Lego DC Comics Super
Heroes: The Flash ** ½ / *****
Directed by: Ethan Spaulding.
Written by: James Krieg & Jeremy
Adams based on the DC Comics characters.
Starring: James Arnold Taylor (The
Flash / Barry Allen), Kate Micucci (Zatanna), Kevin Michael Richardson (Doctor
Fate), Troy Baker (Batman / Bruce Wayne), Nolan North (Superman / Clark Kent /
Kal-El / Killer Croc / Waylon Jones), Grey DeLisle (Wonder Woman / Diana Prince),
Khary Payton (Cyborg / Victor Stone), Dwight Schultz (Reverse-Flash / Eobard
Thawne), Eric Bauza (The Atom / B'dg / Jimmy Olsen), Tom Kenny (Plastic Man /
Patrick 'Eel' O'Brian / The Penguin / Oswald Cobblepot), Phil LaMarr (Firestorm
/ Jason Rusch), Vanessa Marshall (Poison Ivy / Pamela Isley), Dee Bradley Baker
(Captain Boomerang / Aquaman / Arthur Curry), Jason Spisak (The Joker), Audrey
Wasilewski (Mayor).
No,
I don’t usually review direct to video, animated film featuring superheroes,
aimed at children. But my daughter has fallen in love with the DC Super Hero
Girls, and as a result, the DC comic book heroes in general. Wonder Woman is
her favorite – naturally – but through that, she has fallen for the others, and
we have watched many of the DC Lego movies so far – the DC Super Hero Girls
Brain Drain most often, but also a number of the Batman/Justice League ones.
Their latest is The Flash, and its 78 minutes of mainly goofy, harmless fun. It
doesn’t have the inventiveness or fun of something made for the big screen like
The Lego Batman Movie – but it’s more entertaining than it probably should be.
In
the film, The Flash meets his match when someone calling himself Reverse-Flash
shows up (it’s easy to tell them apart, because Reverse-Flash wears the same
costume as Flash, except they’ve the colors flipped red and yellow around).
Reverse-Flash is from the future, and tricks Flash into repeatedly go back in
time to live the same day over and over again – all so he can sever the Flash’s
relationship with something called the Speed Force (don’t ask) and turn
everyone against Flash and rob him of his powers. When Flash goes to get them
back – going to the place where the Speed Force originated from – well,
everyone learns some valuable lessons.
I’m
not going to try and pretend this is a particularly good movie. It isn’t – it
has the feel of exactly what it is – a direct-to-DVD/VOD animated film aimed at
children. But it’s goofy fun, done with the same spirit as all the Lego movies
– which don’t take themselves too seriously, and find some fun ways to tell the
stories visually. You can call it cynical if you want to – especially since the
movie throws in cameos from Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aqua Man, The
Joker, Penguin, etc. – as a way to ensure that kid fans of those heroes/villains
will also watch – and you wouldn’t really be wrong, but so be it. These movies
work well for what they intended to do – which is to be the superhero movies
you can show your younger children so they don’t have to deal with the violence
of Wonder Woman (we’re getting closer to the age where we’ll let our oldest
watch last year’s film – but aren’t there yet) or all the self-serious brooding
of the rest of the DC cinematic universe. It’s goofy and silly and harmless,
and given what some studios think is worth putting into theaters for kids (say,
Sherlock Gnomes) better than it probably has to be in order to make money.
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