Justice League: The New Frontier

I like comic books. I like movies. Rarely are these two mediums a very good mix. For starters, what works on the pages of a comic book rarely work well actually acted out in 3-D. And no matter how good the special effects, some things just don't look right. The best recent example is The Fantastic Four. Great, great comic book. Lousy movies (worse, they're even lousy for KIDS movies).

For my money, the best comic book adaptations have always been animated (remember BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES from the '90s?). Recently, DC and MARVEL have gotten the hint, and have started producing a bunch of direct-to-DVD animated movies based on their respective books--JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER is the latest.



It's also the best one I've seen.

Rather than doing a typical, been-there-done-that retelling...this JUSTICE LEAGUE movie has a little bit of a twist to it. The film takes place not in modern times...but in the 1950's (during the Cold War). The United States has turned on it's super heroes (whose masks could be hiding communists!). All the character designs reflect the time period. The animation is top-notch, as is the voice talent.

Watching this film, I was transported back to those footie-pj's/cold cereal Saturday mornings of my youth. But one word of caution--this ain't exactly for kiddies. It's not "R" rated or anything, but is more violent than the typical cartoon (I think it got a PG-13 rating). There's blood, and people *gasp* do die.

But if you're an older, mature comic book fan--who yearns for those Saturday mornings of yesterday...you should check out JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER.