"Teen Titans Go To The Movies" Is A Blast

“Teen Titans Go to The Movies” is a really good time and does meta humor better than many of its more adult counterparts without losing a kid like spirit. For a film based on a Cartoon Network show, it’s surprisingly clever. Some of the jokes are for the kids, and some go way above their heads. There’s even a point where the film makes a reference to an old comic book called “The Guardians of the Unknown”, and the Teen Titans look at each other baffled, literally commenting that the reference is obscure. 

The film about Robin (Scott Menville) and his friends, Beast Boy (Greg Cripes), Cyborg (Khary Payton), Raven (Tara Storng) and Starfire (Hynden Walch) who want to be taken seriously by the other superheroes. However, they aren’t. Why? Because they don’t have a superhero movie of their own. Robin is upset that everyone in the Batman universe is getting a movie, even his butler Alfred and Batman’s belt and car. Already that’s some great comic book movie jokes. The references in this thing are shockingly smart. Robin even has a dream done in the style of the Lion King, in animation that looks out of a Disney movie, and has Batman holding him up like Simba, but quickly turns into a nightmare when the other superheroes gathering around don’t care, and he decides to just throw him off the cliff.

                The movie is smart at taking on everything about comic book franchises and movies in general. Even the jokes that aren’t about comic book stuff are great. The musical numbers are really laugh out loud funny, with the highlight being “The Upbeat Inspirational Song About Life”, which deserves an Oscar nod for best original song. Even that song ends with a dark joke that is totally unexpected and very funny. One of my favorite jokes in the film was the “Back to The Future” reference where the Teen Titans go back in time to stop every superhero origin story, only to find with no superheroes, crime has run rampant. Then they must go back and recreate every tragedy that made these superheroes who they are today. However, it’s funny and the only time the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents was a joke. The movie doesn’t really add up too much of a story, but there are some emotional moments in this film. Robin even cries at one point.

                The film is a smart mix of nerd humor, adult humor and kids’ humor. There’s your typical kids’ humor, including a great poop joke but there’s also adult humor. How many kids really know “The Lion King” anymore? If you are a kid who loves the “Teen Titans Go!” cartoon you will have a lot of fun. However, if you are a nerd, and more even more so a DC Comics nerd, you will have a blast. Yes, the film takes shots at Marvel Comics, with the villain being asked if he’s Deadpool, and him proclaiming that he isn’t. He was around before Deadpool and Deadpool is a rip from him. The villain, Slade (Will Arnett), which has one of the film’s best running jokes which is that they really like saying his name and will say it in a few different ways every time he appears, is great. Robin wants to keep him around at first, because if he has an arch enemy, maybe he would get a movie.

                The plot of Robin wanting his own movie being the actual plot of the movie is creative. It allows the writers of the film, Michael Jalenic and Aaron Horvath, a lot of room just to have fun riffing on the whole world of comic books and movies. “Teen Titans Go to The Movies” is subversive and I was surprised by that. It could have been a straight forward kids’ film, but it actually has a ton of stuff that is thrown at people in the audience who may get the references. Even the villain’s plot that he was going to use the movie based around Robin to brainwash the world echoes the 90s Batman film “Batman Forever”.

                However, the riffs aren’t all old. The spoof on “Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice” is amazing for anyone who knows the movie’s famous bonkers Martha scene.  This film wasn’t only one of the best films of the year, but it’s also one of my personal favorites. Go see it with your kids, but man if you get the references over their heads, you’ll have a blast as well. You get the sense this is a film that loves what’s it’s spoofing and presenting. I want it to be nominated and maybe even win Best Animated Feature at the Oscars. That’s saying a lot. It's also, except for “Wonder Women”, the best movie in the DC universe. However, take your kids to see it because it’s the rare kids’ film which succeeds on both levels without feeling forced.