Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom 2015

I’ve been a big fan of the Lego brand for ages, along with their video games since the Lego Star Wars games and their movies from last year and this year. They came out with their Lego Batman straight to home video movie last year which essentially followed the plot of video game Lego Batman 2. There was another one that came out earlier this year which had the Justice League fighting Bizarro characters and Darkseid, and this continues that story where Darkseid is using Lex Luthor for revenge while Cyborg is the new member of the team. It’s a little bit funny that two animated films released within a week or so of each other both feature Cyborg as the new member of the team, with this film and Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem which I watched and reviewed a few days ago. Doing a brief comparison of the two, even though they are both essentially used to help sell toys, this Lego movie uses humor much better and doesn’t feel quite so shameless or formulaic. Instead, it brings the humor that the brand has become known for and is generally hilarious from start to finish.

The biggest reason to watch this film is the Lego style of humor. There are plenty of self-referential and meta jokes along with some of the kid-friendly standards. A favorite is when they make reference to the DC’s New 52 via the government’s secret Area 52, and Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman all get updated costumes because their old ones were hit with a stink bomb. It’s also a fun touch that the villain behind the stink bomb isn’t the Joker, but instead is the Trickster. And yet nearly everyone still mistakes him for the Joker and he is voiced by Mark Hamill who played the Joker in various animated versions as well as the live action Trickster on the Flash TV show. It’s also interesting to note that besides the Trickster, Hamill doesn’t also voice the Joker, but he does voice Sinestro.

As far as the plot of this film, it involves the creation of the Legion of Doom by a trio of villains: Lex Luthor, Sinestro, and Black Manta. They end up recruiting Gorilla Grodd, Cheetah, and Captain Cold. They also rescue J’onn J’onzz from aforementioned Area 52 and use him to trick the Justice League into destroying a nuclear power plant that they think is going into meltdown. This causes them to get banished into space. Meanwhile, Darkseid is secretly working with Lex and giving him help in the form of his boom tubes. And on top of that, Cyborg is feeling very self conscious as the newest member of the Justice League who keeps making mistakes. Even though there is a lot going on, it all flows very well and isn’t hard to follow at all.

One other thing that I do have to briefly mention since I have brought it up quite a bit recently is that this does just a small bit better than Batman Unlimited at bringing in more female characters. It’s still negligible, but at least the Justice League has Wonder Woman as a major character, and she is really the most centered and sensible character in the entire team. There’s also Cheetah in the Legion of Doom, as well as a minor presence from Giganta and Lois Lane. It’s also nice to see Cyborg essentially be the main character for this film as he starts out being self conscious and insecure before he gains some maturity and plays a major part in saving the day at the end. There’s also a great little gag early on where he thinks that adding more firepower will help with his lack of experience, and it’s one of the first things the audience points out when the public turns against the Justice League.

While this is a Lego film, aside from the fact that they’re all represented by the traditional minifig design, and everything is generally still represented by Lego blocks, there are quite a few cheats when compared to the theatrical Lego Movie. There’s quite a few special effects like gas clouds, explosions, and the tether between the Lantern constructs and the rings that obviously aren’t a direct correlation to a Lego piece. But it’s still a minor issue, the core of this film is the humor along with the underlying message to be yourself instead of trying to be something you’re not in order to fit in. It’s a very fun film and worth checking out if you have kids or are a fan of Lego. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.