Teen Titans GO! To The Movies

Teen Titans Go to the Movies! is the newest movie from Warner Bros. Animation, and not only the first theatrical movie based on a Cartoon Network show, since The Powerpuff Girls Movie in 2002, but also the first widely released theatrical film based on a Warner Bros show currently on, since Batman: Mask of the Phantasm...it features our heroes, the Teen Titans (Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven), realizing they’re not as big a deal as other superheroes to get a movie based on them. They believe they need an arch nemesis to get a movie, so they do that by going after Slade, who plans on hypnotizing all the supers to do his bidding. If you know me personally, you’d know that I’m not the most knowledgeable when it comes comic books, but I still got a major kick at out of the DC animated shows, ever since Batman: The Animated Series. However, one that I remember being the most dedicated to during my youth, and still feel very nostalgic for, was the Teen Titans animated series by Glen Murakami, which ran during the mid-2000’s. My enjoyment for the show is similar to my love for the anime, One Piece; it does have very cartoonish moments to lighten the tone, but it also helps ease the audience in to adapt to some of the more darker moments as the show goes on. Teen Titans Go! is the more kid friendly spin-off, and I do get both sides that either love or hate it; personally, I’m not a fan, but that’s more of a problem on Cartoon Network constantly shoving it in your face, like what Nickelodeon did in 2013 with SpongeBob and The Fairly OddParents (less said about the latter right now, the better). When they announced that Warner Bros was developing a Teen Titans Go! movie, you could imagine the animation community was not pleased with this, but DC fans have showcased optimism with it, and even critics were giving it good praise, so I attended a pre-screening a week in advance, so what are my thoughts? Unfortunately, while the movie wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, it’s still pretty bad. If the plot for the movie I told you sounds the least bit familiar, especially the villain’s plan, you’d figure out this is the same plot as done in Incredibles 2; but it also shares a similar plot to another Warner Bros. animated movie, Cats Don’t Dance, which is another story about a schmuck looking to make it big as a movie star, that way he can be taken seriously. It’s one thing to be unoriginal, but it’s another thing when you’re lazy and unoriginal. I bring this up, because sure, kids can enjoy it fine at the moment, but think about where we got to at this point. Teen Titans was a show that while had its silly moments, they never spent more than a minute on them, because that wasn’t the point of the show; the stories they told, subtly handled heavy topics like treasuring the time left with friends and even suffering from PTSD. Teen Titans Go! has episodes either ranging from something as simple as “a character says waffles, and that’s it”, or it’ll have episodes that mock people for wanting the show to actually be challenging and tell better stories. You might say I’m being unfair with this movie, comparing it to the original show, but it’s not my fault, because the movie has an orchestral recreation of the original Teen Titans theme song by Puffy AmiYumi; the people behind this movie and the current show know what they have is crap, and they’re mocking their critics on purpose. Since this is technically a comedy, I will admit I did have two or three laughs in the movie; there was actually a surprisingly funny gag that poked fun at the “Martha” scene in Batman v Superman. However, most of the time, their jokes resort to that of Family Guy style jokes, where the reference is the joke and that’s it; or they’ll spend five minutes repeating the same joke over and over again, like someone pooping in a prop toilet. They even resort to making jokes about plot holes in the movie, which I hate because it doesn’t fix the problem, only draws more attention to it. And whenever they’re not dragging out the bad jokes, they’re showing wasted opportunities for jokes that would have been perfect for satire. I mean, they casted Nicholas Cage as Superman, and the most they do with him is trick him with a Gene Hackman reference? Come on, tell him a giant spider is attacking the city or something! Not to mention, they casted Jimmy Kimmel as Batman, but he only has only two lines in the whole movie; he had more dialogue in the tv spots than this! While we’re on the topic of music, the movie also technically a musical, as it wastes its time on songs that don’t go anywhere, add anything, or they’ll be a ten minute sequence, telling us that Back to the Future exists, then going back and forth between killing, un-killing, and then re-killing the heroes and their family, after they had a scene of running somebody over...this was meant for children, right? I have no problem with the voice acting, because it is decent. I will give this movie credit for letting the voice actors from the show reprise their roles in the film; Scott Menville (Robin), Khary Payton (Cyborg), Tara Strong (Raven), Greg Cipes (Beast Boy), and Hyden Walch (Starfire), have all been playing these characters since 2003, so getting a chance to play them at any time is always a treat in it of itself. However, my problem, again, stems from how the characters are written, and one of the reasons I’m not a fan of TTG: the characters are written too similarly; they all at times, end up being a bunch of loud, obnoxious, trouble makers that do and say the same thing half the time. It’d be fine if it was only Beast Boy and maybe Starfire, because I can understand them to that extent, but not Raven. At that point, the only thing keeping them distinguishable from each other is how they look, and that’s not a good sign. The jokes about Slade and Deadpool looking similar, they’re just not funny; it’d be funny, if they made any mention to his name in the comics, Deathstroke, but they don’t. And Will Arnett’s voicing of the character just sounds like Bojack Horseman in between paychecks. Overall, even if you’re a fan of Teen Titans Go!, nothing about the movie justifies it being in theatres. It’s just a two parter episode of the show, just stretched out to just under the 90 minute mark. You’re better off just waiting for this thing to come out on tv, where it properly belongs. It’s films like these, and The Emoji Movie which came out at this time last year, where I have to reinstate that it doesn’t matter if your movie is for kids, because that doesn’t excuse sitting through something that feels this lazy. Do yourself a favor, just take your kids to go see Hotel Transylvania 3 or Incredibles 2 again. Rating: D+

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Ant-Man & the Wasp is the follow up to Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War, featuring the titular hero, Scott Lang, held under house arrest and kept from Hank Pym or Hope van Dyne. When the said father-daughter gain access to the quantum realm, it gains the attraction of a new villain called “Ghost,” who wants their tech in order to fix herself, and now Lang must redawn the guise of Ant-Man, along with Hope dawning her mother’s former mantle of The Wasp, in order to tackle this new foe.

If you're familiar with my recent rankings of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you'd know I wasn't really the biggest fan of Ant-Man. A lot of my disdain was due to Edgar Wright being kicked off the movie, despite spending a decade in development of it, and what we ended up with was a pretty mediocre film, even if it wasn't a follow up to Age of Ultron. Granted, the effects and cinematography were unique, the cast does a good job with what they have, but for a comedy that was originated from one of the best filmmakers today and it turned out like this, is just disappointing.

When it came time to do the sequel, however, my expectations were a lot different. Since Wright didn’t have any involvement, my expectations were low, and the trailers managed to get me hyped to actually see another adventure with Scott Lang in the lead. Plus, considering the events of Infinity War, this was going to be our answer as to what he’s been up to since Civil War. I’m happy to inform that this managed to meet my expectations, as was a fun time. It may not be among my personal favorites, but Ant-Man & the Wasp manages to be a solid, entertaining, funny, and sometimes intense throughout its runtime. Peyton Reed is back as director, and at times, you can tell that now that Marvel’s starting to become more flexible, he’s got a little bit more range to work with. The action scenes, in which you have both shrinking and growing almost everything around these characters, you always feel unexpected as to what’s going to make a major pop next.

A major thing I also loved is the chemistry between our titular heroes. While I may not have found the comedy that great in the first film, Paul Rudd truly stepped up his game as both star and co-writer, with jokes landing almost every scene and even some characters who DIDN’T get to shine their comedic talents, get a chance here this time. Hell, the scene in the school had me laughing my ass off, just because of how silly it was. I especially love the scenes with him and his daughter, showing them have fun while he’s under house arrest, but never lose that sense of bonding time. That’s of course, not to discredit his action scenes as well. Evangeline Lilly as the Wasp is still just as feisty as before, but once again, she’s got a lot better humor to work with; her action scenes are also twice as exciting, being a real pro with the shrinking gear. For the first actress to play a Marvel heroine in her titular movie since Elektra, Lilly claims the title of being the best automatically by comparison.

Michael Douglas reprises his role of Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, and while he is as expositiony as before, he makes it all the more hilarious with his more vicious remarks at Scott. He also gets a moment to suit up for a mission, so that was nice to finally get a glimpse of that. Michelle Pfiefer as the original Wasp, what can I say? To see her make a return to a comic book movie since Batman Returns, it felt all too fitting to have her here; plus, with her as the first official superhero mom in the Marvel Universe, the chemistry that she has with Douglas and Lilly feels very soothing. Michael Pena also makes a return, even with a bit of a smaller role, but he still makes it worth every second; hell, compared to the first film, I actually thought he was funny this time around. Other cast members like Walton Goggins as a trade dealer, Laurence Fishburne (oh, that must hurt DC) as Hank’s former partner, Hannah John-Kamen as the Ghost was a pretty imaginative character to work with, especially in action; hell, if Peyton Reed can make a ghost fight look this good, I’ll trust him with a Danny Phantom movie if that’s possible.

The biggest downside is that the pacing hardly takes a moment to breathe, especially in the third act, when they have so much going on at once. There’s a chase through the quantum realm, a chase through the city to get one thing, another chase to go cover up something, and it just becomes exhausting all the way through. That, and with the extra dosage of comedy thrown in, it does make it hard to take seriously when it’s trying to be.

In the end, Ant-Man & the Wasp is a major step up from the previous film, and definitely does these characters better justice. Is one of the MCU’s best? No, but that wasn’t the goal; it was to make a fun heist and chase movie, and that’s what it accomplished. And do stay for the end credits, because it does tell you where Scott’s been during Infinity War.

Rating: B