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REVIEW - ANIMATED SHORT, BLU-RAY RELEASE, SOUNDTRACK RELEASE

Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam Home Video Release
Studio: Warner Home Video
Release Date: November 9th, 2010
Review: By James Harvey

Synopsis:
Make your stand against evil with this exciting Collection of 4 DC Showcase Animated Shorts starring favorite DC Comics super heroes! Chosen the world's protector against the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man – pride, envy, greed, hatred, selfishness, laziness and injustice - young Billy Batson accepts his destiny as Captain Marvel. Battling alongside Superman against nefarious Black Adam, Billy soon discovers the challenge super heroes ultimately face: is it revenge or justice? For bounty hunter Jonah Hex and hard-boiled cop turned vengeance ghost The Spectre, getting their hands dirty is part of the job - maybe even the fun part. But Superman, Green Arrow and Black Canary follow an internal moral code to guide their actions. They know it's easy to get lost in the darkness of the fight, especially when villans like Merlyn the Magnificent and Count Vertigo place no value on human life.

DVD Bonus Features:
· Four animation shorts (est. 62 min)
· Four additional bonus TV series episodes handpicked by Bruce Timm

Blu-ray Bonus Features:
· Four animation shorts (est. 62 min)
· Commentaries by renowned writers Steve Niles, Joe Lansdale, Greg Weisman and Michael Jelenic
· Four additional bonus TV series episodes handpicked by Bruce Timm
· Digital copy online of the shorts






Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam Animated Short:

Somewhat of a controversial release among fans, the new DC Showcase Animated Shorts Collection title features a compilation of previously-released animated shorts anchored by an all-new exclusive 24-minute adventure starring Superman and Captain Marvel. Understandable, some fans are upset that the only way to watch the Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam short is to get this disc. Thankfully, fans can breathe a sigh of relief. The exclusive short is, in my opinion, worth the price of admission thanks to a little help from some surprisingly welcome bonus content.

After finishing up the anchor short, Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam, my first thought was how nice it was to hear George Newbern reprise his role as Superman for this new short. After a shaky start on the beloved Justice League animated series, he quickly found his legs and ended up becoming one of the definitive voices behind the Man of Steel. Thankfully none of that is lost here, even if his role could be considered somewhat secondary behind the Big Red Cheese and his evil counterpart. While Superman may get top-billing here, this short is really all about the origin of Captain Marvel.

Quite honestly, there's not much to discuss concerning Superman/Shazam: Return of Black Adam. It's a fun, action-packed origin story for Captain Marvel, plain and simple. Fans will undoubtedly enjoy it. The 24-minute running time does give the story some room to breathe, and it does play out more like a mini-movie than just a regular episode, and what we get a fun, zippy story. Writer Michael Jelenic once again shows his skills in fusing a story with a fine balance of action, heart and smarts. Paired with the always-excellent and kinetic directing styles of Joaquim Dos Santos and, as to what should be no surprise, you get a great final product.

And this is an engaging story, don't get me wrong. Captain Marvel's origin is probably the best wish fulfillment origin out there. However, the version we get here is somewhat light, with about two-thirds of this short is just pure action, but I'm not complaining. Every second looks gorgeous, sold with a smart script, great delivery and at least one genuine surprise appearance. The character design work is second to none, delivery what is easily one of my favorite animated designs for Superman yet. Sure, the actual Captain Marvel origin story does get pushed to the side a teeny bit, but there's just enough substance, and a pretty deep underlying theme, that keeps this short from feeling like just an unbalanced, extended smackdown.

The other shorts included, all extended editions of the previously-released material - DC Showcase: The Spectre, DC: Jonah Hex and DC: Green Arrow - are all pretty aces too. However, the additional material in each is barely noticeable. In fact, if you only watched these shorts once or twice before, I doubt you'll notice the new material. If you watch the original and these new extended editions, only then will you likely notice the additions, which actually amounts to a few seconds of new material for each. Disappointing yes, but since the majority of consumers will be buying this for the anchor feature I doubt that really matters.

If you're a die-hard DC Comics fan, I think this DC Showcase Animated Shorts Collection is worth adding to your home library. Yes, the main feature is pretty brief with bonus content that easily dwarfs it time-wise (more on that below), but you can't discount the quality here. The animation in Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam is pretty stunning to behold, saddled with plenty of action and a witty script. It's just fun - plain and simple. Plus, the three other shorts aren't anything to scoff at either. If I had to base this on just the Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam short, which runs just over 24 minutes, I would still mark this release down as Recommended, though casual viewers may want to consider just a rental.

The Blu-ray:

Warner tosses Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam onto Blu-ray with a standard Elite Blu-ray case housed underneath a reflective foil/embossed slipcover. Inside the case is the usual assortment: a Blu-ray for the film and additional DVD/Digital Copy disc with an activation code insert.

Looking at the audio and visual components, Warner Home Video has again thankfully included a DTS-HD Master Audio track for the main feature, and it sounds excellent. The slugfests between Superman, Captain Marvel and Black Adam in Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam just sound thunderous at times (pun somewhat intended). The additional shorts all sound superb as well, especially the more action-driven DC Showcase: Green Arrow. However, DC Showcase: The Spectre gets a nice, eerie ambient mix and the quick bursts of violence sound sharp in DC Showcase: Jonah Hex. In terms of video, save for some pretty typical color banding, there's little to complain about concerning the quality.

Digging in, the bonus content here is actually pretty pleasing. While we get the standard bonus episodes, which a couple welcome surprises, we get some excellent audio commentaries for each of the animated shorts. With Warner Home Video failing to provide commentaries or behind-the-scenes featurettes on their recent DC Universe Animated Original Movie releases, this is a welcome, welcome surprise. And, blessedly, each commentary is worth listening to. The writers of each touch upon various influences and their choices of style, discussing their respective backgrounds and creative processes. Each is enjoyable, as I said, though the casual fans may find them a shade dry. Personally, I rather enjoyed them.

The bonus episodes are a mix of the usual, such as the Justice League Unlimited episodes, with some surprises, here with the Batman: The Brave and The Bold episode "Chill of the Night" and the vastly underrated Batman: The Animated Series episode "Showdown." Each episode here focuses on the highlighted characters from each short, and each are immensely enjoyable. In addition, we get our first Batman: The Brave and The Bold episode on Blu-ray…though in standard definition.

Overall, the Blu-ray edition of Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam is undoubtedly the way to go when picking up this title on home video. The DVD release pales in comparison to the Blu-ray, with the high-definition release featuring more overall bonus content and just plain increased quality. Much like with my decision on the main feature coming as Recommended, I'm going to give the actual Blu-ray home video release the same stamp. While the casual viewer may want to consider just a rental, fans will want to add this to their super-hero library. Whether it's the main feature, the commentaries or bonus episodes, there's something worth checking out here.

The Soundtrack:

Now, given the content on this soundtrack, it's no surprise that the score material on here tends to bounce around a bit. We jump through a host of different genres and end up with a very thorough, very complete soundtrack to the DC Showcase animated shorts collection, and it's excellent for the most part. No stone is left unturned here as every teeny, tiny bit of music from these shorts are included and, as great as that is that might also be its shortcoming, too. And when i say everything is included, I mean just that. Even the stingesr for the WB and DC Showcase title cards are included (which is actually nice, since they actually contain nicely little bursts of music). The Track Team, the composing due for this collection, make sure we get every note, and La-La Land records does a fantastic job at bringing it to robust life.

To get it out of the way, the Jonah Hex segment is easily my favorite portion of the soundtrack. The music is spot on and, oddly, pretty soothing. There's some very authentic sounding ragtime music mixed in with some of the more slow-burn type tracks. In fact, some of it sounds pretty haunting. The quick-paced "Jonah Takes Care of Business" breaks up the chilling, moody collection of tracks. It's perfectly done and sounds so different than everything else on the album. These tracks alone are nearly worth the price of admission.

The jazzy, 70s-esque The Spectre segment also deserves top marks. It's a pretty groovy kinda beat, one that fits the dirty crime angle of the animated short. Naturally, things darken a little bit, embracing some of the standard musical cues we'd hear in horror films, as the title character closes in one his prey.

Outside of that, the rest of the album is dedicated to the Green Arrow animated short and the Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam animated short, both of which feature more traditional scores. Given the nature of these shorts, basic heroes tales perfectly capturing the essence of some of DC's top characters, the scores work for these quite nicely. Even though this might sound slightly insulting, I found the scores for these shorts to be the most simplistic out of the four included on this soundtrack. For Superman/Shazam, The Track Team really bring out the heroic and upbeat nature of these characters. It's actually refreshing to hear such light, optimistic music, which makes the odd dark slashes all the more menacing. For Green Arrow, we get more intense music that's still straight forward. It's pretty agressive, and at times fairly fast, but it matches the non-stop action of the animated short.

Complaints for this soundtrack release are pretty minimal. The budget once again keeps the composers from really breaking out with the music here. You can hear the limitation on some of these tracks, particularly in the Superman/Shazam potion, and it feels a little frustration. Also frustrating is just how quick these tracks are. Given the source material, the animated shorts, I'm not surprised, but it seems like some of these tracks cut out way too soon. Some of these tracks barely clock in at 20 seconds and, while I appreciate the thoroughness of this album, at times it almost seems unnecessary to include such a short that that's over before it begins.

Still, the Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam - Original Soundtracks from the DC Showcase Animated Original Shorts is a pretty nice release. It can feel a bit unfocused at times if you're not familiar with the source material, but overall it's a thorough collection. Naturally, budget limitations seem to stall things a little bit here and there but, overall, The Track Team is able to pull off some very inventive work here, particular when it comes to the Jonah Hex and The Spectre animated shorts. It's some pretty brilliant stuff. Thankfully, those looking for more traditional, heroic fare also won't be let down by what they find here. As always, La-La Land Records does a great job in packaging up this release. The audio is fantastic, and the overall booklet design and package is pretty snazzy. DC Comics fans should definitely consider adding this very, very thorough release to their collections, and score aficionados may want to consider the same. Recommended.



 

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