'Teen Titans Go! To The Movies' Review

In Teen Titans Go! To The Movies, a villain's maniacal plan for world domination sidetracks five teenage superheroes who dream of Hollywood stardom. In their quest to get their own movie, the Teen Titans must defeat the evil Slade. 

Based on the Teen Titans Go! television series, Teen Titans Go! To The Movies is an animated feature co-directed by Peter Ride Michali and Aaron Horvath with a screenplay penned by Michael Jelenic and Horvath (all of whom have been actively involved in the development of the series). I've seen a couple episodes of the show before and was not impressed whatsoever... All I could think is that it was really a really stupid, surface-level cartoon and a substantial downgrade from the 2003 Teen Titans series I watched growing up. Like Incredibles 2 writer-director Brad Bird, I'm a firm believer in the idea that the medium of animation is not simply for kids. Animation can be for anyone and everyone if done correctly. There's a substantial difference between being family-friendly and treating children like idiots. Unfortunately, Teen Titans Go! does the latter, so naturally the film adaptation felt inclined to follow in its footsteps. 

Teen Titans Go! To The Movies is the type of animated content that people refer to when they write-off animated films as "kid's movies." There's little depth or substance, plenty of predictable plot beats, and tons of toilet humor. It's obviously geared towards kids who watch the show, but I wish the filmmakers had made more of an effort to rise above such shallow storytelling and crass humor. The elementary crowd can still enjoy it without these immature elements after all. Just look to Pixar, Dreamworks, and Walt Disney Animation, and even Warner Bros' own LEGO film franchise for evidence of this. Anyways, I'm sick of people giving animated films like this a pass because it's "for kids."

With that being said, Teen Titans Go! To The Movies is incredibly self-aware about itself and the current state of superhero movies. There are digs at all the big comic book franchises and it also knows that general audiences think this incarnation of the Titans is idiotic. The film then treats the characters accordingly, but asks the audience to empathize with these moronic characters in an effort to be sentimental. Teen Titans Go! To The Movies tries to do it all, but can't have it both ways. It calls out other comic book films for their clichés and shortcomings, but remains guilty of abiding by genre tropes as well. It presents the Titans as one-dimensional numb skulls, then pivots and asks the audience to pity them. I understand the intent, but it happens too suddenly to be effective whatsoever.

I'll admit there were quite a few clever jokes about other superhero franchises that landed and were genuinely hilarious, but those were few and far between in an otherwise obnoxious experience. One other silver lining for DC fans is that Teen Titans Go! To The Movies is loaded with a plethora of easter eggs, so be sure to scan the screen for nods should you choose to see it. That should at least keep you engaged when the film fails to do so.

Otherwise, the animation and voice work is fine. I'm not really a fan of this particular animation style because I feel it looks very babyish, but that's more of a personal preference than a fault of the film. Meanwhile, Scott Menville, Greg Cipes, Khary Payton, Tara Strong, and Hynden Walch reprise their respective roles as Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire. They've voiced these characters since 2003, so they're basically synonymous with the Titans at this point and they each do a fine job projecting the expected personalities. There's little else for them to do beyond that on account of the paper-thin writing behind their characters though. Will Arnett and Kristen Bell also did well voicing the maniacal villain Slade and acclaimed superhero film director Jade Wilson.

As disinterested as I was in this film though, I must admit that it was pretty awesome on a meta-level to cast Nicolas Cage as Superman because he was once supposed to don the red and blue tights in Superman Lives. That film never saw the light of day though since it was cancelled before production, but I figured it was a worthwhile tid-bit.

As you'd expect, Teen Titans Go! To The Movies caters to the younger crowd at its own expense. While those who enjoy the show are sure to get a kick out of it, I found it to be one of the most mediocre films I've seen all year. I'm certain parents will be inclined to agree and it's needless to say Teen Titans Go! To The Movies was a steep drop-off from my four consecutive days seeing Mission: Impossible - Fallout. If you want to see an animated DC film that cleverly satirizes the superhero genre and is genuinely heartfelt, you ought to be watching The LEGO Batman Movie. 

Film Assessment: C-