Now before I go any further with this review, let me just say that anybody who already owns these DC Showcase shorts should not pay full price for this DVD. A single - 22 minute - story about Shazam, Black Adam and Superman is not worthy of a full price purchase by itself (after all you already have the other shorts). If, however, you do not own any of these stories, you're getting over an hours worth of new content, so it's actually a pretty decent deal.
Alright, so the four short stories featured on this DVD are: Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam, The Spectre, Green Arrow and Jonah Hex. Being that none of these stories is feature length, I think it would be easiest to talk about each individually.
Let's start with Shazam. This 22 minute story (by far the longest of the collection) is awesome. The story begins with Black Adam's return to earth after 5,000 years of banishment. Upon his arrival, Black Adam seeks out Billy Batson, a young orphan who has somehow retained his innocence despite being a child of the streets. Unbeknownst to Billy, he has been chosen by the wizard Shazam to receive great power so that he can become the protector of humanity, a fate Black Adam intends to prevent by pre-emptively killing the boy. Fortunately Superman is there to help protect Billy as he learns of his mission and assumes the role of Captain Marvel. Obviously, the short running time of this story requires that the plot move at a fast pace. Luckily, the writer does a good job of getting us set up early on so that we can dig into some fantastic action throughout the rest of the film. Besides the beautiful animation and excellent fight choreography, the thing that really impressed me about this shorts visuals was the use of slow motion. Given the inherent difficulties of doing slow motion in animation, I was really amazed by some of the great action shots done in Superman/Shazam. Expertly crafted from start to finish, this story is tied with Green Arrow as my favorite in the set.
Next up is DC's most prolific source of supernatural punishment, The Spectre. Set in 1970s Hollywood, this story is all about murder and vengeance. Though not an especially mysterious - or original - story, the thing that makes this short work so well is the look and sound. Perfectly executed in a retro style, both the music and sound from The Spectre feel like they're from a 1970s murder mystery film. Complementing this superb audio is animation that not only looks good, but also looks aged with intentional dust and scratches being added throughout the story. A fantastic homage to 1970s cinema, The Spectre is another solid addition to this collection.
The third installment to DC Showcase is Green Arrow. I'll be honest, I've never been a big fan of Green Arrow. It's not that I dislike the character or anything, I've just never been all that interested in him and I wasn't really all that excited to see his short. So imagine my surprise when I finished this story and thought to myself "Wow, that was as good as Superman/Shazam!". While picking up his girlfriend (Black Canary) from the airport, Green Arrow soon finds himself protecting a pre-teen princess from multiple assassins who have targeted her for execution. It's a lot like Die Hard I guess, but with more arrows. Anyway, this is a great short. The animation is excellent, the staging, settings, choreography fantastic and the ending ... perfect.
The last - and in my opinion least impressive - short in this set is Jonah Hex. The story basically revolves around a female prostitute/tavern owner who tricks men flush with cash into coming up to her room with the promise of a good time, but kills and robs them instead. Eventually, Jonah comes looking for one of these men - who has a bounty on his head - and soon finds himself squaring off with the aforementioned prostitute and her cronies. It's not a bad story by any means, but when compared to the other three of the set it just doesn't feel all that special. That said, the animation in this installment is good and the directing (all the shorts are directed by Joaquim Dos Santos) solid.
So there you have it. DC Showcase my not be the most substancial DTV release to come out of Warner Bros. Animation, but it still gets the job done nicely. Personally, I hope to see more of these short stories by Bruce Timm and company. It's obvious we won't be getting full fledged animated features starring characters like the Atom anytime soon, so bite sized films like this are as good as it gets. Once again, I must emphasize that people who already own The Spectre, Green Arrow and Jonah Hex shorts from previous DVD releases should not buy this at full price, doing so would be a rip-off in my mind. Additionally, I would advise most consumers to purchase the single-disc version of the film. I just don't feel that an overly expensive Blu-ray is necessary considering the amount of content you're given (if you really want to see it on Blu-ray, rent it).
