The DC Super Hero Girls are back in LEGO form for this latest animated feature, LEGO DC Super Hero Girls: Brain Drain. Starring Wonder Woman (Grey Griffin), Supergirl (Anais Fairweather) and Batgirl (Ashlyn Nicole Selich), the students of Super Hero High face an unknown threat and try to solve the mystery of the High School’s amnesia from being brainwashed.
Don’t expect The LEGO Movie twist on these familiar characters, quite the opposite, this movie, while bricked up, sits nicely in the Super Hero High storyline and current loose and fun take on the DC Universe established in 2015 with the DC Super Hero Girls brand since 2015.
We are treated to third-wall breaking and DC Comics Easter eggs and roster development, but the builder jokes and LEGO based solutions to problems are kept to a minimum. That’s not a bad thing, but most of the LEGO DC properties, including the recent LEGO Batman Movie rely on clever building to move the story along. This one relies more on LEGO vehicles than LEGO jokes and problem solving.
There’s probably an easy explanation for this, as this is more of an all ages movie targeting a younger demographic. That could also explain the fart jokes, pot pie eating contest and food fight between Batgirl and Harley. All welcome humor in my book, no matter how old I get.
However, when principal Amanda Waller gets carrots in her hair, it is no laughing matter.
The softness of this take on the DC characters (OK, we all know from stepping on them that LEGO are not soft) continues to be fun to watch, full of girl-power positivity and a nice break from the grim and gritty. Big Bad Lena Luthor teams up with Eclipso to create a dimensional portal to take control over Gem World and that’s as serious as it gets.
Commissioner Gordon is there to keep an eye on Babs but is also on the school’s committee with an unusual Vice Principal choice, Gorilla Grodd! Wildcat and Red Tornado are also on staff in their traditional mentor roles.
Our students at Super Hero High aren’t quite heroes or villains yet, that is why the girls share class time with the likes of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. It’s not quite the Titans or Young Justice, Super Hero High is more of an incubator for future heroes and villains. Even Harley shows some potential for good here. Bumblebee and Katana are evil for a bit, but only under the influence of the mind gem!
Things really heat up when Supes, Wonder Woman and Batgirl take the Invisible Jet to the moon to take on Eclipso’s palace with the help of The Flash.
In all this is a fun one for the kids and for the adult DC Comics fans there’s Boom Tubes, The Furies and Red and Green Kryptonite sprites trying to take down our heroes.
LEGO DC Super Hero Girls: Brain Drain doesn’t take itself too seriously and that’s a good thing. The animation is more of a TV quality than a feature, but that seems to go along with the brand.
This one even ends with a nice musical number that’s been stuck in my head ever since then, “Get your Cape On”!
LEGO DC Super Hero Girls: Brain Drain is available on DVD and Digital HD.
