Rating: ***
Review Date: 2/19/15
Cast: Troy Baker, Grey Griffin, Nolan North, Mark Hamill
"That's about as normal as Batman smiling."
A definite improvement over the previous "Justice League vs. Bizarro League" movie (2015), which was bogged down in guilt and shame. This movie is all about the action, although it does become a bit tedious after a while. With Earth's mightiest heroes working together as the Justice League, super villains are having a hard time getting by. As a result, Lex Luthor creates the Legion Of Doom and recruits the world's vilest criminals to join him in combating the Justice League and taking over the world. Well, okay, he only recruits five villains and sends the rest home for some reason. Working behind the scenes is Darkseid, who gives Luthor the tools necessary to eradicate the Justice League, and he instructs Luthor to liberate Martian Manhunter from Area 52. The naïve Martian Manhunter joins the Legion Of Doom out of gratitude and puts together a plan to have the Justice League exiled from Earth. Cyborg suspects something fishy is going on and goes rogue to investigate. Eventually, Martian Manhunter realizes he's been duped and switches sides to help the Justice League, and the world is saved.
It's a fun and exciting action romp filled with all of the gags and humor that you expect from a Lego production. Unfortunately, much of the writing is overly juvenile and the characters can become a bit grating after a while. Cyborg, Flash, and Green Lantern are especially annoying. Once again, the ultra-paranoid and eternally grumpy Batman (Troy Baker) steals the show with his overly dramatic theatrics and is utterly delightful. He even does the Batussi in a dream sequence, which is good for laughs. The animation is fantastic and it's always fun seeing the characters engage in wanton acts of destruction. The story primarily revolves around Cyborg and his bumbling attempts to fit in with the JLA, which is unfortunate because he's the most annoying and irritating character in the show. Likewise, the petty rivalry between Flash and Green Lantern to try and impress Wonder Woman (Grey Griffin) is overplayed and appalling. I suppose it's all in good fun and younger viewers may find humor it in, but I found many of the characters unnecessarily offensive. However, overall it's a highly enjoyable film and I continue to look forward to more Lego adventures in the future.