Justice League Crisis on Two Earths Review

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths is the latest direct-to-video DC Universe film from Warner Premiere, featuring both alternate universes as well as an alternate voice cast than what you might expect from these familiar characters. In short, it was surprisingly good, second only to Superman/Batman: Public Enemies in my list of favorite DCU animated films.

When I say an alternate cast, I am referring to the voices I grew up with on TV, and the voices that were reunited for Public Enemies; Tim Daily, Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamil, and Clancy Brown.

When I heard the lineup for Crisis, I was less than enthused, but the film is good enough that the alternate voice cast didn’t bother me at all, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I was going to.

The Movie

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths is based on the idea of parallel Earths, and involves an alternate Lex Luthor (who’s like Superman in his Earth) coming to ask the Justice League for help defending his world from the evil Crime Syndicate.

Lex’s universe contains evil versions of all the Justice League heroes, and their organization is much like the mafia, organized by families. Owlman, voiced by James Woods, is constructing a device that will let him travel between (and enslave) all of the parallel Earths, and it’s up to the League to stop him.

Like I said, this film was a lot more enjoyable than I was anticipating. I thought it was put together better than Superman: Doomsday and Green Lanter: First Flight. I still haven’t seen Wonder Woman, so I can’t compare those.

The Presentation

In the days of VHS and DVD, I wouldn’t have ever gotten too excited about direct-to-video 2D animated movies, but with Blu-ray, I look forward to seeing the animation and art in glorious high definition. Since we’re not lucky enough to get very many 2D movies in theaters anymore, it’s a treat to watch these films in HD at home.

The video quality is great, but the audio is Dolby 5.1. I’ll be the first to tell you that I am not an audio guru, and sadly only have the speakers that are built into my Panasonic plasma, but I know enough about it to know that a lot of die-hard Blu-ray fans expect more than 5.1 these days. That said, the audio is fine for me, but I’m sure as soon as I upgrade my setup, it will seem disappointing compared to some of the TrueHD releases.

The Bonus Features

One thing you can always count on with these DCU animated films is a heap of bonus material. Crisis on Two Earths is no different, and it includes:

DCU: The New World
First Look: Batman Under the Red Hood
4 Bonus Episodes of Justice League

Also, a pleasant surprise is the inclusion of a DC Showcase new short film, The Spectre. It is a fun, 70s-syled short introducing the character, and is a nice addition to the Blu-ray.

The Verdict

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths is a definitely a step in the right direction, and combined with Public Enemies, shows that DC and Warner Premiere can make a good direct-to-Blu-ray movie. I look forward to the next entries in the series.

You can pick up Crisis on Two Earths at Amazon today.