REVIEW: DC Super Hero Girls: Intergalactic Games
What a great time to be a grandparent (or so I’m told). There are now plenty of books, games, clothing, and video to encourage girls to be strong and independent. DC Comics offers up their Super Hero Girls line and this week they have released their second animated feature, DC Super Hero Girls: Intergalactic Games, a 77-minute romp.
Writer Shea Fontana improves on the first offering with a story set at the Intergalactic Games where Earth’s powered women take on the vile challengers from Korugar Academy. To prepare for the competition Academy teacher Doc Magnus (Phil LaMarr) is building battlebots and supervising Batgirl (Mae Whitman) and Bumblebee (Teala Dunn) as they build their own. Principal Waller (Yvette Nicole Brown) is not amused nor is she happy that Magnus’ bots seem to have free will but were not programmed with any morality, a theme that plays out across the 77-minute fast-paced story.
Lena Luthor (Romi Dames) steals the robots for her own use, complicating matters when everyone assembles for the games. On one side we have the likes of Platinum, Batgirl, Bumblebee, Wonder Woman (Grey Griffin), Supergirl (Anais Fairweather), Starfire (Hynden Walch), and the Flash (Josh Keaton) Under headmaster Sinestro’s (Tom Kenny) command are Starfire’s sister Blackfire (Hynden Walch), Lobo (Tom Kenny), Maxima, Mongal (Julianne Grossman), and Bleez (Stephanie Sheh). There’s also Granny Goodness’ (April Stewart) Female Furies team including Lashina (Jessica DiCicco), Mad Harriet (Misty Lee), and Stompa (April Stewart).
Additionally, Hawkgirl (Nika Futterman), Cyborg (Khary Payton), Katana (Stephanie Sheh), Lady Shiva (Tania Gunadi), Big Barda (Big Barda (Misty Lee ), Star Sapphire (Jessica DiCicco), Frost (Danica McKellar), Poison Ivy (Tara Strong) , Beast Boy (Greg Cipes), and Harley Quinn (Tara Strong) play parts large and small.
So, right there, teens and adults more familiar with the comics than the target audience will love the characters plucked from throughout the DC Universe continuity. There are plenty of other little asides such as Steve Trevor’s Capes & Cowls Café.
Thankfully, it’s not just mindless action before, during, and after the competition. Fontana nicely weaves in all the inter-person drama one would expect when mixing all these characters together. Everyone does not get along nor are things overly simplified for the young viewer.
The standard DVD looks and sounds just fine. The feature comes with several extras including Fifth Harmony song “That’s My Girl” and seven short cartoons: “New Beginnings”, “Hero of the Month: Supergirl”, “Batgirl vs. Supergirl”, “Quinn-tessential Harley”, “Doubles Trouble”, “Franken-Ivy”, and “Dude, Where’s My Invisible Jet?”