Jordan's Roundup: Week of March 19th

This post was written as a Trailer Roundup with Captain Underpants as the main focus, but then we got a look at something slightly more popular...

But have no fear, there is still a Captain Underpants trailer review...

Justice League

After several underwhelming teases (and three subpar previous films), the first trailer for Justice League has been released, and it is, well, actually pretty darn good. It starts with Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) and meeting up with Diana/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), as they discuss an imminent threat in the form of an alien army (I think?). They then proceed to lead us through the roster of heroes we have been waiting to see: Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash, respectively played by Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher and Ezra Miller. We are given some fairly awesome action shots of these new team members. Aquaman effortlessly prevails in a bar fight and casually strolls out with a beer in a refreshingly comedic encounter. The Flash (easily the coolest looking out of the bunch) has a few super stylized moments that show off his powers. Cyborg (easily the least exciting part of the trailer) still manages to look decent in his first reveal as a all-powerful robot-man. All set to the tune of “Come Together,” every machine gun blast from the Batmobile and every slow motion turn around from Wonder Woman is edited surprisingly well. All of the caped crusaders are here, save for one, and he is, of course, the one. Henry Cavill’s Superman is still absent, which I am sure is to further the illusion that he is still buried in the ground (Batman v. Superman spoiler), even though it was all but confirmed that he was actually still alive in the end. We also get a nice glance at some of the supporting players with Amber Heard as Aquaman's love interest Mera, Billy Crudup as Henry Allen and last but not least, J.K. Simmons as Jim Gordon. Justice League appears to be a glorious action-packed retelling of everyone’s other favorite hero team-up, but I said the same thing about Suicide Squad and look where we are today. Let us just remain cautiously optimistic until its release later this year.

Warner Bros.

Captain Underpants

All of the school book fairs combined could not have led me to anticipate the motion picture release of Captain Underpants, but here we are. The new film stars Ed Helms and Kevin Hart and presumably follows the successful books your children always brought home from school. The animation in this first look is sleek Peanuts Movie-style 3D that at least brings a sense of visual impressiveness, despite a script that is childishly unfunny. It looks like what it is meant to look like: a children’s movie for children. This is reasonable when you cast aside all of the animated properties like Inside Out and Kubo and the Two Strings that are clearly adult-friendly as well. Adults can still watch cartoons, but the question is, do they always want to? Recently, the answer has been yes more often than not, but with trailers like these, we remember that not every film is made for us. The plot of Captain Underpants is about two troublemaking best friends that are in danger of being separated by the school principal. Through a series of well-timed but unimpressive gags, the kids turn their menace into a dimwitted superhero called Captain Underpants. I can admire an attempt at cleverness, and it still could prove to be enjoyable for everyone, but Captain Underpants, as far as I can tell, will not be knocking the pants off any serious moviegoers.