Hey there, Bat Fans!
For those of you who didn’t know, I went to NYCC earlier this month, and it was incredible. Nick and Casper tagged along, which was super fun (more on that here), and I’m looking forward to doing it again next year!
While I was there, I was lucky enough to get a seat in the world premiere of Battle of the Super Sons, so I’m gonna talk about it! Obviously, as the movie is only out today, this will be an extremely spoiler-laden article, so this is your official warning.
SUPER spoiler free review: the movie was good and I loved it. You should check it out! It’s cute, family friendly (though there’s a little language for parents who are concerned. Nothing extreme, but it is there.), and an all-around great time. I’ll put actual spoilers in tags and give a proper warning later on.
The Source Material
Is there anything you NEED to read before watching this movie? Technically, no.
However, I would be extremely remiss if I didn’t recommend Peter Tomasi’s run on the Sons (Reviews for the different #1s of that run here, here, and here). Please go check that out, it’s incredible.
This omnibus is one of my favorite purchases I’ve ever made.
The Movie
This was possibly the perfect movie debut for these boys. Every second is filled with action, wonder, and fun. I’ll admit I was a little nervous. I’m not usually the biggest fan of CG animation, and with this being DC’s first fully CG film (League of Super-Pets excluded, of course), I had some pretty big reservations headed in.
I’m happy to report, however, the movie looks great! There was a ton of love and effort put into this film, and it shows! The characters and sets look incredible! CG usually tends to look kind of cheap in my opinion, be it framerate issues, poor character models, or wonky animation, but this whole movie was smooth and well coordinated. In fact, I was really surprised to not have really any notes at all in terms of the visuals! Great work, WB Animation!
The plot of the movie isn’t anything new. It’s a classic alien invasion plot, with the boys having to show down against an army of Starro-infected heroes and save the world without (and even from) their dads. What it lacks in originality, however, Battle of the Super Sons more than makes up for in pure, unadulterated fun. Whether it’s watching Damian nerve strike Jon’s school bully, seeing Jon hang out with Bat-Cow, or watching Clark banter with Jon about how much Gotham stinks, there’s almost constantly something going on to keep both the kids and adults entertained.
And make no mistake, it is entertaining. As I mentioned before, I had the distinct pleasure of seeing this movie premiere at NYCC, and you could feel the energy in the room. The whole audience was hooked the whole ride through. There were laughs, there were cheers, the spectacle of it all was incredible. Incredible, yes, but not without its heartfelt moments. Nothing earth-shattering, of course, this is still a kids’ comedy, but the moments where Jon and Damian are real with each other, worried about their dads, hell, even worried WITH their dads, all resonated tremendously with the audience.
Speaking of dads, I want to take a moment to talk about Bruce and Clark in this movie. While it’s very much still the Sons’ movie, Batman and Superman are in the title, and for good reason. This is as much a movie about the Super Sons stepping up to the plate as it is the World’s Finest figuring out how to guide them. The scenes with Clark and Jon, especially, stood out to me as some of the best in the film. Some slight spoilers in the tags below.
The film makes a very interesting choice to start Jon out as having no clue to the true identity of his father, so there’s a very heartwarming (and breaking) scene where Clark has to miss Jon’s baseball game (on his birthday, no less!). Jon develops powers in his emotional distress, and we get to see Clark deal with “The Talk” in a way that really shows his dad-ness at full power.
Damian and Bruce’s relationship is unfortunately played for laughs a little more than I would have liked. There’s some cute moments towards the end, but we never really get that same level of genuineness that Clark and Jon are granted. I feel like Bruce and Damian don’t really get many genuine, wholesome father/son moments these days, and I would have liked to see that side of their relationship, especially in a movie like this.
This problem extends to the rest of the film as well, Jon feels like the main character, which is fine, and works well enough, but Damian feels a little sidelined as a result. This doesn’t ruin the movie by any means, but when you’re one half of the title, it kinda feels like you should get a tiny bit more love.
The Voice Cast
This is honestly the part where I have the biggest gripe with the movie. Now, I want to start this off by saying that every single actor in this movie does a fantastic job. I legitimately do not think anyone in this movie could have given a better performance. Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey are perfect as Clark and Lois, which is no surprise, given their real-world parenting experience. Troy Baker is, of course, fantastic as Bruce Wayne, as we all knew he was. Darin De Paul was a choice I didn’t expect for Lex Luthor, but his performance was incredible.
The problem, unfortunately, lies with our two protagonists. Again, Jack Griffo and Jack Dylan Grazer give phenomenal performances as Damian and Jon respectively. I want to stress that as much as I can; I think they were incredible.
However…
They are both very clearly past puberty. While their energy and cadence are perfect for the pre-teens they’re portraying, their voices are a little too old for the roles. As such, both Jon and Damian spend the movie sounding a little too close to adults for my liking. It didn’t ruin the movie by any means, and you do eventually get used to it, but I think casting could have done a little better with finding younger sounding actors.
Overall
This movie was pretty great. It was the perfect amount of fun, silly adventure mixed with serious, action-packed thrills that will keep any DC fan, young or old, satisfied til the end. Now, because I saw it at NYCC, I didn’t get a look at any of the special features, so I can’t really comment on their quality, but everything looks exciting! I’d say you’re definitely getting your money’s worth on the film alone, though. I hope we get to see more of these movies soon!
Score: 9/10
