This year had a couple surprise winners for me. I started seeing the appeal for a short two year DC movie universe while the main storyline gets one great entry only to be followed up with a so-so entry. Overall this was a strong year but for surprising reasons. Check it out below and let me know!

The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)*****

Starring: Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Zach Galifianakis

I really enjoyed this movie for all the elements brought in. It has the perfect amount of satire of all the previous Batman movies as well as other famous pop culture characters of the time. It can be overwhelming with the bright lights and constant breaking and reassembling of broken structures (since it was a lego movie). The depth Will Arnett (Batman) and Zach Galifiankis (Joker)  bring to their characters is beyond anything I’ve seen before. They drew attention to the mental health of their respective characters and it is a great change of pace as a fan of the Batman and Joker feud.

Justice League Dark (2017)*****

Starring: Rosario Dawson, Jerry O’Connell, Matt Ryan

This movie acts as the introduction of magic, demons, and characters from the Constantine (2014) tv show into this continued storyline. Despite only one season of the show, Matt Ryan’s rendition of the character has strongly lived on and bringing him into this world fit like a glove. I enjoyed this entry into this storyline because it takes another step away from the usual light-toned superhero movies. Granted there are some dark entries in the DC animated universe as a whole but this entry felt like another step towards the adult demographic with the increase of blood and gore. 

Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (2017)***

Starring: Stuart Allan, Taissa Farmiga, Christina Ricci

I had a hard time investing into the Tara Markov character. I understood what Director Sam Liu was trying to do by avoiding telling her full backstory and instead showing flashbacks to her extremely rough childhood and in doing so, making the film not feel long and gets right to the main plot. I am strongly drawn to a film that has a solid beginning, middle and end and this movie had a so-so beginning. It decided to randomly focus on how Starfire encountered the young Dick Grayson’s Teen Titans team. It felt very unnecessary as the next scene is the team infiltrating a Church of Blood base. The only reason I can see for that kind of beginning of the movie was to build up the romance between Dick Grayson and Starfire and that was barely relevant in the movie. If they were to dedicate those scenes to Tara’s backstory or how Tara joined the group, I think the movie would have been stronger. The Church of Blood and Brother Blood did feel refreshing as villains since Deathstroke has already made an appearance in this universe.  

Batman and Harley Quinn (2017)****

Starring: Kevin Conroy, Melissa Rauch, Paget Brewster

I believe this movie was made for the fans of the Batman Animated Series as they revisit that series animation style. Director Sam Liu was able to bring in Kevin Conroy to reprise his Batman and that was the best part of the whole movie. Melissa Rauch does a fine job as Harley Quinn but anyone other than Tara Strong or Arleen Sorkin voicing Harley, is going to seem off. The movie has its goofy moments and one “wow they did that” moment but the storyline did feel like it could be a 30 minute tv episode instead of 1hr 15 minute movie. This movie was released about a year after the live action Suicide Squad (2016) hit theaters so I do think that the Warner Bros Studios only made this movie to ride the wave created by Margo Robbies’ Harley Quinn. 

Batman vs Two-Face (2017) *****

Starring: Adam West, Burt Ward, William Shatner 

I’m starting to like this two movie universe WB studios built with Adam West back as Batman. It’s the right amount of goofiness and since it is animation, there is no limit as to what storyline the writers can go with. If William Shatner wasn’t acting in the Star Trek series back in the 60s, I could see him playing Harvey Dent in the live action Batman series of the same year. His voice was the right amount of high pitch to make the audience (or me) feel as though he is sincere and on the good side. Flip that to when he has to voice Two-Face and the depth and grittiness he puts into his voice does give a chill down the spine. As the movie starts, you are not sure how it is all going to tie in. By the end of the movie, the smallest detail is accounted for in Batman’s win (not a spoiler as Batman always finds a way to win).

Vixen (2017)***

Starring: Megalyn Echikunwoke, Stephen Amell, Grant Gustin 

This movie serves as a slight spin-off, but ties in with the main storyline within the live-action Arrowverse. A few live-action actors reprise their roles in this animation and I could see the Arrowverse going into this direction if needed. Learning more about the backstory of Mari McCabe and the Vixen hero is interesting but this movie felt extremely long. There are essentially three storylines going at separate portions of the movie. Example being one storyline in the beginning third of the movie, different storyline in the middle of the movie then a different storyline in the last third. That is a strong issue when it comes to CW connected films that they try to fill in way too much then the main storyline gets completely diluted and lost. There is a way to properly tell three storylines at once but this wasn’t the way. This movie just felt way too long, I can’t say that enough. 

Next Up: 2018