Weekend Review – “Green Lantern: Emerald Knights”

This week, we review the latest DC animation title, centred on Green Lantern. Next week, we’ll review the live action movie.

Cast and Crew Information

Nathan Fillion as Hal Jordan
Jason Isaacs as Sinestro
Elisabeth Moss as Arisia
Kelly Hu as Laira
Arnold Vosloo as Abin Sur
Steve Blum as Kloba Vud
Henry Rollins as Kilowog
Roddy Piper as Bolphunga
Bruce Thomas as Atrocitus
James Arnold Taylor as Tomar-Re
Wade Williams as Deegan
Tony Amendola as Kentor
David Kaufman as Rubyn
Mitchell Whitfield as Avra
Sunil Malhotra as Bolphunga’s ship
Peter Jessop as Salaak
Michael Jackson (a different one) as Ganthet

Written by Eddie Berganza, Alan Burnett, Todd Casey, Dave Gibbons, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim, Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi.
Directed by Chris Berkeley, Lauren Montgomery and Jay Oliva

Availability Information

This is available in DVD only, Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital combo and Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital copy combo plus litho cell editions, the latter of which is available only through Amazon.

Premise

In a story inspired by the original Tales of the Green Lantern Corps miniseries, new recruit Arisia hears various tales of the Corps while Oa prepares for an onslaught from the antimatter Universe. Structurally, it’s similar to Batman: Gotham Knight or The Animatrix, but is far more consistent in terms of look and feel.

High Point

“Mogo doesn’t socialize.” It’s a great line, and an accurate adaptation of Mogo’s first comic book appearance in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #188, May 1985. I suggest all readers make a promise: if you don’t know who Mogo is, watch this before finding out. If you do know who Mogo is, don’t tell those who don’t know until they’ve seen this short.

Low Point

As good as the fights were, they take up a large proportion of this 84 minute collection. I’d have preferred it with less combat and more characterization.

The Review

This doesn’t win a lot of points for originality. Every story has been told before, save the story of the first Lantern Avra. (What’s wrong with Rori Dag? Does the fact that I even knew about Rori Dag say something about me?) Even the structure has been used by this group before. That doesn’t make it a bad product, but it’s not an original product. I give it 2 out of 6.

The animation is very good. In previous anthology titles, we’ve had wildly erratic quality and styles. This time, we get a very consistent look from start to finish throughout all tales, which makes it a more palatable set, in a style similar to that of the Justice League cartoons. I give it 5 out of 6.

The stories were well chosen and effectively adapted. Some have been updated with the new, revised comic book canon, but they are the same stories at the core. They escalate nicely from chapter to chapter, reveal the nature of the core well enough for new viewers, and build nicely to the final conclusive battle. I give it 5 out of 6.

The voice acting was well done. Fillion was great in the action sequences, and decent at most of it. He had a tough time with this one, as his role is primarily that of expository narrator. I give it 4 out of 6.

The production is well done. This team has been doing this for about two decades now. They know what they’re doing. I give it 5 out of 6.

The emotional response was very good, particularly with the excellent Mogo story. I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, this is another solid animated movie from Warner Bros. animation. If you like the genre and the anthology format, you’ll like this. I give it 5 out of 6.

In total, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights receives 31 out of 42.

4 replies on “Weekend Review – “Green Lantern: Emerald Knights””

  1. Oh, DAMN! I remember that line! “Mogo? Mogo doesn’t socialize.” I can see the page in front of me – it was the perfect tale of a Green Lantern.

    • No, there’s no missing link. By “watch this before finding out” I meant “watch Green Lantern: Emerald Knights before finding out.” Learning who Mogo is in advance ruins a great punchline.

      • If it helps to convince anybody, the original “Mogo Doesn’t Socialize” story was written by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

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