JS vs. BL takes place in a universe where everything is made of Legos. At the opening, assorted villains are robbing the city, and the Justice League is easily mopping them up. (These are almost all characters from the last two waves of figures; though I doubt we'll ever see an official Giganta figure.) Everything is going fine for the heroes -- until Bizarro shows up. This opposite version of Superman just wants to help, but his opposite nature means he keeps messing up, doing more harm than good.
Superman wants to help Bizarro (and he's tired of people assuming Bizarro is his twin), so he takes his opposite to a square planet in another dimension. Here on "Bizarro World" the laws of physics don't work as they usually do, Bizarro builds his own version of Metropolis, and Bizarro thinks the yellow rocks are his citizens to protect. So Superman leaves him there to enjoy himself. Problem solved.
One year later, Bizarro's back, raiding Lex Luthor's building. When the Justice League tries to stop him, Bizarro zaps them with the duplicate day that created him, making Bizarro versions of Green Lantern (the Guy Gardner one), Wonder Woman, Batman, and Cyborg. These duplicates, like Bizarro, are powerful but the opposite of their originals: Guy Gardner is brave, while Greenzaro makes teddy bears to hug; Wonder Woman is dignified, while Bizarra is crude.
It turns out that Bizarro needs help as much as friends: Darkseid is attacking Bizarro World, stealing the citizens, er, rocks to power a weapon that threatens Earth. The Justice League and Bizarro League join forces to stop them; but can the Justice League do much when their powers are affected, and can the Bizarro League do anything right when they keep doing the opposite?
This may all sound like typical comic book fare, but it's both silly and fully through most of the movie. We get Batman as the dark loner suspicious of "the alien" Superman -- who knows about Batman's suspicion and remains friendly. Khary Payton voices Cyborg on Teen Titans Go! and plays Cyborg here with the same enthisiasm (and "Booyah!"s). Hawkman likes to end his sentences with a loud "Ca-CAW!" and the whole universe is stuff the heroes can break apart and put together as they need to. The story and humor is aimed more at little kids than grown-ups, and it's impossible to forget or miss the tie-ins with the current Lego sets, but DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League is funny and fun, if very light. (DVD extras include the previous feature Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leagured and a mini-documentary on Bizarro in comics and in this movie. And it comes with a Batzarro Lego figure too!)
Reviewed by James Lynch
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