In its heyday from the late ‘90s to the mid ‘00s, I was a huge fan of Cartoon Network, watching blocks of programming with my daughter consisting of shows like “Dexter’s Laboratory,” “The Powerpuff Girls,” and “Samurai Jack”. With all of this, the most important to us over time was “Justice League,” featuring the most iconic of DC characters in stories that both of us could relate to (even though it tended to be more in my wheelhouse than hers). As “Justice League” faded, “Teen Titans” debuted to my daughter’s delight on the level that its predecessor did for me, giving her a series of her own. Also much like “Justice League,” it was abruptly cancelled and then resurrected as “Teen Titans Go!,” featuring an even more light-hearted and comical nature than the first run, followed by a leap to the big screen with “Teen Titans Go! To The Movies”.
After years of being the punch line to their older counterparts and discarded as a group of sidekicks, Beast Boy (Greg Cipes), Cyborg (Khary Payton), Raven (Tara Strong), Starfire (Hayden Walch), and Robin (Scott Menville) make it their mission to get the respect they feel they deserve by getting their own movie (mostly by Robin himself). Knowing that it is just as important to have a villain as it is to have a hero (or heroes), they focus their attention to Slade (Will Arnett), who is bent on world domination. They will be pushed to their limit as heroes and they will have their relationships tested both as a team and as friends.
Given how great the marketing for this film was from its hilarious trailers to one sheets taking shots at Warner Bros.’ own properties, I had high hopes here. Add to that a ton of celebrity cameos including Nicholas Cage (finally) as Superman, and I was all in. Unfortunately though, this kind of makes it collapse under its own super weight. While highly enjoyable at moments, it relies on toilet humor type jokes, a second act that drags on much too long, lives on its cliché and predictable script, and really has no heart to it. For the most part, this is just brightly colored noise that lacks the greatness that is at the core of the DC Animated Universe as it was shown on Cartoon Network. Perhaps this could have been better as a multi-part series on the small screen, and it still is a fun film, but all at once is simply too much.