This was a surprisingly dull entry in the WB/DC animated run of films. Just a run-of-the-mill plot, odd voice-acting at times (maybe the comics explain it but why does Deadman sound like a cab driver?) and a lack of Swamp Thing - I know that's a petty thing to say, but Swamp Thing is an outstanding character in the comics, and is so little used here he barely should make the cover of the DVD (Batman gets most prominence because... Batman, but, honestly, Green Lantern is in this more than ST).
It's not that I can pinpoint to a specific moment like 'here is where this whole thing falls off a cliff and omg it's so good until before then. Jay Oliva's direction is simply standard throughout, never really rising too far above what is absolutely required for such a boilerplate comic book story, and I think it's because there seems to be so much potential with these characters and the world that it's set in that to all of sudden see that it's just... well, time to fight a God that is doing all of this because, y'know, God and all that, that it falls radically short. Not to mention there's things that make it feel painfully standard like the 'oh no here's the twist/reveal that this character was not what we thought he was!' that feels weak and hackneyed.
Even the writing for a character like John Constantine, who is a wonderful bad-ass in his own series, is often here giving simple exposition. Occasionally a character will have a good line or quip, and the writing tries really hard (and maybe once or twice succeeds) in giving Zatanna some dimension and pain in moments with her magic usage. But overall this feels poorest in the writing than in the animation, though that comes standard as well. Lastly, it doesn't help knowing that there *could* have been a out of this world JLD movie from Guillermo del Toro, which is probably another in the long ranks of lost, promising works of his.
It's not that I can pinpoint to a specific moment like 'here is where this whole thing falls off a cliff and omg it's so good until before then. Jay Oliva's direction is simply standard throughout, never really rising too far above what is absolutely required for such a boilerplate comic book story, and I think it's because there seems to be so much potential with these characters and the world that it's set in that to all of sudden see that it's just... well, time to fight a God that is doing all of this because, y'know, God and all that, that it falls radically short. Not to mention there's things that make it feel painfully standard like the 'oh no here's the twist/reveal that this character was not what we thought he was!' that feels weak and hackneyed.
Even the writing for a character like John Constantine, who is a wonderful bad-ass in his own series, is often here giving simple exposition. Occasionally a character will have a good line or quip, and the writing tries really hard (and maybe once or twice succeeds) in giving Zatanna some dimension and pain in moments with her magic usage. But overall this feels poorest in the writing than in the animation, though that comes standard as well. Lastly, it doesn't help knowing that there *could* have been a out of this world JLD movie from Guillermo del Toro, which is probably another in the long ranks of lost, promising works of his.