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DC Animated Universe Films

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DC Animated Universe Films

Old 01-27-15, 11:29 PM
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DC Animated Universe Films

So I didn't see a thread for the new Justice League: Throne of Atlantis film that came out today and figured rather than start a thread just for that release I'd do one for all the films coming this year.

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis
Release Date: January 27th, 2015
Synopsis:
Darkness, mystery, legend - these are the whispers that echo through time regarding Atlantis. A kingdom long since forgotten to surface dwellers, it is here that a hidden empire teeters on the brink of war. When a military submarine traversing this remote domain is attacked, Cyborg plunges to the murky depths to investigate the wreckage. What he encounters is a threat powerful enough to rally together the newly formed Justice League.

Meanwhile, thousands of feet above the ocean floor wanders the lone drifter Arthur Curry, a man with strange powers who may be the last chance to bridge the ancient Atlantean world and our own. Join Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the Justice League as they face off against Orm, otherworldly weapons and perilous odds. It's an all-new, epic chapter from the DC Universe in which mankind's only hope from the darkness rests upon the guiding light of a man - Aquaman!
Also coming this year:

Batman vs. Robin
Release Date: TBD
Full synopsis is unavailable for this film yet. So far its known that it will be a sequel to Son of Batman and takes place in the shared universe that's been established since Justice League: War. The Court of the Owls is set to appear, but the film isn't based on the comic storyline.

Justice League: Gods and Monsters
Release Date: Spring 2015
Synopsis for this one isn't available. Its a new story written for the DCAU, there's also a three-part series called Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles which is produced by Bruce Timm and will be available on Machinima.
Old 01-27-15, 11:33 PM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

You might want to spoilerize that huge cover image
Old 01-28-15, 12:14 AM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

I enjoyed Throne of Atlantis, even if the story feels rushed in parts (the culprit being the short runtime they are allowed). I've yet to see Son of Batman. How was that?
Old 01-28-15, 12:26 AM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

I didn't love Son of Batman. I should watch it again but the first time I was really disappointed in it. I absolutely hate Jason O'Mara as the voice of Batman/Bruce. Why DC insists on continuing to use him I have no clue as there's nothing distinctive about his voice and there are far better voice actors who could fill the part. I'm a Conroy fan but even if they insist on not using him (which honestly I don't understand their reasoning for not using him as long as they can) there's guys like Bruce Greenwood or Roger Craig Smith who were both good at voicing the character.

I actually haven't watched Throne of Atlantis yet. I'll pick it up after work tomorrow most likely. The story sounds like it has potential but I've read a lot of mixed reviews on it. I wasn't crazy about Justice League: War either which the new film is a sequel to.
Old 01-28-15, 12:53 AM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

I actually like Jason O'Mara as Batman but I'd trade him for Bruce Greenwood in a heartbeat.
Old 01-28-15, 12:55 AM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

I've been pretty unhappy with some of their voice casting choices as well. My impression is they like casting at least one known actor without much voice acting experience for each movie. Unfortunately, it sometimes shows.

While it is aimed at slightly younger audiences, I am looking forward to LEGO: Justice League vs. Bizarro League. The LEGO Batman movie was pretty funny for a DC fan, especially for a direct-to-video movie.
Old 01-28-15, 01:01 AM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

Yeah Lego Batman was actually great. I actually really liked Will Arnett as Batman. Granted it wasn't the most serious take on the character but he did a good job. The voice casts have actually been one of my main complaints with the past few films. I especially dislike O'Mara though.

Edit: I got confused, Arnett only voiced Batman in The Lego Movie.

Last edited by Mike86; 01-28-15 at 01:21 AM.
Old 01-28-15, 08:55 AM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

Got the Throne of Atlantis steelbook from Target last night, but I haven't seen War. Wanted to get it before they were gone.

How closely does it folllow War? Should I pick that up watch it first?
Old 01-28-15, 08:58 AM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

Originally Posted by hdnmickey
Got the Throne of Atlantis steelbook from Target last night, but I haven't seen War. Wanted to get it before they were gone.

How closely does it folllow War? Should I pick that up watch it first?
The events of War lead into Throne of Atlantis, but it's not necessary to watch beforehand.
Old 01-28-15, 09:10 AM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

Originally Posted by hdnmickey
Got the Throne of Atlantis steelbook from Target last night, but I haven't seen War. Wanted to get it before they were gone.

How closely does it folllow War? Should I pick that up watch it first?
Depends. Like TheMovieman said, but you could watch War first, but not required.

Jealous of your steelbook as I ordered it as well but haven't received it yet!
Old 01-28-15, 09:20 AM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

Gotta admit that I wasn't crazy about Throne of Atlantis. As contradictory as this might sound, I'd say it's a better movie than War yet I wasn't into it nearly as much. It tries to do too much and suffers from such scattered focus and overly rushed execution that nothing works particularly well. War didn't aim higher than straightahead popcorn action but did it really well; Throne of Atlantis is much more ambitious but misses the mark.
Old 01-28-15, 10:07 AM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

Originally Posted by Adam Tyner
Gotta admit that I wasn't crazy about Throne of Atlantis. As contradictory as this might sound, I'd say it's a better movie than War yet I wasn't into it nearly as much. It tries to do too much and suffers from such scattered focus and overly rushed execution that nothing works particularly well. War didn't aim higher than straightahead popcorn action but did it really well; Throne of Atlantis is much more ambitious but misses the mark.
It's the damn runtime. There's a lot going on in the movie beyond just Arthur Curry. We get some good setup, little to no development, and then everything is resolved. I know DC is only doing Batman movies but I feel that Superman, Wonder Woman, and Cyborg need several standalone adventures (as well as a teamup movie with just Superman and Wonder Woman) to develop these characters properly.

If DC is unwilling to do this, they need to lift the 75 minutes runtime cap and allow these movies to get closer to 2 hours in length.
Old 01-28-15, 10:08 AM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

That's a shame. For a while these DCAU films were really turning out great, but it seems like lately there's been quite a few misses (Son of Batman, War, and now Throne of Atlantis). I'll still pick this one up and give it a shot but I'm less excited about it reading the reviews thus far. I thought the shared universe might make these films stronger but maybe it was better just having them as stand alone films. Either that or they need someone stronger working on these films if they want to tie them all together. I wish Bruce Timm was still more involved.

I think the run time works fine for some of the films. There have clearly been instances though where they could have made the films longer but overall I don't mind it. In fact I think for some of the films it actually is beneficial. The Dark Knight Returns for example I actually think worked a lot better as two parts even though it is based on one story.

Last edited by Mike86; 01-28-15 at 10:16 AM.
Old 01-28-15, 10:18 AM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis isn't a bad movie, Mike86. I had a great time with it. However, there is an empty feeling once it's all over and a lot of events feel rushed. For instance, there are three romantic subplots in the movie. All three are resolved with little in the way of any real development. These characters hook up (or stay together) at the end for no other reason than the script says they're together at the end. There are other issues like that throughout (like the fact that the League isn't really a team but they are at the end of the movie because - reasons). And they are more obvious here than they were in Justice League: War because Justice League: Throne of Atlantis takes it's time setting them up only to suddenly brush them aside with a quick "and they lived happily ever after" type resolution.
Old 01-28-15, 12:59 PM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

It's hard to pull off a convincing team adventure in 70-some minutes. The length of each feature is fixed in stone, they would have to break a story into multiple films for lengthier arcs. They only tried it with Batman since he's their best seller.
Old 01-28-15, 01:06 PM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

I think if they could push the limit to 90 minutes that would work a bit better. It isn't a lot more time but I feel like for most of these animated films you could tell a pretty decent story in an hour and a half. I feel like some of the Justice League films worked fine at the 75 minute length though. Doom and The Flashpoint Paradox for instance both told their stories well in that span of time. I think Timm being involved was a major reason why a lot of the DCAU films were as good as they were. The quality has been declining slowly since he left in my opinion.

Last edited by Mike86; 01-28-15 at 01:16 PM.
Old 01-28-15, 02:00 PM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

Yeah, the changing of the guard from Bruce Timm to James Tucker might have a lot to do with it.

The other movies were written by folks like Dwayne McDuffie, Judd Winick, Stan Berkowitz, and James Krieg. These guys have a background in writing for one-and-done TV animation and/or in comics before decompression was so much of a thing. They have a great deal of experience telling complete stories in a short amount of time.

Heath Corson has written three of the four post-Flashpoint movies: War, Assault on Arkham, and Throne of Atlantis. He's a relative newcomer with an all-but-non-existent list of credits before landing the gig with DC animation. I'm not saying that makes him a bad choice; compare War with the 13-year-old's-Hot-Topic-mallrat-concept-of-cool Justice League arc it's based on, and Corson's some kind of miracle worker. I absolutely think his comparative lack of experience in painting a huge story on a tiny canvas shows in Throne of Atlantis, and character work doesn't appear to be his strong suit either. I'm not sure if Tucker has the same storytelling knack that Timm has, or if the whole New 52 thing is keeping him from doing everything he'd want. I've spent so much of my life loving DC's comics, but the New 52 is pretty toxic. (Maybe it's gotten better over the past couple of years, but the line as a whole was so joyless and asshole-ish and everything that made me want to stop reading new, mainstream comics in 1992 that I just had to give up. The Batgirl relaunch looks pretty fantastic, though...)

J.M. DeMatteis is writing Batman vs. Robin, so I'm hopeful for good things there.
Old 01-28-15, 03:23 PM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

Originally Posted by RocShemp
I enjoyed Throne of Atlantis, even if the story feels rushed in parts (the culprit being the short runtime they are allowed). I've yet to see Son of Batman. How was that?
Hated the Son of Batman after the first viewing.

The part that turned me off is when several of the characters were surrounded my bad guys with guys shooting down on the good guys (once or twice during the movie) and no one gets hit.
-I rolled my eyes and and said to those watching it with me, "Come on, can't the writers not treat us like "little Kids"".

2nd/3rd...viewings I enjoyed much better, I just had to look past the 200 bullets missing people.
Old 01-28-15, 03:31 PM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

I really like what DC wants to do with their animated movies, just hope they can pull it off.

Going after original stories may be the way to go, so there is not a glut of stuff to cram into the story. They can now write a story that fits into their timeframe, not a story that covered 5 (or more) different issues of a comic.

Justice League: Gods and Monsters - Hope this one sets the new standard for the films.
Old 01-28-15, 03:42 PM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

Originally Posted by Adam Tyner
Yeah, the changing of the guard from Bruce Timm to James Tucker might have a lot to do with it.
Its no question to me that's a big part of the reason why the quality has dipped. I've enjoyed The Flashpoint Paradox and Assault on Arkham since he left. Other than that I can really take or leave the other films. It sucks because I really enjoy the DCAU in general and the films up to Timm leaving were mostly great (I didn't care for Justice League: The New Frontier or Green Lantern: Emerald Knights).

Last edited by Mike86; 01-28-15 at 05:23 PM.
Old 01-28-15, 05:20 PM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

Anyone else pick up the steelbook Throne of Atlantis at Target and not have the UV code included? I only see a survey insert.

Just wondering if I'm not seeing the code or if it wasn't included?
Old 01-29-15, 12:05 AM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

Originally Posted by dfmaverick2
Anyone else pick up the steelbook Throne of Atlantis at Target and not have the UV code included? I only see a survey insert.

Just wondering if I'm not seeing the code or if it wasn't included?
Most steelbook copies did not have the UV code sheet. You need to contact Flixster's customer service and show them a picture of your receipt to get your UV copy.

I sat down and watched Throne of Atlantis tonight. I liked it as a zippy origin for Aquaman, though I did think the script probably needed another 20 minutes to flesh out a few unseen moments. Mera and Aquaman practically start dating without saying a word to each other.

I also get the feeling there is some kind of mandate to include Cyborg in several scenes to introduce him beyond the others.

I haven't been a big fan of how they are using Superman in these New 52 animated movies. He has become the dumb muscle for the Justice League. They are using his heat vision more in battles, which is a good thing.
Old 01-29-15, 08:42 AM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

Originally Posted by PhantomStranger
I haven't been a big fan of how they are using Superman in these New 52 animated movies. He has become the dumb muscle for the Justice League. They are using his heat vision more in battles, which is a good thing.
I did like that they used his super speed during the investigation scene between him and Batman. He needs more moments like that.

How young is Clark supposed to be in the New 52?
Old 01-29-15, 12:07 PM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

I think mid-20s.
Old 01-29-15, 02:12 PM
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re: DC Animated Universe Films

Originally Posted by PhantomStranger
Most steelbook copies did not have the UV code sheet. You need to contact Flixster's customer service and show them a picture of your receipt to get your UV copy.
Did you successfully do this for Throne of Atlantis?

Just seems odd to me that Flixter would handle a problem that is obviously not their fault.

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