by Samuel Nichols, Contributing Writer
You know what? I love the recent Justice League movies. The modern movie business is absolute dominated by Disney and what they have created. Both the Star Wars and Avengers properties feel factory-made and as if they have been crafted to appease the most people. But projects from Warner Bros. like The Suicide Squad, Man of Steel, Joker, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League actually have an individual stamp on them that is more of what I want in a movie. Even if that DCEU franchise is a mess with what is happening at any given time, I still enjoy it because of the uniqueness of each entry. That is why DC League of Super-Pets is such a disappointment.
The most mediocre animated superhero movie of the last 10 years follows Krypto the Superdog (Dwayne Johnson) on a journey to save his best friend Superman (John Krasinski) and the rest of the Justice League. These defenders of earth were abducted by a super-powered guinea pig name Lulu (Kate McKinnon), who managed to de-power Krypto and is using her newfound powers to impress her former owner, Lex Luthor (Marc Maron). However, some ragtag shelter animals, led by dog Ace (Kevin Hart), were given powers too, and volunteer to help Krypto save his owner and the other Justice Leaguers.
Now if you noticed something in that description, it is how stacked this movie is talent-wise. That is not even to mention Keanu Reeves as Batman, Olivia Wilde as Lois Lane, Keith David as Dog-El (Krypto’s father), Diego Luna as Chip (a squirrel given electricity powers), Jemaine Clement as Aquaman, and Alfred Molina as Jor-El. No doubt the stars are willing to lend their skills to these projects. But not a single one of them gives a standout performance here, because not a single character has fun writing. Seriously, all of the characters and their interactions are exactly like you would imagine. The shelter animals don’t click with Krypto right away. Krypto is an oddball. Lulu is conniving to a point of annoyance for me. All of those stars lined up for this movie, and the best you get is a decent performance from The Rock, who is basically playing himself as a super-powered dog.
Another thing deserving critique: the actual superhero-ing. All of the fight sequences are outdone by stuff I saw in the Justice League Unlimited show, which came out almost 20 years ago. It feels lazy and predictable. Sure, we know who is going to win in the end, and that is a given, but we need something fresh. Animation is the perfect genre for that because of how versatile it is. Recent movies like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse are perfect examples of this. Each frame felt like a painting. Each frame here felt like it had to be voted on by WB’s board of governors to put it in the movie. No risks were taken here.
That lack of risks is why I cannot score this movie lower than I will. Yes, it was boring and pathetic. But they did not aim high. Little risk produces little disappointment. Sometimes a star gets in a funny joke here or there that I chuckled at. But I have to say I was disappointed.
Score: 4/10
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