This is a review for the Home Premiere screening of Warner Bros. Discovery’s 2022 animated DC movie League of Super-Pets – starring Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, John Krasinski, Kate McKinnon, Marc Maron and Keanu Reeves.
Synopsis
This movie follows the narrative of Superman’s best friend and pet dog Krypto. After the Justice League face a serious threat from super-villainous animals, there’s only one team that can save them; The League of Super-Pets. Krypto recruits these pets to help go up against a evil Guinea Pig version of Lex Luthor. Can they stop them in time before the Justice League are lost forever?
Review
From the beginning to the end, DC League of Super-Pets movie is lighthearted, a great balance of comedy and action, as well as an entertaining for the family.
Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart’s screen chemistry manages to translate so well to both animation and live-action (Central Intelligence & Jumanji).
The rest of the cast are also a barrel of laughs, especially Kate McKinnon who plays a Guinea Pig that captures the evil mastermind trope well as Lulu. Keanu Reeves voice as Batman was refreshing to hear! Didn’t ever imagine Reeves voicing Batman, now I need more of this.
The movie fulfilled plot description, however the story does lack originality, in that it replicates the same powers and plots for the regular Justice League onto the pet version… very predictable! Lulu is basically the pet version of Lex and same for most of the rest of the characters matching their hero counterparts. Regardless about the originality, it was still enjoyable seeing how these adorable Super-pets would solve problems in this world.
The narrative of belonging or not being alone were represented in such a heartfelt way, reminded me of stories such as Toy Story and Megamind, involving the hero aspect.
It was surprising how long the human versions of the Justice League were in the movie for! I was expecting them to be in the movie very briefly and the entire focus to be on the pets, however there’s a substantial amount of scenes involving them while the pets still remain the main characters. There were also plenty of references to the comics to look out for that were nice to see included in the background.
Loving the animation style; the elongated facial features get rid of the uncanny valley effect for the people. The suit designs look amazing, especially Batman’s! Superpowers and movement were smooth and vibrant. However, there’s this big sequence when a certain character had been enlarged during the film; the character was lacking a lot of detail and involved quite few characters moving around the screen. This gave the impression of the scene being low quality and rushed compared to the rest of the film.
Animation was the best way to convey this type of story for a kids movie. It would also be amazing to see a live-action version.
In terms of music, It was quite a surprise to hear classic themes such as John Williams’ Superman theme and Danny Elfman’s Batman included. There also the typicial bold soundtracks throughout, to give it that hero/hopeful feeling.
Had a great time watching DC League of Super-Pets! The animation is very creative and it’s also a fun family movie. Highly recommended and I hope there is a sequel.
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