What people are saying about Crisis on Two Earths?

I was looking around at some other reviews of Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths to see what other people were saying. I was rather relieved that I seem to be in line with the general feelings posted on comic sites (e.g. IGN, Mania, Robot 6). Most of the reviews reiterate the history of the film’s development, criticise some part of the voice acting,  but ultimately really like the feature. As of March 1st IMDB is showing 7.2/10 on 483 votes and Amazon has 4/5 for 56 votes which is favourable and fairly consistent. Dwayne McDuffie has a list of well-earned praise on his homepage, but I was interested to see if people were saying anything more enlightening in their reviews.

DVD Talk has a great opening paragraph to their review:

Okay, so Batman’s on a space station bought and paid for out of his own pocket, decked out in a Power Loader, and squaring off against demented versions of three Marvels and a Wonder Woman from a parallel universe. The smart money says I could go ahead and stop the review right there since this is clearly the best movie ever.

I found their review interesting as they pulled apart the audio and video just as you’d expect a site interested in HD quality. They take issue with the video compression, but I don’t think its something I’d know to notice.

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths just doesn’t sound like a movie. Justice League got its start on basic cable, and that’s pretty much where Crisis…‘s soundtrack wound up too. There are no dubs, alternate soundtracks, commentaries, or downmixes this time around

I agree that the lack of a commentary is a downside, but I’ve listened to the Superman “Brave New Metropolis” commentary I know how little these guys can have to say about an otherwise brilliant episode. Now a solo commentary by McDuffie would have been cool.

There is a CD album of soundtrack so Warners must think its good enough. I actually rather liked the main theme, but I think DVDTalk expect too much. After all this is a direct-to-disc feature and not a disc of a theatrical release. Batman: Gotham Knights even said that “one of the best DCU animated scores to date.”

Crave online makes an observation about the co-directors:

Co-Directors Sam Liu (Superman/Batman, Planet Hulk) and Lauren Montgomery (Green Lantern: First Flight) really play well off of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Liu has a tendency to rush things (Planet Hulk) while Montgomery’s direction can be clunky and boring. Together they find a perfect pace that allows the plot to shine through but not at the expense of action.

I’m not familiar with Planet Hulk or Green Lantern: First Flight, but I can see where Crave is coming from about Superman/Batman as I bought that at the same time as Justice League and watched them back-to-back. Justice League is definitely the better film, even if Superman/Batman has better lead voice artists.

MTV Splash Page is just one of the comics sites that criticises the voice acting:

It’s disappointing to note that the weakest elements of “Crisis On Two Earths” lie in the voice casting of two of the film’s most popular characters. Mark Harmon and William Baldwin voice Superman and Batman, respectively, and neither actor seems to put much heart into their performance. For much of the film, both characters’ dialogue feels forced — as if they’re just reading their characters’ lines rather than actually becoming the voices of their characters.

However, it seems that while that sort of sentiment is common amongst comic-book fan sites the DVD/film sites actually quite like, or at least are more tolerant, of  Harmon/Baldwin. For example, Cinema Spy says:

While some of the cast’s big names seemingly get lost in the shuffle — in hindsight, the producers probably didn’t need Mark Harmon for Superman, since he doesn’t get all that much to do — there are plenty of standouts. William Baldwin makes for a brooding and effective Batman, although he seems to be channeling Christian Bale more than mimicking legendary Bat-vocalist Kevin Conroy, and Gina Torres does good work as the Crime Syndicate’s Superwoman, whom she appropriately plays as Wonder Woman with a seductive side.

and Harry at AintItCool,

As with each of these ANIMATED features, the style is different yet again. Mark Harmon is a strong voice for Superman, who is more in command here, than in any of the previous incarnations. He sounds powerful & a bit cocky. William Baldwin’s Batman feels tamer than James Woods’ Owlman, but that’s how it should be here.

I was amused by Blu-Ray.com’s review. They give the film something of a once over in their review -

“Still, at 75-minutes, is it any wonder that subtleties, cohesive storytelling, and character development have fallen by the wayside? Hopefully the day will come when DC’s animated films grow up.”

- but still award it 3/5 over all. I’d hate to see a review for a film they give 1/5 marks to. The Open Salon/Huffington Post also wasn’t that impressed, but the reviewer at least admits upfront that he doesn’t like multiverse/parallel world stories.