I had the chance to go see Teen Titans Go! to the Movies during its opening weekend, and I was surprised with how much I enjoyed the film. It has been getting some extremely positive reviews so far, but I feel like it is still flying under the radar a little bit at the box office, so I was taken aback by just how hilarious the whole movie was. While this should ultimately be seen as another positive review, I still want to break down what I did and didn’t like about the film, and I hope you enjoy my humble assessment.
The Voice Cast
When the complete voice cast for the movie was announced, I was extremely pleased with who all comprised the members of The Justice League, but it seemed kind of bizarre in the film itself. It was apparent that Lil Yachty and Halsey (Green Lantern and Wonder Woman) had never acted in their lives before this movie, and their voices just seemed dull and out of place whenever they had speaking lines. As for Jimmy Kimmel’s Batman, he only had a couple of lines that weren’t cut from the final product, so they might as well have saved money by having Will Arnett play him and Slade. However, I was pleased with how many famous voice cameos they were, and most of them meshed together well. Nicolas Cage’s Superman, Patton Oswald’s Atom and Stan Lee’s Stan Lee were all pleasant surprises, and I feel like those cameos are what really made this movie special.
Running Jokes
One of the funniest aspects of the Teen Titans Go! television show is how many running jokes the series has, so I was excited to see a lot of those same jokes make it to the big screen. Waffles, Robin’s baby hands and several of the DC Comics Easter eggs that are usually in the background of the TV show all followed the Teen Titans to their very own blockbuster film, and I’m glad to see that the writers didn’t change that just because they were making a movie. However, some of the running jokes introduced in the movie got a little old. If I have to hear someone say “Slade” really slowly one more time, I might vomit. There’s a difference between creating a running joke and beating a dead horse, and a couple of the films funniest moments were ruined by repetition. Poking fun at the Challengers of the Unknown and how Slade looks like Deadpool is funny the first couple of times it happens, but by the third and fourth times, it really sullies the comedic value it had to begin with.
Dark Humor
Something that’s been getting a lot of fan backlash is some of the darker humor that was peppered into the film, such as Robin throwing six pack rings into the ocean so that a baby Aquaman will get caught in it. First of all, I would like to point out that the Titans went back in time and saved Aquaman from dying, so he ultimately made it out of the film alive. But of course this is a kids movie, and death doesn’t belong in a kids movie. Just look at The Lion King and The Good Dinosaur, two of the most popular and well written PG rated movies of all time, where none of the main characters die. The truth is, death is real, and we can’t hide that from our children. It’s going to happen to all of us eventually, and if we don’t expose that to our children at a young age then they’ll have problems coping with it in the future. My point is that the joke was funny, it had a shock factor, and it wouldn’t have worked if it didn’t make people laugh. While it may have been a little morbid, guess what? People die, and it shouldn’t be seen as a taboo to a younger generation.
Robin’s Solo Movie
The main plot point that this whole film revolved around is that every superhero is getting their own movie except for Robin. So just like that, Robin is the protagonist of Teen Titans Go! to the Movies. However, this just doesn’t make any sense. The Robin seen on Teen Titans Go! is erratic, rude, unrelatable and the butt of every joke. In a lot of ways, he’s the antagonist of the series. So why is he suddenly the good guy? Why are all of the Titans pretending that they don’t make fun of him every chance that they get? His behavior in the movie just simply doesn’t reflect the character you will see in the series, and I personally found it bizarre. This is a movie about the Teen Titans, but it really did seem like it turned out to be Robin’s solo movie, and I didn’t appreciate how the rest of the members took a backseat in order to tell his story.
The Post Credits Scene
In the post credits scene for Teen Titans Go! to the Movies, we see a return from the original Teen Titans that everyone knows and loves, so of course this is sparking a lot of rumors about the series making a return. It looks like everything is pointing that way, but is that really a good idea? Teen Titans Go! is so hilarious and well liked (by most fans) that they managed to make a feature film based around the characters, so why fix something that isn’t broken? Of course everyone wants more of the series they grew up with, but do you want to know why everyone still loves Freaks and Geeks and Breaking Bad? Because they left us wanting more. Teen Titans left us wanting more, and with Teen Titans Go! finally becoming so successful, I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to go back to the original. However, the scene itself obviously works since so many people are talking about it, and I’ll be tuning in no matter what the studio decides to do.
