Legion Of Super-Heroes (2023) [4K Ultra HD]

Director: Jeff Wamester

Cast: Meg Donnelly, Harry Shum Jr., Darren Criss (VOICES)

Release Date: February 7, 2023

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 7/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

Synopsis:

Welcome to the 31st century and the Legion Academy, where a new generation hones their powers with hopes of joining the Legion of Super-Heroes. Devastated by tragedy, Supergirl struggles to adjust to her new life on Earth. Taking her cousin Superman’s advice, Supergirl leaves their space-time to attend the Academy. There, she quickly makes new friends, as well as a new enemy with old ties: Brainiac 5. But a nefarious plot lurks in the shadows – the mysterious group known as the Dark Circle seeks a powerful weapon held in the Academy’s vault. Find out if the budding heroes can rise to the challenge in this all-new DC Universe Movie!

Please Note: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘Legion of Super-Heroes’ accompanies young hero Supergirl who is still dealing with tragedy as well as struggling to adapt to the less modernized ways that accompany the time that her cousin Superman and the other Justice League heroes exist and help within after becoming used to life on Krypton and their advanced ways. In an attempt to help her feel somewhat less lost Superman takes Supergirl to the 31^st century in order to join the Legion of Super-Heroes in the hope that the future will present a more familiar environment to find balance. But once Supergirl arrives she quickly begins to uncover a dangerous evil threatening the academy although unable to pinpoint it precisely. Now she’ll have to join forces with other students to try and uncover the truth of the danger and stop it before it’s too late.

‘Legion of Super-Heroes’ is capably guided along by director Jeff Wamester (Green Lantern: Beware My Power, Justice Society: World War II) who is no stranger to the DC Animated Universe, from a screenplay written by Josie Campbell (TV’s Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!). The film also features a solid voice cast that includes Meg Donnelly (TV’s The Winchesters), Harry Shum Jr. (Everything Everywhere All At Once), Darren Criss (Superman: Man of Tomorrow), Matt Bomer (Justice Society: World War II) and Jensen Ackles (Batman: The Long Halloween) along with more.

‘Legion of Super-Heroes’ follows the continuity that began in ‘Superman: Man of Tomorrow’ but this time focuses primarily on Supergirl and her struggles to adapt after arriving in modern time and finding her cousin already grown and thriving. The majority of the film offers a more futuristic setting though as Supergirl travels to the 31^st century and joins up with the Legion of Super-Heroes hoping for a more familiar world in the future after a life accustomed to the more advanced ways of Krypton. It’s a largely enjoyable new entry in the ever-expanding DC Animated Movie universe and introduces the not-so diehard DC Comics fans to some slightly less familiar, yet still quite intriguing characters with our hero Supergirl towing the primary line.

Filled with some thrilling moments, more than enough exciting action sequences and even a few twists and turns along the way, ‘Legion of Super-Heroes’ may not be one of the absolute finest DC Animated Movie offerings in existence, but it’s also far from terrible and perhaps even more importantly; it’s an awful lot of fun. Featuring some cameo appearances from a few of the bigger DC heroes such as Batman, Superman and The Flash to help connect these worlds and their key heroes, it finds a smooth balance that works quite well and gives us some less utilized heroes and storylines, yet with some familiarity still sprinkled in for good measure.

Overall, ‘Legion of Super-Heroes’ delivers an altogether exciting, fairly action-packed and thoroughly enjoyable animated feature with some less familiar DC heroes provided the opportunity to shine. With Supergirl as the central hero this time around and a futuristic setting for the backdrop, it’s a relatively fun ride that’s worth taking if you love DC and perhaps even more so if you enjoyed ‘Superman: Man of Tomorrow’ and the other films in this continuity with the somewhat different animation style than we’re accustomed to for most of the animated DC features. ‘Legion of Super-Heroes’ is definitely recommended for the DC Comics fans out there and particularly for those of you who enjoy most of these great DC Animated Movie offerings. It’s not groundbreaking or completely perfect, but it offers more than enough exciting fun to make it well worth giving a chance whenever you can find the time.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Legion of Super-Heroes’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with HDR-10, presented in its original 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks good as a whole and offers a clean, sharp and vibrantly colored presentation from start to finish that aside from a few instances of banding and other minor imperfections that tend to regularly accompany DC Animated Movie offerings on disc looks great. The character and background details all look clean and crisp and the HDR-10 addition does a bit to improve the presentation compared to the Blu-ray, but not necessarily the day and night difference of some other films. Overall, this is a solid Ultra High Definition video presentation that holds up quite well throughout and should please any fans who are satisfied with what these releases usually offer.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack does a great job of complementing the action and excitement onscreen and provides a clean, sharp and often immersive audio presentation throughout. It repeatedly takes advantage of all five available channels in order to send music, along with characters, action effects and plenty more consistently zipping throughout the various speakers at every reasonable opportunity, while never allowing any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or negatively affected in the process. Overall, this is a very nice 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that never disappoints and contributes its share of extra fun to the viewing experience.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Legion of Super-Heroes’ includes some enjoyable extras, the entirety of which can be found on the release’s included Blu-ray disc. Included on the release are some Behind the Scenes Featurettes including ‘The Legion Behind the Legion’ (running approximately 5 minutes in length), ‘Down to Earth: The Story of Supergirl’ (running approximately 8 minutes), ‘Meet the Legionnaires’ (approximately 9 minutes) and ‘Brainiac Attack: The Intellect Behind the Super-Villain’ (8 minutes). Also included are 2 ‘Bonus Cartoons from the DC Vault’: ‘Superman: The Animated Series’ episodes ‘Little Girl Lost, Part 1’ (21 minutes) and ‘Little Girl Lost, Part 2’ (21 minutes). Previously released Sneak Peek Previews for ‘Justice League vs the Fatal Five’ (9 minutes) and ‘Superman: Man of Tomorrow’ (8 minutes) are also included.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray disc included in the 4K UHD Combo Pack and resized. They do not represent the quality of the 4K Ultra HD disc itself and will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on the 4K UHD & Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

–

Film Rating: 7/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

–

‘Legion Of Super-Heroes’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray & Digital from DC Comics & Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

–

*Screen-Connections.com is an Amazon Associate that earns from qualifying purchases