‘Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom’ Review
Features the voices of: Dee Bradley Baker, Troy Baker, John DiMaggio, Grey Griffin, Mark Hamill, Tom Kenny, Nolan North, Josh Keaton, Khary Payton, Kevin Michael Richardson, Cree Summer, James Arnold Taylor, Tony Todd | Written by James Krieg | Directed by Rick Morales
The third (or fourth if you count the Cartoon Network aired Batman Be-Leagured TV movie) animated film in the now long-running LEGO DC Super Heroes series – originally spun off from the cut scenes from the LEGO Batman game but now all-new creations – Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom finally sees DC Comics’ most famous superhero team join forces for a new adventure, this time taking on their most infamous foes, including Gorilla Grodd, Lex Luthor, the Joker, Captain Cold, Black Manta, Sinestro and the latest addition to the DC villains roster, the Trickster.
As usual for these fun flicks, the movie is packed with gags and nods to other superhero media. From the comics: Area 51 has apparently been shut down and replaced by “the New 52” for example and the heroes at one point switch into their New 52 costumes; and the LEGO playsets – the opening news report features a number of the latest LEGO DC playsets and the team fly around in the very same Javelin from the Darkseid Invasion set… Darkseid makes an appearance to, voiced by the legendary Tony Todd, though he doesn’t do much in terms of taking on the Justice League – think of him as this universes Thanos, in that he has a hand in a lot of evil plans but works behind the scenes.
Speaking of voices, the cast of the previous animated movies all reprise their various roles here – with Mark Hamill not only supplying the voice of Sinestro, but also voicing The Trickster, a character he played on both iterations of The Flash on TV. It’s a credit to LEGO and Warner Bros. that they core cast of voices has not only appeared in the movies but also the video games; that small point brings a hell of a lot of continuity to the LEGO DC Comics universe too!
Easily the best of the series so far, Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom perfectly mixes more of the traditional comic storytelling with the fun, and funny, aspects of the kid-friendly LEGO universe; creating a finished product that will appeal to everyone interested in not only LEGO but DC Comics as well. And the final coda, which sets things up for yet another sequel and the appearance of another DC villain – this time Brainiac – shows that this animated franchise isn’t holding back on adding characters, creating the iconic team-ups and becoming even more like the comics either. Something the live-action DC universe is sadly waaay behind on…
Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom is released on DVD and Blu-ray by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on October 19th.
