DC Super Hero Girls: Intergalactic Games

DC Super Hero Girls: Intergalactic Games

DC Super Hero Girls: Intergalactic Games is the second animated feature (after Hero of the Year) starring the toy line, and it’s better than the first.

I’ve already posted the trailer, but this was even more fun than I expected. That’s in part because there is a LOT going on here, keeping things interesting. And you’ll want to keep the pause button nearby, to catch the cameos and background designs.

The movie, a zippy hour and seventeen minutes, begins when Steve Trevor’s coffee shop, the Capes & Cowls Cafe, is attacked by a few Metal Men (Lead and Iron), led by Platinum. Batgirl (voiced by Mae Whitman) and Bumblebee (Teala Dunn) are creating battle bots for the upcoming Intergalactic Games when they hear of the conflict, so aided by Wonder Woman (Grey Griffin), Supergirl (Anais Fairweather), Starfire (Hynden Walch), and the Flash (one of the token boys, Josh Keaton), they fight the robots, who were created by school instructor Dr. Magnus. “I can’t have teachers building evil robots,” says Principal Waller (voiced by Yvette Nicole Brown) to Dr. Magnus (Phil LaMarr), who gave his creations free will but neglected to include any morality with it. (He’s also weirdly drawn with a lollipop, probably because a pipe is no longer okay.)

DC Super Hero Girls: Intergalactic Games

Lena, the school “IT girl”, steals the robots instead of destroying them. She also has a Kryptomite, an angry living bit of the mineral. This will all become important much later. First, the competition, fueled by personal conflict.

The Female Furies team, led by Granny Goodness, want revenge on Big Barda for leaving them. The other competitors come from Korugar Academy, whose headmaster is Sinestro. These students include Blackfire (Starfire’s sister, who is holding a grudge), Lobo, Maxima, Mongal (who took me most of the movie to figure out, since the character died in 2006 and I’m not sure I ever read about her; plus, I don’t think she’s named in the film), and Bleez (a Red Lantern with bat wings). Writer Shea Fontana clearly knows her DCU, although I didn’t imagine I’d ever see some of these oddities in a cartoon aimed at kids.

The various teams compete in superhero-powered events while the characters try to get along with each other, making for plenty of visual action that doesn’t ignore characterization. Also appearing in major roles are Hawkgirl, Cyborg, Katana, Lady Shiva, Star Sapphire, Frost, and Poison Ivy. Beast Boy and Harley Quinn are the game commentators, a great choice.

DC Super Hero Girls: Intergalactic Games has, in addition to lots of superhero action that goes beyond battles (although there’s some of that too), a good amount of interpersonal drama, plenty of friendship and imaginative fun, and even a giant robot. I enjoyed watching it and recommend it for light-hearted fans of all ages.

The special features are pretty forgettable. The Fifth Harmony song “That’s My Girl” is set to a bunch of various action clips with the characters. There are also seven short cartoons:

  • New Beginnings
  • Hero of the Month: Supergirl
  • Batgirl vs. Supergirl
  • Quinn-tessential Harley
  • Doubles Trouble (about tennis, not evil twins as I had hoped)
  • Franken-Ivy
  • Dude, Where’s My Invisible Jet?

I only watched the last one, which has Wonder Woman forgetting where she parked. Cute but silly. (The studio provided a review copy.)



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