Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths Blu-ray Review

When I first heard about the next DC Animated movie, Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths, I was excited and a little let down. I wondered why it was only on "two Earths" instead of an "infinite" number of Earths. I joked that maybe it was due to inflation.  
 
As you should know by know, this movie deals with the Justice League we know and love and the Crime Syndicate (along with their "Earth"). Hence, the "two" Earths. The "good" Lex Luthor from this world comes to the Justice League and asks for their help to save his world from the Crime Syndicate. 
 
Let's get into this. The movie is an hour and fifteen minutes. Within the first three, there is a death. The opening sequence is pretty cool as it shows the heroes and their evil counterparts in the credits. The idea of all the multiple Earths got me wondering if DC would be exploring any of the other ones. It's cool seeing the Justice League together again on screen. I hate to say it but Batman's voice didn't feel right. I know a lot of Kevin Conroy fans feel that he's the only one that can voice Batman. I don't think everyone else should be ruled out but William Baldwin just felt off. 
 

I have to say that the scene where Superman, Wonder Woman and Flash first encounter the "good" Lex was brilliant. The way Superman used his powers made complete sense. Flash (voiced by Spectacular Spider-Man's Josh Keaton)  also makes a nice joke to really capture Flash's character. Wonder Woman brings up a good point, is the Justice League obligated to help a parallel world? If they leave their world, doesn't that leave it vulnerable to other attacks? The action does pick up right away. Wonder Woman is pretty fierce in this movie. She was clearly my favorite character in the movie. My least favorite portrayal would be the way Martian Manhunter's character carried on. You'll know what I'm talking about after you watch it. 
 
The story was good but I've never been a big Crime Syndicate fan. Despite that, it was a nice change to see the darker versions of the characters on screen. It should be an interesting twist to viewers not  totally familiar with the Syndicate in comics as well as good to those of us that are.

New to the DC Animated releases is a DC Showcase Presents feature. Here we get a short on the Spectre (11:51). While it's great to get even more content guess what? I'm not the biggest Spectre fan either. But I like the idea. I'm all for more content on these releases. If it gives us a chance to see more animated versions, we win. Despite my feelings for the Spectre, it was nicely done. I can't wait to see more of these features.

What other Special Features do we get? There's another round of Bruce Timm Presents. Four JLA episodes, "A Better World" parts 1 & 2 and "Twilight" parts 1 & 2. I like that we get these episodes but if you've already seen them or have the Justice League releases, they might not have as much value to you.

Another feature is Behind The Story, DCU: The New World (33:14). We get to hear from Paul Levitz, Rags Morales, Geoff Johns, Mike Carlin, Brad Meltzer, Dan DiDio and Michael Uslan. There's a lot of talk about the different Crises and how things have changed.

There's also a bunch of "First Looks." You've probably already seen the ones for Green Lantern: First Flight, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and Wonder Woman. What really got me excited was the First Look at the next DC Animated release, Batman: Under The Red Hood (13:46). I am really excited for this release. I was amazed that there will be mention of "A Death In The Family."

If you do get the Blu-ray version, besides the awesome clarity and audio, you also get a couple DCU Live-Action pilots. The first is for Wonder Woman (1:13:52). The pilot episode premiered in 1975 (yeah, the one with Linda Carter) and started out taking place during WWII. I watched the show (in syndication) as a kid and I never saw the actual pilot. It was cool seeing how Diana went through the trials to become Wonder Woman and leave Paradise Island.

The second pilot is for the recent Aquaman/Smallville spin-off by Al Gough and Miles Millar. This featured Justin Hartley as Arthuer "A.C." Curry (Hartley later went on and is still playing Green Arrow on Smallville). The pilot was interesting but pretty cheesy. I suppose it's not much of a surprise why it didn't get picked up.

Bottom line, you get a lot with this release. I wasn't overwhelmed with the JLA/Crime Syndicate story but it was handled nicely. With the loads of extras you get, I'd give this disc a solid 4 out of 5. It's on sale tomorrow, February 23 on Blu-ray, DVD, OnDemand, etc.  
 
Now to start counting the days until Under The Red Hood is released.