Based on the Cartoon Network series which is also based on the DC comic series of the same name, Warner Bros. released it’s second film based on one of its animated series in 25 years following 1993’s Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. The film is written by the series’ developers Michael Jelenic & Aaron Horvath and then directed by Horvath & Peter Rida Mchail. Along with the developers come the voice cast of the series, Greg Cipes, Scott Menville, Khary Payton, Tara Strong & Hynden Walch along with newcomers like Nicolas Cage, Will Arnett & Kristen Bell. Oddly, Arnett plays the villain of this film but is also known as the voice of Batman in the “Lego” franchise.

With all the DC heroes having their own movies coming out, the Teen Titans were waiting for a movie of about their own adventures. The Titans are made of Robin (Menville), Cyborg (Payton), Starfire (Walch), Raven (Strong) & Beast Boy (Cipes) who are characters from the DC Universe. Attending the release of another Batman film, Robin assumes that the next film will be based on himself or the Titans as a group but they get swerved by the studio and by members of the “Justice League” & Superman (Cage). While the DC Universe and the head of the studio, Jade Wilson (Bell) don’t take the Titans seriously, Robin decides that their next adventure will be what they need to get a movie about them launched. That adventures is taking down a mysterious masked man “Slade” (Arnett; who also resembles Deathstroke), who seeks to wipe out all the heroes in the DC Universe at once during a special event.

I was never really a fan of the “Teen Titans Go!” series due to its kid friendly tone and radical departure from the previous series. The 2003 “Teen Titans” series was a much more darker & mature tone compared to Go! which I was a huge fan of. This film follows the current tone by also is self aware of how kid friendly it is due to a few scenes in the movie which is actually a good thing. The kid friendly vibe works well for a DC film because of the TV series and that’s really the only its has going for it. Basically, if you’re a fan of the Teen Titans Go! series then you absolutely enjoy this film. If not, you could probably care less. But if you’re like me, a fan of DC comics and the original series, you are left open minded and quite entertained but still disappointed about the original series never getting their film. FUN FACT: Nicolas Cage voices Superman here and back 1998 he was cast as The Man of Steel in a Tim Burton directed “Superman Lives” which never made in to development.

Overall, this film caters to its target audience in a very entertaining way. But as a straight up film, it does follow familiar plot points from other animated films and has the clichés that come with all superhero & comic book films