Teen Titans Go! To The Movies review

My opinion right after watching the movie

My opinion right after watching the movie is that it’s cute…… I was shocked that it had more story than I was expecting, and the animation was definitely better, despite having a TV show budget. There was way too many flatulence jokes for me, and the characters were kind of non-characters, but it was kind of pleasant, airy film to watch.

Production

There really is no information for me to discuss, other than the fact that Warner Brothers revealed the release date on September 2017, and most of the cast from the show reprise their roles.

Story

The movie starts with the Teen Titans fighting the Balloon Man in Jump City, who ends up stopping because he does not know who they are, quoting a bunch of superheroes, even from Marvel. The Justice League ends up stopping him, and tells them that they need to act properly and be heroic in order for people to take him seriously. A premiere of a Batman movie takes place, where all of the superheroes attend, and after everything in Batman’s life but Robin (Scott Menville) in in the lineup for upcoming movies, causing him to be humiliated after thinking he was going to get a movie.

After spoofing The Circle of Life, his friends try to cheer him up with a movie they made, but Robin is insistent on finding/making his own movie. Ultimately, they all go to Hollywood (particularly Warner Brothers Studios). They approach movie director named Jade (Kristen Bell) about making a movie about Robin not being a sidekick anymore.

 

Of course Jade says no, since he’s like the least interesting person ever, as he is a sidekick with no villain. All of the Titans decide to fly to Krypton in an a tempt to prevent Superman from existing in the current manner, to save Krypton. They do this with several other superhero origins, and it becomes clear that we have “messing up with history, and now we need to reverse it” plot.

Of course when they return to the present, the world is in absolute chaos, there is no cinema, and they need the superheroes back, so they undo all of the damage (which is kind of immoral when you really think about it). They end up fighting Slade (Will Arentt), and are successful, which causes them to be more well-known, and are ultimately given a movie deal.

Anyways, they see the Justice League making the doomsday device, after the Titans have caused mischief all day, but they are booted from the movie after trying to destroy the doomsday device (which is really an acronym for a streaming service). Jade states that because no one takes them seriously, she will only make the movie about Robin, but knows that he would not take the movie without them. Ultimately he ditches them, and says that no one takes them seriously together, which shocks them.

Of course he is enjoying the perks and luxuries of filming his own movie, and being an actor, but starts to miss his friends more and more. He has a light knocked over him, and is transferred over to the real Titan Power to “film the final scene”.

Ultimately, we have a “liars revealed” scene, where Jade is really Slade in disguised. He reveals that his entire plan was to give the superheroes movie deals, so he can get the tools he needed to brainwash everyone. Of course Robin is regretful, and calls his friends to apologize, but they reunite before he even finishes the call. What you expect to take place ends up taking place, with Slade being defeated. Oh, somewhere in the middle of this, Robin is brainwashed, and is force to fight his friends. The overall message of the film is that you don’t need to be a super to be hero, but to be yourself, which is nice enough I guess.

Honestly, I do think it was unique how they touched upon the meta, and fourth-wall elements to being a superhero, and the franchises as a whole, especially regarding merchandising and movies. At the same time, there really is not much to the film, and it is nothing anyone should really watch more than once. Kind of pleasant, but very mediocre overall.

Characters

Well, the characters fall really flat here. Robin is kind of just the generic protagonist who wants to feel important and find his purpose, without all of the depth to it. Slade is just a villain who is not particularly memorable, and the other Teen Titans are even less characterized/relevant as the other 5 heroes in Big Hero 6; being reduced to plot devices to encourage Robin.

Animation

The animation is nice. I mean, there is a lot of colour that captures the eye, backgrounds are more detailed than I was expecting, though the character designs and effects overall were kind of just meh. Of course the movement was going to be relatively choppy, due to this having a TV show edit, and them being cartoon superheroes, so I was relatively fine with it.

Music

I do not really remember any of the music in this film. It’s literally just the generic superhero score without any intrigue, and if there are any songs, it is probably best that I literally have no memory of them.

Reception at Release

When the film was released on July 22nd, it made $29.6 million domestically, and $22 million in other territories, adding up to a worldwide amount of $51.9 million. Since it had a $10 million budget, it still manged to make a profit for the studio.

Score

Story: 7/10

Characters: 5/10

Animation: 6/10

Music: 5/10

23/40 = 58%

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