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Justice League:Secrets Origins

Justice League:Secrets Origins

List Price: $14.97
Your Price: $13.47
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: This disk comes up short
Review: The problem with this disk is that it is only the one, hour long episode. Extras?? Nothing to really recommend this disk for. For the price, save your money and watch it on Cartoon Network. Great start to the series, but not a bargin disk by any means.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: It looks better then it is
Review: A while ago I saw a new show on television. I had been looking forward to the new Justice League cartoon. I have to disagree with it's good press. The Batman Adventures show was excellent, the Superman Adventures top rate. Batman Beyond was well written and produced, though not strictly my cup of tea. A kind of comic book cloning, without the virtue or soul of the original. You see it in the movies with pointless remakes and copies. I've never been sold on the idea that once the hero is aged or passed on he is replaced by a young version of himself. Those first two were great, The Batman & Superman shows, filled with as close to the perfect balance between the classic Gold & Silver Age comic book stories and the "Dark Age of Comics" of today. With a depth of character and quality plots, fine villains and complicated, yet stalwart heroes. Fun, like the kind you read as a kid, yet better, good enough to entertain the whole family like a clever episode of The Simpsons or Bugs Bunny Loony Toon. In the new League the heroes have all the weaknesses & flaws of real-life heroes, yet none of the true-life virtues, like honesty, faith in God or patriotism. Pretty strange behavior for a superhero, don't you think? The villains in the premiere episode were literally faceless as well as figuratively. The alien mastermind, a protoplasmic blob acting in the most stereotypical fashion, makes their old nemesis Starro the giant starfish look like a supermodel. His pawn, the senator look-alike, was an obvious X-Men Movie's Senator Kelly [copy.] For no apparent reason J'onn Jo'nnz resembled, with his high collar, mechanical demeanor and disrupting power, & acted and continues to act more like Marvel comics hero The Vision then The Martian Manhunter. Out of the many, too many versions of Green Lantern, the original Alan Scott, the universally acknowledged greatest Hal Jordan, the crude, brash, but wonderful foil Guy Gardner, John Stewart was chosen, the bottom of the barrel. Created as an the token, sterotypical angry black GL with one of the most stupid origins in comics. (Hal slips in the shower, his stand-in is called) When they are going to create an original, quality, American African superhero without the word 'Black' in his name is beyond me. Green Lantern was almost done right with the hybrid version featured on the Superman show. Even the Guardians were better with females even included! The King of the Sea was done right with the tough, though a bit Sub-Mariner-like, Aquaman appearance in another Superman episode. It appears however a ridiculous, longhaired bearded pirate with a hook has taken his place with the Justice League. This time stealing even more from the Sub-Mariner with the reintroduction of his ridiculous evil half brother. All that's missing is the parrot on his shoulder. The Flash is a similar story to Green Lantern's. The greatest Flash, Barry Allen, with one of the best rogues galleries and a smashing origin involving a stormy night a lightning bolt and an accidental chemical bath is tossed aside in favor of his dummied down sometimes sidekick. The all grownup and revised one-time Kid Flash, Wally West, a guy who's first instinct is to hit on the Princess Diana (Wonder Woman) and actually once had a job with the IRS! You can't get any lower then that. They should knock it off & revive the fastest man alive, the sorely missed Mr. Allen. The actor playing Superman was good on the Superman show, but now seems lost & weakly written. Scarcely a hint of the world's finest hero the way he is consantly beaten up by his foes in practically every episode. Wonder Woman, also revised in recent years, rather then a warrior for peace, as originally conceived by her creator is instead portrayed as a elitist, monarchist Xena-like 'Warrior Born', without that great invisible robot plane of hers. Hawkgirl. I always liked Hawkman & Hawkgirl when they were together. Imagine, a husband and wife team actually getting along. That would be different. I have read reprints of both Silver & Golden Age stories. Totally ruined later on I would like to see them return without all the baggage. By herself Hawkgirl was always a minor heroine. I hope to finally see good things done with the winged duo. Batman was the only one who seemed to capture the right spirit. Perhaps because the actor Kevin Conroy from Batman Adventures was still doing his voice. One point about him I didn't like was the idea that the space station was built by Bruce Wayne's company. Not even Bill Gates could afford such a thing. In short, this new cartoon reminds me of the mistakes made in comics over the last several years. In order to make up for a bit of long in the tooth continuity and other deficiencies they've thrown out the baby with the bathwater. Rejecting far too many of the great stories and characters. All in all this is not up to the high standard previously set with Batman and Superman Adventures. I always thought comics & superhero cartoons were supposed to be fun and entertaining. And yes, maybe even educational in the 'Crime does not pay", don't lie, don't cheat, don't be the Lex Luthor of your neighborhood kind of way. They need to try harder before they do as well as one newsprint reviewer suggests they have. They need to look at the classic JLA stories and villains and build on them as was done before with the Man of Steel and Caped Crusader. In fact, they should start the improvements with a name change. It should be 'The Justice League of America' again. I would not recomend this video. You'd be better off buying one of the Superfriends. They may be old-fashioned. They may even be a bit corny. But at least the heroes are heroic and the stories are fun.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A natural extension of the WB version of the DC universe
Review: Perhaps the best aspect of this movie has to be the introduction of major players in the DC universe (notably Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter) who had hitherto been absent in either the 1990's WB Batman or Superman series.

Backed by a strong plot, the movie (titled "Secret Orgins"; originally a three part story) explores the manner by which Superman draws his fellow superheroes into a unified team for the purpose to protect the planet. The backstories of Diana [a.k.a] Wonder Woman and J'onn Jonzz [a.k.a] Martian Manhunter are revealed throughout the course of the story. Intriguing character relationships are introduced (i.e. the Flash and Green Lantern) and the series' intergalactic setting is introduced.

It is unfortunate, however, that more special features were not included on this disc (beyond the standard trailers and character profiles). Especially missed was commentary featuring series creator Bruce Timm included on previous Batman and Superman DVD discs.

Overall, "Secret Origins" is a welcome addition to the WB version of the DC universe and serves as springboard to the future stories of the Justice League which carry the heroes from the boundaries of Earth to the far reaches of the universe.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: What is that I smell?
Review: It's the horrendous stench coming from this poorly written story.
These dumb writers have managed to completely destroy Superman in the past decade. At first Superman couldn't fly, then he could (which was good), then he was basically invulnerable (with the exception of being exposed to kryptonite).. and then it went downhill. He started to grunt when he lifted heavy objects, he started to gasp and clench himself in pain when he got shot, and now.. he has the voice of Mark Hammill on helium. Since when can wonder woman fly? Since when was The Green Lantern a black guy? Since when were writers replaced with utter morons with no knowledge of what they're writing about in the first place. You would think it would be a prerequisite for writing a script of this magnitude to actually know what the Hell you're doing. They did a good job on Batman and Flash, I'll give them that.. but all the other characters were poorly conceived.

In despite of all the numerous flaws, this movie wasn't *too* terrible. I did like when it ended, after all.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good Show, however...
Review: Enough with the single disc DVDs being released time to time. Its all good that the "Pilot" episode was released on its own but now we have another disc coming out that has the next two stories. Instead they should just release the entire season (however far they have reached) in a box-set or something. I say "however far..." because I am not quite sure myself if the creators want to continue with the show or not. Seems to have come to a complete halt all of a sudden although I dont understand why. The show was good enough to keep the superhero genre going on in the cartoon network channel. Cause if you ask me, there are a very few shows, namely 'Samurai Jack, Transfromers Armada, Dragon Ball (Z), Gundam & a few other animes' that are worth watching.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good adaptation of the story
Review: We bought this for our son and he loves it. I'm not a comic book fiend, nor do I consider myself an expert on superheroes. I can only say as a parent, that I enjoyed watching this movie with my son. It has a good storyline and fills in some of the gaps around how some of these superheroes got their start. I also enjoyed the humorous dialogue. I was disappointed that there wasn't a series of these movies.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: This Is No Lightweight Justice League
Review: I have to admit when this movie came on the Cartoon Network in the USA I was skeptical about it. It was good that the people who worked with the animated Superman and Batman was on hand to work on Justice League. This isn't your old Superfriends and boy I'm glad it isn't. Don't get me wrong the old Superfriends for its time was good and but this is a new era and some stories should be retold, as long as its retold correctly.

The debut of this series follows Batman, Superman,Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkgirl and the Martian Manhunter whom the story is bulit around and the alien threat that made me wonder how the Justice League would put an end to it. This isn't a lightweight story it is by far an all-around solid story with solid characters and action. I wonder why Hollywood hasn't taken on the challenge of bring animated superheros to the big screen. Wouldn't the the potential for a successful animated franchise be greater?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A true cartoon classic!
Review: With Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Flash & (??? Green Man). This could either be a messy production or a wonderful one. Lucikly, this is a powerful combination with a great story line.

When the world's satellites are destroyed one by one. Nobody seems to claim responsibility. Batman already began to suspect there more to this than mere damage. Then came the invaders from outer space. The superfriends join forces to fight the evil enemies.

Watching these heros in action is great. The animation is fantastic and the sound quality pretty good. The only sad thing: This is one episode only, hope the rest would come soon on DVD.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Many superheros in one video......
Review: I bought this for my 4 year old son. And he loves this video. We lost our first copy and had to replace it with a 2nd copy. It's a nice video with all the favorite superheroes all in one video. It's fun!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Justice League Powers On To DVD
Review: This DVD contains the feature length pilot that introduced the new DC Comics animated series 'Justice League' from Cartoon Network and the critically acclaimed Bruce Timm. Timm has previously worked on projects such as the hugely influential and Emmy award winning 'Batman: The Animated Series', 'Batman Beyond' and several animated Batman feature lengths. 'Justice League' takes a step back from the dark environment and stories in 'Batman: TAS' and brings a fresh, colourful take on the JLA (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash and Hawk Girl). The series main audience is children but don't let that put you off because there is a lot here for adults that most children wouldn't get and the stories are entertaining. The animation and voice talent is excellent as you would expect from a Bruce Timm show, although Wonder Woman can sound bored or detatched at times. Other than that my only other complaint is that Batman is often away from the action and the rest of the team and has lost some of the dark charm displayed in previous shows and the comic books. The series improved after being sanctioned for a full season with characters and stories both developing but this is a good introduction to the show and is enjoyable for both children and adults, especially comic book fans. The DVD also features character bios and an exclusive web link.


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