Teen Titans Go! To the Movies is based on the ongoing animated TV series
Teen Titans Go!, which depicts a parodical
incarnation of the DC Comics superhero team.
The feature-length film follows Robin (Scott Menville), Cyborg (Khary
Payton), Starfire (Hynden Walch), Raven (Tara Strong), and Beast Boy (Gerg
Cipes) as they seek to have their own movie, like other superheroes. Thinking that the way to secure this is if
they have their own archnemesis, they proceed to take on a supervillain named Slade (Will Arnett).
I’ve never been a fan of any of
the Teen Titans cartoons – either Go! or its more beloved predecessor, which
ran in the mid-2000’s. I’m not even that
much of a fan of the actual team itself.
The only Teen Titans media I’ve
really enjoyed are the 9th DCAMU film The Judas Contract and the classic 1982 comic book crossover with
the X-Men, which was written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Walter Simonson. Thus, I was apathetic about this movie right
from the start.
And now, having seen it, I think
it’s nothing remarkable. It’s fine. But as a spoof-style animated movie, it feels like an
inferior version of The Lego Batman Movie. It lampoons and references elements of the DC
Universe and other IPs in plenty amounts, but the success rate is merely satisfactory. Sometimes, it gets clever and nuanced with
its allusions (e.g. Nicolas Cage voicing Superman; Superman exasperatingly
uttering, “Somebody save me”, an obvious nod to the theme song of Smallville; Beast Boy transforming into The Muppets’ Animal; making fun of
generic 80’s uplifting music),
but sometimes it gets too “pushy.”
In one instance (SPOILER), it
presents a Stan Lee cameo. On its own,
it would have been a perfect gag. However,
the movie isn’t satisfied with just showing him on screen. It further pounds the fact that it’s
a Stan Lee cameo on the audience’s head by letting him say, “I’m Stan Lee.” It ruins the joke. Another example is playing the Back to the Future theme as the Teen Titans
are about to time travel, but then, it eventually opts to be on the nose by making one of them explicitly mention “back to the future.” It’s as if the movie is afraid that
their audience would fail to get its jokes.
It’s either a result of insecurity for its execution or lack of confidence on their
audience’s intelligence. Either way, it’s obnoxious.
In relation to this, the humor is
a mixed bag. It presents genuinely
hilarious bits, but in some of its attempts to make its young audiences laugh, it
succumbs to making lazy fart and toilet jokes that most adults will groan
at.
In the end, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies feels like it’s primarily constructed
for children of early elementary age, and it’s probably intended that way, although it oddly gets a tad dark and mean a few times. There are parts which will aptly please adult
sensibilities, but they are few and far between, which is probably why the
runtime feels longer than it is. In general, I found it to be an entertaining but negligible watch.
Miscellaneous musings (with SPOILERS):
- I have to admit though. Juvenile it may be, but the bit about the Teen Titans taking dumps on a movie set cracked me up a little.
- The Teen Titans rap is kinda lit.
- At times, it’s like the undertone is taking shots at the current over-saturation of superhero films.
- I don’t get why Deathstroke is solely referred to as just “Slade” in this movie. I can’t remember if “Deathstroke” is ever mentioned.
- The surprising mid-credits scene features the mid-2000’s animated incarnation of the Teen Titans. It may be implying that there’s an upcoming movie or revived series planned for them.
- I had no idea who the Challengers of the Unknown were prior this movie. Talk about obscure DC characters.
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