matt_zimmer | Green Lantern: First Flight Review (Spoilers)

Also Reviews for Justice League Unlimited's two part The Once and Future Thing and the Duck Dodgers episode The Green Loontern.

Green Lantern: First Flight

Sort of a middling movie in the DC Universe Original Animated Movie pantheon it's not as good as either Justice League: The New Frontier or Wonder Woman, nor as bad as Superman Doomsdays or Batman: Gotham Knight. It's just a pretty diverting way to kill an hour and a half.

I liked the voice cast. Hal Jordan is one of the most boring superheroes ever so at least Christopher Meloni is able to, if not make him interesting, at least make him likable. But the revelation here is Victor Garber as Sinestro. I know he's a great actor but I expected him to phone it in the way Alfred Molina did in Wonder Woman. But he takes his role seriously here and is all kinds of awesome.

The Betrayal in the movie surprised me and I thought it was a good twist. I am also impressed that this movie didn't seem to revel in the adult themes they were able to get away with like some of the earlier films. It was still a little bluer than my tastes like but it didn't flaunt it.

Good, but not great. I still enjoyed it though. ***1/2.

Duck Dodgers "The Green Loontern": One of my very favorite episodes of Duck Dodgers (along with "Samurai Quack") this is geek nirvana. Besides the obvious fanboy excitement of DC Comics character teaming up with Looney Tunes characters in an animated cartoon the episode also features the voices of John de Lancie (Star Trek: The Next Generation's Q) as Sinestro, John Dimaggio (Futurama's Bender) as Killowog, and nerdiest of all, Kevin Smith in a cameo role as Hal Jordan. I loved seeing Daffy Duck/ Duck Dodger's selfishness and idiocy contrasted with the rest of the Green Lantern's especially when Sinestro is trying to tempt him to join forces. I wish they had somehow found a role for Marvin the Martian/ The Martian Commander as they DID manage to give a small role to Porky Pig/ The Eager Young Space Cadet but other than that minor quibble the episode was perfect. A great episode of a great cartoon series. *****.

First Look: Superman/ Batman: Public Enemies: Awesome trailer for a movie I am now REALLY looking forward to. I'm ambivalent usually to these DC movies but this one looks fantastic. And it's coming out in two months! Sweet! *****.

DVD Menus: Nothing special. **.

The Once and Future Thing: Part 1: Weird Western Tales: This episode is a blast and a half. Anyone who can't enjoy cowboys and flying robot dinosaurs shouldn't be watching cartoons. Only quibble: Did they REALLY need to put Jonah Hex in his comic book Confederate uniform? I liked him better as a cowboy like he was in Showdown. I think Ben Browder as Bat Lash is a riot and the cliffhanger with Batman Beyond, Static and Warhawk is probably the best cliffhanger in DCAU history: ****1/2.

The Once and Future Thing: Part 2: Time, Warped: If only they had been able to deliver on this episode! Outside of some funny Chronos scenes the entire episode is a huge disappointment. Nothing matters with the clock resetting at the end and despite us FINALLY getting Terry and Static as guest stars on Justice League they both wind up getting punked. This is probably the most overrated episode of JLU EVER. **1/2. Two Part Average: ***1/2.