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Lego DC Comics Super Heroes The
Flash (2018)
Warner Home Video
Blu-ray Disc Released: 3/13/2018
All Ratings out of
Movie:
½
Video:
½
Audio:
Extras: No Extras
Review by Mike Long, Posted on 3/20/2018
As someone who grew up during the age of Saturday morning cartoons, I was a regular viewer of Superfriends. The core characters on that show were Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman, along with some very odd side-characters which we won't discuss. The primary superheroes were often joined by guest-stars such as The Atom, Green Arrow, and Apache Chief. However, the one which I always looked forward to seeing was The Flash. Unlike the other characters, I could relate to his powers. I can't fly and I'm not a billionaire vigilante, but I can imagine what it would be like to run fast. Over the years, I've continued to enjoy The Flash's adventures, thus I was looking forward to Lego DC Comics Super Heroes The Flash.
When an alarm is triggered, those in the Hall of Justice -- Batman (voiced by Troy Baker), Superman (voiced by Nolan North), Wonder Woman (voiced by Grey DeLisle), The Atom (voiced by Eric Bauza), Plastic Man (voiced by Tom Kenny) and Cyborg (voiced by Khary Payton) -- spring into action, finding that The Joker (voiced by Jason Spisak) is attacking The Daily Planet building. Batman sends a message to The Flash (voiced by James Arnold Taylor), but the speedster has doesn't see the alert and goes on about his day. When he finally checks his messages, he rushes to the scene, but is too late to help. The Flash wakes up the next morning, only to find that everything is the same as it was yesterday. He rushes to The Daily Planet and this time, he's able to help. But, he also sees a mysterious figure who also has super-speed. Chasing this figure, The Flash again wakes up in the same day. He soon learns that someone has not only trapped him in a time-loop, but they are attempting to take his place.
I've now seen several Lego DC Comics Super Heroes productions and two things are very obvious. First of all, the teams behind these projects are not limited by their imaginations. Unlike so many feature films, they clearly have free reign over the DC Comics universe (Exhibit A: The inclusion of Plastic Man) and the animated medium allows them to do most anything they want. Simply look at the cavalcade of characters which show up in
The Lego Batman Movie -- there's like 50 licensed characters in that movie. Secondly, these features are often quite funny. For years, the word Lego was not synonymous with humor, but the Lego movies and specials feature some very funny moments. Again, citing The Lego Batman Movie as an example, that movie has some incredibly funny lines, some of which I quote on a regular basis.Lego DC Comics Super Heroes The Flash certainly follows these concepts. We get a truly unique gathering of DC Comics characters here, including a Justice League which puts the recent
Justice League movie to shame. Zatanna? Doctor Fate? These aren't household names, so kudos to the movie for throwing them in. This movie isn't quite as funny as some of the previous entries, but there are still some good jokes here. In a nice twist, Batman gets some funny lines.The truly interesting thing about Lego DC Comics Super Heroes The Flash is that it plays like a hybrid between a wacky Justice League story and the current
The Flash TV shows which airs on the CW. The Flash here isn't necessarily the same one from the show, but fans of that show will find many of the concepts and characters featured here very familiar. Another way to look at it is that this is what The Flash would look like if Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman came to town to fight The Joker. (And if the show were a bit sillier than usual.)If nothing else, it's good to see The Flash in the spotlight. The success of the television show has certainly made the character popular again and The Flash was a highlight of Justice League, despite the unnecessary move of having a different actor play the character. Lego DC Comics Super Heroes The Flash moves away from the often brooding tone of the TV to bring us the wisecracking Flash which is often seen in the comics. This movie may not be as funny as some of the other Lego entries, but it contains a nice amount of action and the Groundhog Day-like story emphasizes The Flash's ability to move through time and space. (For more on this, check out
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox.)Lego DC Comics Super Heroes The Flash could have taken a moment to explain Plastic Man's weird abilities on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Warner Home Video. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 20 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no grain and no defects from the source materials. The colors look fantastic, as we get very bold reds and blues, and the image is never overly dark or bright. The depth works quite well, creating a quasi-3D effect for the Lego characters. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 3.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The action sequences bring us noticeably surround sound effects which contain some detailed moments. The subwoofer isn't dominant, but it delivers obvious bass with punches and explosions. Some well-placed stereo effects highlight sounds coming from off-screen.
The Lego DC Comics Super Heroes The Flash Blu-ray Disc contains no extra features.
Review Copyright 2018 by Mike Long