PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*
Though I gave the first two TEEN TITANS GO features a fair mythicity rating, this 2022 release-- which includes a long subtitle I refuse to type-- is no more than a mechanical exercise.
While I've watched a fair number of TITANS GO, watching for the moments that they employ quirky humor rather than poop jokes, I found myself impatient with the SUPER HERO GIRLS franchise. In a few words, it's just not funny. I'm sure the story of de-aged DC heroines (and some male heroes) learning their superhero craft resonated a lot more with its target audience of middle school girls. Strangely, though many crossovers exist to widen the appeal of a less popular franchise by linking it to one more popular-- an accusation that one of the TITANS characters levels-- GIRLS was the finale to the series, which only lasted from 2019 to 2021.
Further, this crossover is less than monumental, since another Titan points out that the two supergroups already met a few times. As if to summon forth low expectations for irony's sake, most of the Titans spend the whole narrative sitting in their HQ, watching the Super Hero Girls on TV with one of their regular enemies, Control Freak. At the same time, there's a short sequence in which the Super Hero Girls encounter the Titans of another multiverse, which is the biggest waste of time in the story.
The majority of the story concerns the Super Hero Girls contending with Lex Luthor and his Legion of Doom. Luthor acquires a Phantom Zone projector and proceeds to start exiling superheroes to the Zone. However, for once Luthor's not the prime mover, for he's been covertly controlled by Cythonna, a Kryptonian goddess of evil. Cythonna only aids the Legion because her power is increased by acts of wickedness. The evil goddess also conceives the idea of possessing Supergirl, with the politically correct justification that someday The Girl of Steel will outstrip the power of The Man.
From a POV of a comics-reader, the presence of Cythonna-- a fairly obscure villain from a nineties Superman comic-- sustains a little interest, though she's generally a routine bad guy here. Since the heroines weren't going to be having further adventures, the script just has them go through the motions of familiar problems: Wonder Woman has leadership issues, Zatanna worries that the dark side of her personality may assume dominance, Supergirl resents Superman's bossiness. The only joke I found faintly amusing is that whenever Batman speaks, his voice becomes an indistinguishable mumble that only a few persons can understand. But this might have been a joke recycled from the TV show.
There is one subplot that gets closure: Harley Quinn, after having vacillated between heroism and villainy throughout the series, finally commits to the side of the angels. Tara Strong does quite well in capturing the manic nature of Harley's voice, and it might've helped her get nominated for a 2022 "Annie." Unfortunately, she lost out to a voice-actor for ZOOTOPIA-- and for all the failures of GIRLS, it's not as dull as that feature was.
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