Guilty pleasures.
We all have them... I hope. One of mine happens to be watching Teen Titans Go! on television.
I watch plenty of cartoons including, Rick and Morty, Archer, Family Guy and The Simpsons so why do I need to preface the pleasure I derive from this show with "guilty"?
Those other shows are all made for adults. That is not the case for Teen Titans Go!. This one is aimed directly at little kids. In fact, MANY hard core comic book fans hate despise this show. It replaced a far more serious and mature version of The Teen Titans and fanboys have never been able to let it go.
But I never watched the serious version so I have nothing to compare it to. In addition, I have two kids who loved the show and introduced me to it two years ago. My 13 year old son has since outgrown it... but not me!
*One episode revolves around Robin having a parasitic twin growing out of his eye.
Yeah that's normal kid show stuff.*90% of the time the show is just silly, mindless fun. However, the other 10% is so utterly ridiculous and quirky that I simply cannot look away. I stumbled onto the show a couple of years ago when my kids were watching it while I did some work on my lap top. Because I like super heroes, every once in a while, I would glance up.
That is when I saw it.
Cyborg had somehow gotten his robotic hands on a Green Lantern Power Ring (I will now say goodbye to all the normal, non-dorks/geeks whose eyes just rolled up into their heads and stopped reading).
Fast forward to the 1:06 mark to see where I fell in love with this show.
Cyborg has a ring that is "the most powerful weapon in the universe". It can manifest anything. So what does Cyborg create?
The Golden Girls!
He creates Blanche, Rose and Dorothy from the 80s and 90s sitcom The Golden Girls.
Why?
Because "These sassy old ladies are the toughest broads around. When the chips are down you want the Golden Girls in your corner". And they weren't a one off quirky reference. They are used throughout the episode and play a major role.
*I included this image just in case the video does not work and people need proof that I was not hallucinating when I saw this.*What????!!!!!
Of course. That makes sense. Toss in an obscure reference to a 30 year old sitcom that no kid has ever even heard of. Brilliant! And that is not a sarcastic "brilliant". I want to hug the writers, Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, for being so clever and weird.
I continued tuning in and being incredibly impressed with the silly and bizarre references and characters. For some reason the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny are incredibly gross and weird and have recurring roles.
I have seen that a million times and I still cannot believe that was an actual plot of a TV show. I giggle every time I think about it. So weird. So quirky. So bizarre. So funny.
So now you get it. This "review" is coming from the perspective of the one adult fan of Teen Titans Go!
I am going to keep the "review" part of this post very brief. You are only going to see this movie if your kids are already fans of the show or you need to kill a rainy afternoon at the cheap theater (where it will be very soon).
This week I took my 11 year old daughter and 13 year old son (who was totally on the fence and did not want to go until he saw some positive reviews) to see Teen Titans Go! To the Movies.
My daughter loved it. In fact, as soon as it was over she said the following things (in no particular order):
- We are seeing that again!
- We are buying that when it comes out on DVD!
- That is one of my top 5 favorite movies of all time!
- I love that movie so much I want to marry it!
My son was bored most of the time.
I was thoroughly disappointed.
The movie was far too mainstream for my liking. Instead of the quirky weirdness that attracted me to the show, there were lots of fart, poop and diarrhea jokes. I love all of the main characters on the TV show. They each have their odd and amusing idiosyncrasies. Sadly, it seemed that Raven, Starfire, and Beastboy were after thoughts. They don't say or do anything. Beastboy's role is especially small. I can't even remember anything he said or did (and he is usually very funny). The upside is that ithis keeps the movie very short at around 80 minutes of run time.
There were some very funny and unexpected cameos. They also threw the fanboys a bone by making fun of some of the more obscure characters in the DC Universe, but there was not enough for the only adult fan of the show.
Spoiler Alert!
Normally I never do this, but it is very important to give some background on the funniest joke in the entire movie. Superman is voiced by Nicholas Cage!
So what?
Well... Nicholas Cage is a huge comic book geek who has always dreamed of being Superman. He was actually slated to play Superman in the failed Tim Burton/Kevin Smith Superman project in the early 90s. He is such a fanboy that he named his actual son after Superman. No his name is not Clark. He named him after Superman's birth name: Kal-El.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/superman/images/8/81/Nicolas_Cage.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180123031337 This is not Photoshopped. This is really Nick Cage as Superman.
Spoiler over. Anyone still reading can come back.
Overall, this movie showed that *Teen Titans Go!* is best consumed in small bite-sized chunks. It is good for some quick giggles during a 15 minute TV episode, but it does not translate well to a full length feature (although my daughter thoroughly disagrees).
This is a kids' movie. There isn't much in it for adults. As a result, I would consider this a movie during which a parent may want to take a nice cool nap. You aren't going to miss anything. If you can't sleep, at least it is short and you might be amused by some of the jokes (especially if you have never seen the show and therefore don't expect it to be clever). If you can get someone else to take your preteen kids, that would be your best bet. Or just wait for Netflix.
Geeky Dad's Movie Guide
Number of times I fell asleep: **0** (But I wish I had) Number of eye rolls: **1** (One too many bodily function jokes) Number of face palms: **0** Number of times my kid asked to go to the bathroom or get food out of sheer boredom: **0** (Although my son was pretty bored) Number of times I checked steemit: **0** (A mom in my row was flat out scrolling through her emails for half the movie. Normally I would be mad. But I couldn't blame her.) Did my kids like it: **My 13 year old son was bored. My 11 year old daughter LOVED it!** Would I see it without my kids: **Never** Full price/Matinee/Rental/Free/Not worth the time: **Cheap theater, have someone else take your kids, or Netflix**
I cannot possibly write about The Teen Titans Go! without including one of my favorite things I have ever seen on TV. In an episode titled "40%, 40%, 20%" Cyborg needs a certain song to get pumped up in order to fight evil. The song is a parody of basically every song from the 80s. Although the song was created for the show, it sounds like it could have come out of some colorful synthesizer back in 1984. It is called "The Night Begins to Shine".
But before you play it, be aware that "on the magnetic strip contained in this cassette tape is the greatest song ever written. It includes all the sounds of the 80s. When you hear this song, anything is possible."
Only watch this if you are then going to burst through a wall, run the fastest marathon ever, save the world from a super villain, or eat 97 meatball subs!
Soooooo. Many. 80s. References. Can. Not. Handle. It!
