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One of the more interesting aspects of comic book superheroes in the modern age comes from the fact that they take on some fairly serious subjects in something of a less serious fashion. Superman may wrestle with the ethical dilemmas of crime and punishment, but he’s still a guy floating in the air wearing blue pajamas. It’s a measure of our familiarity with the concept that we don’t burst out laughing every time he shows up on screen. The Robot Chicken: DC Comics Special 2: Villains in Paradise gets those laughs back by inverting this relationship, placing heroes who should be dealing with threats to the planets in a series of almost painfully mundane situations.
From Aquaman getting the low-down on a new date from her goldfish to Lex Luthor trying to manage a meeting of the Legion of Doom while the rest of the villains are caught up in Twitter, the guys at Robot Chicken aim to take the serious business of superheroics down a peg or two. The major storyline involves Luthor’s attempts to get his daughter, Lena, involved in his business (you know, world domination and all that) and the various villains’ reactions to finally getting a vacation out of the deal.
Robot Chicken has pretty well established its formula at this point: rapid-fire sketches using stop-motion animation and a level of humor that ranges from slightly goofy to basic-cable raunchy, riffing on both established characters and obscure trivia that only the most hardcore comics fans will pick up on. There’s no question that long-time DC comics readers will get the most out of this special, but the gags are broad enough to keep most viewers entertained. There are a few stinkers among the sketches, but, thanks to the speed of the material, they don’t hang around long.
With fans still endlessly speculating about Batman V. Superman and the large-scale plans Warner Bros. has in store for its DC characters, specials like this help to put things back in perspective. The films may be going for dark and epic, but Robot Chicken at least remembers that there are times when superheroes should just be fun—or when they should just hit the beach.
DVD Review:
As with the first special, when you’re packaging a 23-minute feature for home media, you should definitely try to fill up on special features. Robot Chicken: DC Comics Special 2 includes three making-of featurettes, a handful of cut sketches, three commentary tracks, and a bit where the creators get quizzed on DC comics trivia.
The cut sketches generally demonstrate that the editors knew what they were doing, but there are a few worth checking out. The commentaries and featurettes both cover plenty of behind-the-scenes material, but you can get the gist of it just by watching the primary making-of selection. Comics nerds will get a kick out of the quiz—especially the frequently confused responses from guys who claim to be experts.
As with the main feature itself, this is all pretty light and fun material that helps to round out what might otherwise be too scant a release to recommend.
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