Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse Blu-ray Movie Review

A team-up no one asked for.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III May 26, 2022

Originally planned as a direct-to-video outing for the second team in its title, Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse was reportedly changed into a crossover to quell studio insistence; after all, the inexplicably mega-popular Teen Titans Go! is now in its seventh season and the last two films, To the Movies and vs. Teen Titans, were mostly well-received. (Super Hero Girls, in contrast, is nearing the end of its run as the show will likely not be renewed for a third season.) It's a sore spot almost smoothed over by Mayhem's meta-opening scene in which the Teen Titans -- Robin (Scott Menville), Cyborg (Khary Payton), Raven (Tara Strong), Starfire (Hynden Walch), and Beast Boy (Greg Cipes) -- are told by villainous Control Freak (Alexander Polinsky) that they're now part of a...

This opening scene -- which also declares DVDs an obsolete medium, even though Warner Bros.' Blu-ray combo pack includes one -- pretty much sets the tone for Mayhem in the Multiverse, which desperately wants viewers to believe it's all wacky, harmless fun starring the pint-sized jokesters. But if you're just here to see the Teen Titans, prepare to be disappointed: they're in it for maybe 20 minutes, which makes sense considering the film's original plan. So you damn sure won't see them again for a while, as we shift gears over to the Super Hero Girls' universe where Wonder Woman (Grey Griffin), Supergirl (Nicole Sullivan), Batgirl (Tara Strong), Bumblebee (Kimberly Brooks), the Jess Cruz version of Green Lantern (Myrna Velasco), and Zatanna (Kari Wahlgren) discover a plot by Lex Luthor (Will Friedle) who, armed with the powers of sorceress Cythonna (Missi Pyle), aims to zap everyone to the Phantom Zone. He assembles an army by way of the Legion of Doom, the Justice League gets involved, Harley Quinn (Tara Strong, pulling triple duty) hangs out with Batgirl... and the Teen Titans are basically stuck on their couch, but eventually show up.

Anyway, it's tough to truly rate the plot of Mayhem in the Multiverse because the whole thing is so sloppily stitched together and overstuffed that neither camp will likely be happy with the end result. (If by chance, you're a die-hard fan of both shows, let me know how you like it.) There are dozens upon dozens of characters that factor into its story and lots of padding too, so good luck keeping track of any and all character motivations and relationships, or gleaning any kind of real emotional engagement. It's not a total loss; voice work is solid, the clean and colorful animation feels true to both franchises, and a few jokes land well enough. But Mayhem in the Multiverse isn't so much a missed opportunity as it is a needless pairing of two seemingly like-minded but very different things that, when blended together, are less palatable than either one on its own. You know, like a peanut butter and watermelon smoothie.

Not surprisingly, Warner Bros.' Blu-ray and DVD (*snicker*) combo pack offers the bare minimum of support: the A/V presentation is good enough, sure, but the only extras on board are a few episodes of each respective animated series. No behind-the-scenes featurettes, interviews, or audio commentaries, which either means that (a) the studio refused to pony up a few bucks, or (b) the creative team didn't want to talk about it. I'd believe either one.

Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

While I obviously wasn't taken by the main feature, Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse at least looks good with a clean, crisp 1080p transfer that showcases its simple but fun visual design that fans should instantly be familiar with. Colors are nicely saturated and black levels hold up reasonably well with only a few traces of banding and posterization, and even the disc's single-layered storage has more than enough real estate for the movie and extras (~110 minutes) to keep other compression-related issues at bay. Only the film's frequently scruffy linework, seen much more visibly in close-ups, can be mistaken for jagged edges but that's obviously not the case here. Overall, it's a fine effort that might have benefitted from a 4K upscale... but probably not by much.

Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Likewise, the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio has its share of feature-length ambitions, even if Mayhem in the Multiverse's story doesn't. Dialogue remains clean and crisp (except for Batman's, of course) and background effects are balanced nicely, while surround channels and discrete effects open up nicely during frequent action scenes and other outbursts. The score follows suit with a strong dynamic range and mixing that doesn't demand volume adjustment along the way. Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are thankfully offered during the main feature and extras.

Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc release ships in a dual-hubbed keepcase with colorful cover art, a slipcover, and a Digital Copy code. Extras are limited to a trio of vintage cartoons from the DC vault; these might be a selling point for fans, as they're presented in HD with lossless audio and not available elsewhere on Blu-ray. But these teams met before on the Teen Titans Go! episodes "Superhero Feud" and four-part "Space House", so why not include those instead?

• DC Super Hero Girls, Season 2: "#SmallVictories" (11:26) - The 72nd nugget-sized episode of the series, this adventure sees Karen/Bumblebee use a molecular amplifier that accidentally shrinks her to an even smaller size (whoopsie!), so it's up to Diana/Wonder Woman to make things right.

• Teen Titans Go!, Season 4: "Titan Saving Time" (11:13) - The 172nd episode of this long-running series, here we see Starfire lead her fellow Titans on a quest to find the missing hour of Daylight Savings Time.

• Teen Titans Go!, Season 2: "Operation Tin Man" (11:04) - Rewinding to the 45th episode, this episode follows a prank war between Gizmo and Cyborg after a fake kidnapping attempt.

Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse is a poorly-conceived crossover event that probably won't appeal to fans of the former, as the Teen Titans are clearly shoe-horned in with barely 20 minutes of screen time. But even though it's not much of a team-up, this combination still ends up working against the end result: its story is overstuffed and hard to follow, with a pace and mood that wear out their welcome long before the 79-minute running time is over. Even so, die-hard fans of Super Hero Girls may find more to like (whether or not it's an unofficial send-off) and the voice work and animation are both up to par. Warner Bros.' Blu-ray earns solid A/V marks, but the extras are limited to a few random episodes of each series and nothing more. A "try before you buy" disc, for sure.