If you grew up watching the O.G. (Original Gangster) Cartoon Network, here’s another article related to the channel. This time its all about five teenaged superheroes working together to fight crime against evil doers. They’re the Teen Titans. Based on the DC comics team of the same name, the show aired in 2003 until it sadly ended in 2006, which is the same year Superman Returns came out.
Their adventures focus on the team led by Robin/Dick Grayson and his allies including Cyborg, Starfire Beast Boy and my favorite titan as well as one of my childhood crushes, Raven, to fight crime and save the world from a criminal mastermind named Slade Wilson/Deathstroke, (my favorite DC villain of all time besides Joker & Harley Quinn) whose plot is to defeat the group while dealing with personal struggles such as trust, friendship, loneliness, and one episode surprisingly focuses on racism, specifically involving Starfire’s race.
Due to the upcoming release for “Justice League” and a solo film focusing on Cyborg coming soon in 2020, here’s a tie in to spread the word of mouth around.
Pros & Cons
Pros: Original voice actors from the show reprise their roles and they all did great on their respective performances.
The Opening starts with an action packed sequence, indicating it is gonna be one heck of a ride.
The Animation from the cartoon series is retained. It has anime influence.
Action Sequences were spectacular from start to finish. I never got bored at all.
The villain’s appearance, is kept secret. You’ll have to see his identity for yourself.
Chemistry between the group felt appropriate for their specific personality, especially Robin & Starfire, if you’re a fan for the original Teen Titans cartoon, y’all are gonna be very happy.
One of the Titans says the line “We have got to get one of those!” It’s a reference to Will Smith’s line from Independence Day, Smith also went on to portray Floyd Lawton/Deadshot in “Suicide Squad.” By the way, it also counts as a Batman Begins reference with one character saying, “I gotta get me one of these!” I’ll give it Bonus Points for making a double reference.
The Theme Song is played at a karaoke party.
The Tone is a mix between seriousness and comedy, balanced together as one complete package.
The Pacing felt normal for an animated film.
Without giving too much away, The Climatic Battle is rendition of the David Vs. Goliath scenario, this time it’s five against one and an army.
During the credits, the cast sing the theme song.
Cons: The team wear their costumes throughout the film. If this happened in real life, a TMZ reporter would’ve said, “Oh my god it’s the Teen Titans!”
The end of the big battle felt anti-climatic. Won’t tell you how it ended.
The Main Antagonist in this movie wasn’t interesting like the other villains from the show, including Slade Wilson/Deathstroke or Trigon.
The Final Verdict: B for Boo Yah! (Cyborg’s catchphrase from the show)
Despite nitpicking on certain things that wouldn’t work in real life or in a cinematic scnerio, I thought this was a decent DC related animated, but not close on the same level as Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker or Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm. I almost labeled Trouble In Tokyo a B-, but it deserves a B for its presentation as the closest thing for an actual Teen Titans film. If you’re a real fan of the original Teen Titans, I highly recommend it for anybody who worships the show as real comic book fans, the recent show, Teen Titans Go is complete B.S. as Wolverine in Logan once said, “This is ice cream for bedwetters!”
I hope Cartoon Network realize they made a terrible mistake on what they did to an iconic superhero team by turning them into something off of Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin. I wanted to see a Deathstroke spin-off but nope, they decided to go with this! One day, a proper reboot should bring back the real titans to return to their glory days as the once beloved team, who are no longer a laughing stock.
Please Cartoon Network, if you’re reading this, fix this accident right now!
Nickthemoviecritic.com 