LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League - Attack of the Legion of Doom! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League - Attack of the Legion of Doom! Blu-ray Movie Review

Forget the Legion of Doom. It's LEGO that's out to rule the world...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown August 18, 2015

The diversification of the DCU animated multiverses continues with Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem and LEGO Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom!, two original movies aimed squarely at kids. Each one is a toy commercial through and through, and a successful toy commercial at that. My ten-year-old came away wanting Batman Unlimited action figures and a dozen LEGO sets. But as all-ages entertainment goes, one movie -- Attack of the Legion of Doom! -- succeeds far more than the other. Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem struggles to find its identity, tossing together quasi-futuristic heroes and villains en masse without a very compelling story or a very captivating endgame. Attack of the Legion of Doom! knows exactly what it is and who it means to delight, and does so with plenty of LEGO and DCU inside jokes and references, tongue-in-cheek spins on a variety of iconic characters, and a spirit of both play and playfulness that ratchets up the rewatchability. Kids'll love both flicks cause... 1) superheroes, 2) toys come to life, and 3) superhero toys come to life. The parents in the room, though, will have a far better time with LEGO's spry Justice League offering than the latest Batman Unlimited adventure.

Attack of the Legion of Doom! Synopsis: Crime is on the run as the newly formed Justice League keeps Metropolis safe and this makes evil genius Lex Luthor very unhappy. Together with Black Manta, Sinestro and a gang of ruthless recruits, Lex builds his own league and declares them the Legion of Doom. With this super powered team of terror and a plan to attack the top-secret government site, Area 52, can Lex finally be on the verge of victory? Sound the "Trouble Alert" and get ready for the bricks to fly when Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the Justice League face off against the world's greatest Super-Villains. The cast features Troy Baker (Batman), Nolan North (Superman), Josh Keaton (Green Lantern), Khary Payton (Cyborg), James Arnold Taylor (The Flash) and Grey Griffin (Wonder Woman, Lois Lane). The Legion of Doom includes Mark Hamill (Trickster, Sinestro), John DiMaggio (Lex Luthor, Joker), Kevin Michael Richardson (Captain Cold, Gorilla Grodd, Black Manta), Tom Kenny (Penguin), Cree Summer (Cheetah), Tony Todd (Darkseid) and Dee Bradley Baker (Martian Manhunter and Man-Bat).

Both Monster Mayhem and Attack of the Legion of Doom! assemble an enormous cast of characters, pitting good against evil in an increasingly action-packed, quip-riddled battle to bring truth and justice to their respective universes. But ALD lands more jokes, sells more gags, winks more sharply at its audience, and has more fun with its premise. Monster Mayhem isn't meant to be the parody ALD is, mind you, but it also isn't a humorless affair. Just a surprisingly joyless one. Laughs abound... if you're ten. Monster Mayhem is a Scooby-Doo! crossover in the making, albeit without Scoob and the gang. Batman's sidekicks are often used for comic relief -- sadly with diminishing returns -- and the baddies never quite surpass the level of punching bag, even when they're running circles around Bats Inc. early in the movie. ALD, on the other hand, takes impish shots at comicbook clichés, having a chuckle at everything from DC's New 52 reimagining to rotating costumes, villain team-ups, Superman's boyscout charms, Flash and Green Lantern's rivalry, and Cyborg's second tier hero status. The jokes are designed to be digested by a younger audience than those in Monster Mayhem, yet ALD is funnier. (In that patented low budget LEGO movie fashion.)

The action in Monster Mayhem is strangely wooden too. The same could be said of ALD, of course, but Attack of the Legion of Doom! features characters who literally can't bend their knees and can barely touch their hands together in front of their chests. The action is meant to be stocky and stilted. Pure LEGO. Monster Mayhem simply feels like a hurriedly animated television misfire with very little in the way of interesting character designs, intriguing world building or thrilling superhero sequences. Will kids care? Absolutely not. If you're entire decision boils down to, yeah, but will my son dig it? Rest easy. The junior DC fanboys (and girls) in your house will enjoy Monster Mayhem as much as they enjoy ALD So yes, both will be money well spent. But if you're sitting down to watch either movie with your family, just be aware that Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem will produce a lot of groans while LEGO Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom! will produce a lot of grins. (Groans too, but the right kind of groans; cheesy, punny, LEGO-style groans that go down easier thanks to all those grins.)

LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League - Attack of the Legion of Doom! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Like other LEGO direct-to-video animated movies, ALD holds its own in high definition. Warner's 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation is crisp and oh so colorful, with explosive primaries, inky black levels and bright, vivid contrast. Detail is excellent, with clean, sharply defined edges and subtle, well-resolved fine textures aplenty. Hints of aliasing creep into the image courtesy of the modestly budgeted CG animation, and some faint banding and macroblocking appear from time to time, but none of it proves very distracting. (All of it traces back to the source animation too, rather than some fault in the encode.) I was left with very few complaints.

LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League - Attack of the Legion of Doom! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like the lossless mix featured on the Blu-ray release of LEGO Justice League vs. Bizarro League, ALD's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track offers a good deal of fun even though stretches of front-heaviness flatten any scene that doesn't involve super-powered fisticuffs, energy blasts, villain attacks and citywide destruction. Voices are clear, intelligible and smartly prioritized. LFE output isn't exactly remarkable but it does lend oomph to the action, and the rear speakers have a LEGO-spewing blast, with light, clik-clak-clinking directional effects and slick cross-channel pans. There's nothing mind-blowing or neighbor-waking, but it's all quite satisfying.

LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League - Attack of the Legion of Doom! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Click, Zap, Boom! Creating the Sound Design (HD, 20 minutes): A surprisingly in-depth look at ALD's sound design with producer/director Brandon Vietti, sound designer Rob McIntyre, foley mixer Aran Tanchum, and foley artist Vincent Guisetti. It's a kid-friendly piece, but thankfully not because it dumbs down the material.

LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League - Attack of the Legion of Doom! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Unlike Batman Unlimited: Monster Madness, LEGO Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom! understands its strengths, its audience and its humor, delivering another tongue-in-cheek LEGO parody as enjoyable as it is quick on its feet. Warner's Blu-ray release delivers too. There aren't nearly as many supplements as I'd like, but the disc's AV presentation doesn't disappoint. Ultimately, LEGO fans will eat this right up.