Now that we’re 40-plus movies in the modern superhero craze, consider the melancholy fate of those vigilantes who have not yet had their big-screen moment. After all, even the Inhumans played on IMAX. But that’s the terrible situation Robin (Menville) and his fellow Teen Titans find themselves in — and superstar director Jade Wilson (Kristen Bell) tells them they’ll need an arch nemesis before they can become film stars. Enter bad guy Slade (Will Arnett). As the Titans put silver-screen stardom ahead of, well, everything, the fate of the entire world is briefly imperilled — and worse, their movie careers.
This is a smart-alec spin on superhero tropes that’s based on a barmy 2013 cartoon series, which was itself spun off a slightly more serious 2003 show. But you don’t need to have seen any previous incarnations to get it: Teen Titans is a superhero film vastly more interested in making you laugh than bombarding any large urban areas with giant whatevers or furthering some epic story arc. And in the mission to make you cry with laughter, it is easily on a par with LEGO Batman or Deadpool.
An inspired Aquaman gag justifies the ticket price on its own.
The background to the 2D, chibi action is brimming with nerdy jokes (a poster for ‘BvS’ features Batgirl and Supergirl hugging) and deep cuts of DC lore (‘Challengers Of The Unknown’, anyone? Anyone at all?). There’s an inspired Aquaman gag that entirely justifies the ticket price on its own, and a final line for the ages. Even the casting is beautifully meta: Nicolas Cage finally plays Superman, while his real-life son Kal-El voices a young Bruce Wayne.
Occasionally the action drags as characters experience a bit of distracting personal growth or sulk following a set-back, though even those bits generally turn into a poppy song (oh yeah, this is also a musical) that distracts from Robin’s tendency to be an egomaniac. But that’s a minor quibble. This gorgeously silly tale ruthlessly skewers all those other vainglorious superhero movies while showering affection on the whole dumb lot of them. It’s an absolute joy.
