First off I gave it a 6 because of the descent voice acting and I liked the animation style and the Legion is one of the few DC titles I actually like.
Other reviewers who gave this less than a 7 already addressed many of the issues, plot predictablity and changes to characters and origins and backgrounds. I know people will say this is a reimagining and that is fine excepet, like science, if you have a frog and change its DNA a bit here and there that is ok, maybe you make the Frog greener or jump further, or give it a longer tongue and life span. At some point, however, if you change the DNA too much the Frog ceases to be a Frog and becomes a human. (Google is Frogs share about 90% of its DNA with humans) Point is, if you want to reimagine/reboot/remake something there is wiggle room for change but at some point you change the character too much and it is no longer that character.
That said these are my problems with the movie.
1) Mon El: Turning him into a villain was not only too radical and unbelievable of a change to the point that is no longer Mon El. I am going to guess the writers (wrongly) thought that this would be a "big reveal" but it wasn't. Most of the other reviewers saw it comming and I myself said "they are going to make him a traitor" after his exposition about the 'safe no one could break into'. They were clearly setting him up as the traitor and it was just a sigh moment for me. My management background has taught me to never complain unless you can offer a solution so here is mine: Mon El was lying to the Dark Ring (double agent) so he could infiltrate and learn who the Boss was. The movie chose to make a big deal over the mystery leader so why not run with it. Then at the end it turns out he knew the only way to end the threat was to bring the leader out into the open and then help the Legion take him down.
2) Brainiac. I suppose they wanted to make him into a horrible monster for some reason, but it was just the stupidest contrivance in the movie. With Braniac's intelligence and resources there is NO reason he could not have had a cybernetic body that functions 10 times better than that, monsterous defective form he used. I cannot imagine what they were thinking. The merging of the other Brainiacs was just stupid, and if Brainiac is supposed to be so smart why would he do that or even need to. (I miss the brainiac from the 90s cartoons he was the best).
3) Star Labs: So much is wrong with this. First Brainiac says the circle rescued him but Batman stopped them so....how, when? Second why on Gods green Earth would they keep Brainiacs remains. Batman himself would have seen that and figured out a) that is what they were after because he is The Detective. And b) he would destroy the remains utterly. Better writing would have shown the circle finding Brainiacs remains somewhere or maybe liberate it from some disreputable scientists not Star Labs. Also, going back to the title of this review, there was ZERO shock at who the big bad was cuz they FRIGGIN SHOWED YOU. Animators do not waist time drawing things that are not important to the plot so huge forshadowing.
4) The Legion, So the ENTIRE Legion of Superheroes (hundreds) were ALL at this one location? Why? It was obviously something ominous because the three left behind had NO IDEA where anyone was. Guess the writers couldn't figure out a solution so they just decided not to adress this oversight. Poor writing again.
5) Title: This movie should have been called Supergirl: and the Legion academy. I love the Legion and was excited about seeing a movie about them. If you had never read a comic or seen a show about the Legion this movie is going to confuse and agrivate you as you gain no insight into the Legion at all. You get zero interactions with Kara and anyone besides Brainiac, and the focus is on the terrible plot.
It was not horrible but it was a waist of money and time to make this. DC has (mostly) managed to create OUTSTANDING animation, from Batman, to Justice League Unlimited and on, but this was garbage for them. If you are going to do a Supergirl learning movie then focus on that more, not some training montage that doesn't even show her learning to use her powers which is why Superman sent her there in the first place. I would much rather has seen a story about Kara learning how to use her powers, work as a team while training with and meeting the other legionaires. Add in some exposition about the 31st century, history of the Legion and more antics and interactions with the trainees. Hell I would have watched a movie with NO villain or evil plot if it was well written and animated. This new generation of creators needs to take a hint from Anime. Sometimes (specially when the plot is weak and horrible like this) its better for the plot to take the back seat to the characters and their interactions.
It is mildly enjoyable so I give it a fair rating.
Other reviewers who gave this less than a 7 already addressed many of the issues, plot predictablity and changes to characters and origins and backgrounds. I know people will say this is a reimagining and that is fine excepet, like science, if you have a frog and change its DNA a bit here and there that is ok, maybe you make the Frog greener or jump further, or give it a longer tongue and life span. At some point, however, if you change the DNA too much the Frog ceases to be a Frog and becomes a human. (Google is Frogs share about 90% of its DNA with humans) Point is, if you want to reimagine/reboot/remake something there is wiggle room for change but at some point you change the character too much and it is no longer that character.
That said these are my problems with the movie.
1) Mon El: Turning him into a villain was not only too radical and unbelievable of a change to the point that is no longer Mon El. I am going to guess the writers (wrongly) thought that this would be a "big reveal" but it wasn't. Most of the other reviewers saw it comming and I myself said "they are going to make him a traitor" after his exposition about the 'safe no one could break into'. They were clearly setting him up as the traitor and it was just a sigh moment for me. My management background has taught me to never complain unless you can offer a solution so here is mine: Mon El was lying to the Dark Ring (double agent) so he could infiltrate and learn who the Boss was. The movie chose to make a big deal over the mystery leader so why not run with it. Then at the end it turns out he knew the only way to end the threat was to bring the leader out into the open and then help the Legion take him down.
2) Brainiac. I suppose they wanted to make him into a horrible monster for some reason, but it was just the stupidest contrivance in the movie. With Braniac's intelligence and resources there is NO reason he could not have had a cybernetic body that functions 10 times better than that, monsterous defective form he used. I cannot imagine what they were thinking. The merging of the other Brainiacs was just stupid, and if Brainiac is supposed to be so smart why would he do that or even need to. (I miss the brainiac from the 90s cartoons he was the best).
3) Star Labs: So much is wrong with this. First Brainiac says the circle rescued him but Batman stopped them so....how, when? Second why on Gods green Earth would they keep Brainiacs remains. Batman himself would have seen that and figured out a) that is what they were after because he is The Detective. And b) he would destroy the remains utterly. Better writing would have shown the circle finding Brainiacs remains somewhere or maybe liberate it from some disreputable scientists not Star Labs. Also, going back to the title of this review, there was ZERO shock at who the big bad was cuz they FRIGGIN SHOWED YOU. Animators do not waist time drawing things that are not important to the plot so huge forshadowing.
4) The Legion, So the ENTIRE Legion of Superheroes (hundreds) were ALL at this one location? Why? It was obviously something ominous because the three left behind had NO IDEA where anyone was. Guess the writers couldn't figure out a solution so they just decided not to adress this oversight. Poor writing again.
5) Title: This movie should have been called Supergirl: and the Legion academy. I love the Legion and was excited about seeing a movie about them. If you had never read a comic or seen a show about the Legion this movie is going to confuse and agrivate you as you gain no insight into the Legion at all. You get zero interactions with Kara and anyone besides Brainiac, and the focus is on the terrible plot.
It was not horrible but it was a waist of money and time to make this. DC has (mostly) managed to create OUTSTANDING animation, from Batman, to Justice League Unlimited and on, but this was garbage for them. If you are going to do a Supergirl learning movie then focus on that more, not some training montage that doesn't even show her learning to use her powers which is why Superman sent her there in the first place. I would much rather has seen a story about Kara learning how to use her powers, work as a team while training with and meeting the other legionaires. Add in some exposition about the 31st century, history of the Legion and more antics and interactions with the trainees. Hell I would have watched a movie with NO villain or evil plot if it was well written and animated. This new generation of creators needs to take a hint from Anime. Sometimes (specially when the plot is weak and horrible like this) its better for the plot to take the back seat to the characters and their interactions.
It is mildly enjoyable so I give it a fair rating.