Justice League. The New Frontier Special Edition [Blu ray]

Customer Reviews

good but nothing new

2008-10-27
first off i really liked this movie, it is a really solid telling of the justice league begining. however, if you are familiar with the justice league, have seen justice league the animated show, or are an avid comic book fan, chances are you're familiar with the characters and the stories. it's inspirational towards the end with some good leadership speeches, but again, been there. i'd say it's very much worth watching but i wouldn't buy it.

Best DC animated film along with Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

2008-10-17
Let me start off by saying this film is PURE JOY for silver age comic fans. It's not hard to get excited while watching your favorite DC heroes with all their classic retro glory featured in a mature/intelligent/emotionally gripping story. It makes an excellent companion piece to the award winning graphic novel by Darwyn Cooke. (who was also actively involved in this production)

Even though it was necessary to excise much of the story because of time constraints, Bruce Timm and co. still manage to capture the essence of the piece in a limited running time. In fact, the length is my only real complaint. There's no reason why Warner should not approve a larger budget for these fine DC Universe titles. A lengthier running time than 70 minutes should be common sense when adapting an epic yarn such as The New Frontier. Still, the animators make great use of what they have and the running time is only a minor complaint. Here's hoping for an eventual "director's cut" with added material.

As I've said, I do enjoy nearly everything about this film. First off, the animation is very rich and picturesque. Definitely well above your Saturday morning quality. The retro/Golden Age/Silver Age character designs are breathtaking. Seeing Superman look as if he could be the same Superman from the Fleischer cartoons and Batman appearing as if he leaped from the pages of Bob Kane's original comics is just beyond cool. I prefer these designs to those in the Justice League/Justice League Unlimited cartoons. As for the voice acting, the surprising choice of actors do a very inspired job. You have to remember that they're voicing the Golden/Silver Age versions of these characters, and they absolutely NAIL it. Kyle MacLachlan is perfect as this era's Superman. Jeremy Sisto also puts in a first-rate performance as Bob Kane's Batman, it's a complete 180 from Kevin Conroy and that's exactly what this version of the character needs. Lucy Lawless, Neil Patrick Harris, Miguel Ferrer, Brooke Shields, David Boreanaz, etc. also do exceptional work in bringing their characters to life.

No offense to Kyle Rayner or John Stewart, but as we all know Hal Jordan is THE Green Lantern. The New Frontier is one of the best depictions of this character in all of comics and likewise with the film adaptation. It's great to finally see Hal Jordan given some animated justice as a deep, compelling character. This film succeeds in impacting the viewer on an emotional level, there's more than a few tear jerking moments for DC comics fans in this personal/engaging story. It's all complimented by an uplifting, sweeping score that fits the source material like a brightly colored glove.

And just like the graphic novel on which it's based, this IS intended for older audiences so don't start whining if you buy this DVD for little 5 year old Timmy. Looking at some of the 1 star "reviews" on this page, I see far too many pathetic morons/incompetent parents who bought this film for their 5 year olds without looking at the PG-13 rating and descriptors. I wonder if these automatons somehow think that the film would be appropriate for their small child just because it has Batman, Superman and other heroes on the cover? Do these idiots also buy Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, Superman: Red Son, Marvel Knights, The Ultimates and other mature comics for their children and then complain how inappropriate they are? Do they let their children watch HBO's Spawn animated series or CN's Adult Swim and then endlessly bitch about how explicit the programs are for their kids? Or maybe these are the very same ignorant wastes of flesh who took their children to see The Dark Knight (best film of the year) and then proceeded to moan and bellow about how dark and gritty the film is and call Heath's Joker "Satanic". LMFAO! So of course just disregard any negative rating that uses the PG-13 content as a basis for their opinion, Amazon's overall rating for this movie would definitely be higher.

In conclusion, this is a superb film and excellent adaptation of Darwyn Cooke's modern classic. The 2 disc DVD also includes some very worthwhile extras such as featurettes on the Justice League's history, the Legion of Doom, and commentary by the filmmakers and Darwyn Cooke. Do yourself and every other comics fan a favor by supporting quality productions such as this. 2008 is definitely the year of the comic book film. I hope you enjoy this movie as much as I do.

Not appropriate for small children

2008-10-05
I grew up watching cartoons like batman, superman, wonder woman, etc. So when my three year old son begged me to buy the video, I did. Things must have changed since I grew up. I thought the target audience of these cartoons were kids. I was shocked when I heard my son say "mommy the lady say 'Son of a bitch'". I watched the video and couldn't believe that type of language would be in a superhero cartoon. Well now I am trying to remove this new word from my child's vocabulary.

Justice for The New Frontier

2008-09-25
Justice League: The New Frontier is a good representation of the original Cooke story, but I think it could have benefited from a longer running time and less emphasis on Hal Jordan.

Not really the Justice League, more like Hal Jordan fan service

2008-09-12
As others have mentioned if you go in expecting a Justice League experience like JLU or the JL animated series you are going to be very disappointed. This is more of a retelling of silver age Hal Jordan.

Putting Bat/Supes and WW on the front cover is pure bait and switch, as a die hard fan of JL animated and JLU I feel a bit insulted by this move by DC.

Mature Content, Excellent Extras

2008-09-10
Inspired by the best-selling graphic novel by Darwyn Cooke and produced by the multiple Emmy® award winning animation legend, Bruce Timm, The New Frontier is the epic tale of the founding of the Justice League. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are all here of course, and so are Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Flash - whose incredible origins will be told for the very first time. Strangers at first, these very different heroes must overcome fear and suspicion to forge an alliance against a monster so formidable, even the mighty Superman can not stop it. If they fail, our entire planet will be "cleansed" of humanity.

It Was OK But Nothing Special

2008-08-31
I've never really been a fan of the animated comic book movies, but I decided to give it a try as still being a fan of the heroes I find the Justice League interesting. What I was given was good, but nothing amazing and it certainly didn't change my perception of these types of animated movies.

The story is set in the 1950's and focuses around the original formation of the Justice League of America. Batman and Detective John Jones are trying to solve the mystery of the Centre, Superman and Wonder Woman are soldiers for the US Army, Flash is trying to live a normal life with Special Agent King Farraday always on his tail and Hal Jordan has been selected for a special space mission to Mars. The whole centre mystery primarily focuses around the Martian Manhunter and the birth of the Green Lantern. It's a good little story, but seems to be a film that's trying too hard to appeal to all audiences.

Be warned, the violence is quite graphic and at times the language used is quite colourful. I guess the writers and animators felt that this would help create a higher level of adult realism to the film. On the contrary in fact, it came across as forced and quite ridiculous as a whole.

It's an enjoyable film none the less, but I feel kind of dirty even calling it a film or movie as it's just over an hour long and in my eyes a true film has to be 90 minutes or more. I can imagine that if you're a fan of the old school comic saga or TV shows then this is a film you will love, but to me it was just nothing ground breaking.

Pure clean-cut DC

2008-08-22
Clean concise to the point and very entertaining. This is one of the best animated comic book genre films i've seen in a while. The plot moves along very well without omitting anything important. The surprising thing was that they were able to introduce so many characters so well without making it heavy. Those who are fans of these comics will not be disappointed because they will not have to put up with pointless aspects of back-story that take away from the plot. while those who are new to DC will be captured by compelling characters that they will want to learn more about. I strongly recommend it.

They should've called it "The New Green Lantern & The Flash movie" NOT "Justice League"

2008-08-16
Big hype for nothing. I expected much more (specially after watching the well-done Superman:Doomsday movie).

This New Frontier movie is very focused more on a new Green Lantern. Flash is cool, he's got a big role. No background story. It's like you are expected to know what's happening already.

The rest of the league were very much cameos. They got a couple of lines here and there and that's it. The movie didn't need the total of 5 minutes where you see Superman & Batman (I guess they had to find a place for them because it is Justice League after all). I'm not even sure why supergirl is shown on the cover of this New Frontier (she's not in the movie!!).

Animation is NOT very good at all. A terrible script & a horrible story line. Come on, considering it's the first real animated Justice League movie, you really expect much much more.

Anyways, if you're a fan go ahead and rent it, or something. Just, don't pay more than 7 bucks for it. Oh, and By the way, you need to know that there is absolutely no action at all for the first 43 minutes of the movie (nothing worth mentioning, anyways).

Just awesome!

2008-08-08
Since I was a child, I have always been a big fan of the "Justice League" comic book series. I actually grew up reading Justice League, Justice Society and Legion of Super Heroes comic books from the 70's and 80's and even up to the 90's.

For me, it was the comic to get because all the major DC Super Heroes were featured. You had Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Green Arrow and many others. So, when you bought these comic books, it was a bang for your .25 or .65 cents (depending when you started reading comic books) unlike the several dollar per issue cost that they are now.

As for "Justice League: The New Frontier", this animated film is based on Darwyn Cooke's award-winning graphic novel featuring the Justice League during the Cold War. The heroes under government suspicion, the end of the Korean war and the heroes created with a look that looked unique for that era (despite it being created in several years ago).

This animated film continues DC's continued work to feature our heroes but not cookie cutter as in Saturday's morning cartoons. From the Justice League Unlimited series that was on the Cartoon Network to the last DVD release of "Superman Doomsday", "Justice League: The New Frontier" continues animation for adults.

The film centers around the super heroes as Superman is loyal to the government (despite the government not trusting the heroes); Wonder Woman as the Amazon blood thirsty fighter; Batman as the dark knight that is labeled as an anti-hero, thus being a good guy, is looked at as an enemy due to media portrayal. The Flash as the latest new Hero with super speed who is just emerging onto the scene and the series introduces Hal Jordan (aka the Green Lantern) and how he becomes the one of Earth's heroes and Martian Manhunter, brought to this world but disliked because he is an alien.

Needless to say that each hero has their storyline tied together but the main heroes focused on are Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and the Flash. Hal Jordan as the risk taker, Martian Manhunter aka Jon Jonzz trying to assimilate into American culture via trying too be human and the Flash who feels his power of super speed is not so important.

You do also see a few cameos by other heroes such as the Blackhawks, Adam Strange, John Henry and more.

But all unite together to take on the toughest enemy Earth has ever faced but can the heroes work together despite their differences and will the US government work with them.

All in all, "Justice League: The New Frontier" is a refreshing animated film, something different, that DC fans will just enjoy. It's unique and something that many people familiar to original comic book series may not be accustomed to but moreso, to watch something that is for mature audiences. For example, Hal Jordan having to fight for his life and having to kill and have the blood of the enemy splatter all over him after shooting him with a gun. Again, this is not for the kiddies.

As for the DVD, the special features are simply awesome.

For one, the featurette on "Super Heroes United! The Complete Justice League History" is probably a documentary that I would have bought the DVD just for it. Interviews with past and present DC Justice League writers and history on each heroes and overall, pretty cool featurette on the Justice League. Simply awesome.

The exclusive sneak peak to "Batman Gothic Knight" left me giddy as DC chose to work with Japanese anime creators to create the upcoming Batman animated release.

I have listened to Darwyn Cooke's audio commentary as he talked about the film, the differences between the film and the graphic novel. Actually pretty cool to hear the original creator of the graphic novel chime in on the animated series.

As for the animation, I felt that the animation in correlation with the era this animated film takes place worked quite well. The voice acting is superb with voice acting by well known actors and actresses David Boreanaz ("Bones", "Angel"), Brooke Shields, Lucy Lawless, Kyra Sedgwick, Neil Patrick Harris, Jeremy Sisto and Kyle Maclachlan. Just awesome!