Movie Info
Movie Name: Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
Studio: Warner Bros. Animation
Genre(s): Animated/Comic Book
Release Date(s): February 23, 2010
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Hey Lex…your Earth sucks and we just got here
When Lex Luthor surrenders to authorities, the Justice League learns that they are dealing with a Lex Luthor from a parallel dimension where Lex is a hero. Against Superman and Batman’s concerns, the Justice League teams with Luthor to return to his dimension to free them from the Crime Syndicate that rules the Earth. The Justice League questions if Luthor can be trusted as the Crime Syndicate’s ultimate plans are revealed and a threat to all parallel worlds could destroy everyone.
I’m evil because I’m red…not green
Directed by Lauren Montgomery and Sam Liu, Justice League Crisis on Two Earths combines story aspects of Crisis on Earth-Three! (from Justice League of America (1) #29-30) and JLA: Earth 2. The story serves as continuation of the Justice League animated series on the Cartoon Network and segues into the follow-up series Justice League Unlimited (which added more superheroes).
I really admire DC animated features. Unlike Marvel’s animated stories DC’s movies and TV series all work as a whole. The characters are the same characters from series to series and events in earlier series do effect things in later series…Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths not only does a good job setting up Justice League Unlimited, but it also is a fun stand-alone film.
You should see what I did to get the Marvel family to follow me….
The story of the movie is quite strong. While it used to be that the Crime Syndicate and the “good Luthor” lived on Earth-3, the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline shifted them to Earth-2 when Grant Morrison wrote about them (which isn’t the same Earth-2 as the post-Flashpoint Earth-2…just to confuse things more) but this is just considered a parallel Earth in the film. Plus, you get a trip to Earth-Prime (which doesn’t appear to be the same Earth-Prime that spawned Superboy-Prime). This is a kind of dumbed-down concept but in dumbing it down, it actually improved it as a story.
The Justice League has new members
The movie is loaded with characters although many of them are cameos. On the parallel Earth, you get the evil versions of the Justice League plus many supporting characters cameo…and you get President Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke and his daughter. On Earth-1, you get added characters of Black Canary, Aquaman, Black Lightning, Red Tornado, and Firestorm who play bigger roles in later series. All characters are voiced by a rather strong cast which includes Chris Noth, William Baldwin, Mark Harmon, James Woods, Bruce Davidson, Brian Bloom, and Gina Torres.
I trust you as far as I can throw you Lex…wait, that’s not a good analogy for me…
The visuals for the movie are also better than the average cartoon but not up to the level of a feature film’s animation. I would love to see one of these DC movies really tripped out with theater caliber art…it would really blow-away Marvel’s art which isn’t very consistent in their films.
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths is a fun entry in not only the Justice League series but the DC Universe series of films. With the Forever Evil storyline reinventing the Crime Syndicate, it is fun to see an older version of the group. I would love to see a true throwback Justice League with this art but classic stories sometime and think DC should consider doing a follow-up New Frontier movie that could explore this.
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Related Links:
Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013)
Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015)
Justice League—Season 1 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Justice League—Season 2 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Justice League Unlimited—Season 1 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Justice League Unlimited—Season 2 Review and Complete Episode Guide
Justice League Unlimited—Season 3 Review and Complete Episode Guide
