work. Case in point, this movie. You may or may not like the vintage animation. But in a world that is contemplating locking down entire cities just to save the ecosystem (which is happening today), LEGION OF SUPER HEROES seems like a waste of valuable resources. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

The DCAU has been an extraordinarily legendary force since its beginning with Batman: Gotham Knight. So powerful in fact that it forced Marvel to give up on animated films for 10+ years. The storylines and animation techniques in the DCAU were the pinnacle. But ever since Apokolips War, this new continuity has absolutely horrendous animation that are setting the DCAU back very far now. All of these fans are complaining about the quality but DC is not listening. Please give us back the animated universe we know and love. It may be a new continuity but that doesn't mean it needs to be a lesser quality of work.

I'm always up for another DC animated feature, and while some have been better than others, this particular outing doesn't do it for me. We've got Superman's cousin, Kara Zor-el, come to Earth, no build-up to how she lands and adapts...

Oh, wait, she really doesn't, so Superman decides to take her to the 31st century and she enters a hero academy as a trainee. Yes, THAT Legion of Super-Heroes. And, like the spoiled and self-righteous stuck-up princess she is, she gets into trouble but eventually redeems herself.

On the plus side, the music is okay, the voices are decent enough, and the action sequences are pretty good. On the minus side, how the characters are drawn looks cut-rate to this viewer. It resembles The Man of Tomorrow with black outlines, but somewhat cheaper-looking. The story is all too predictable, and there's little sympathy built up for Kara during the proceedings.

On the whole, this isn't something I can recommend purchasing. I watched it because it's DC and DC superheroes/superheroines rock, but this...it's watchable, but no more. For something better featuring Supergirl, I'd suggest Superman Unbound. Kara is portrayed much more sympathetically in that movie.

Oh, and Arms Fall-Off Boy, he's just a little too creepy for me. Ick.

To be honest it's not perfect, the animation isn't eye-catching and the plot has some problems too, but it is sure much better than what people are saying.

My main issue with the movie is that Kara just becomes a superhero out of nowhere. It would've been OK if we already had a Supergirl animation that featured her origin, but right now it's weird! I know all about Supergirl, but not everyone is a DC geek, that should've been taken into consideration.

I quite liked the story, some say it's predictable but for me it was OK. The supporting characters were original and cool, and Kara was just adorable, the classic girl of steel!

To sum up, it has it's own flaws, but people are really underestimating it, and I don't know why!