Are critics too hard on DC?
 

I have just finished watching The Justic League, and i must say I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting absolute rubbish so I was shocked with how much I actually enjoyed it. Anyway, my question is why are the critics so damn hard on DC movies. Man Of Steel, Suicide Squad, Batman vs Superman and Justice League all scored very low scores, yet Marvel can dish anything out and get nothing but praise. Now I'm not saying DC movies are masterpieces, but they are just as enjoyable as some of the marvel movies. And there certainly not as bad as the critics make out.

Batman by Nolan is widely appreciated. Batman is DC is hope! :)

Re: Are critics too hard on DC?
 

I was aiming more towards the new DCU movies.

Re: Are critics too hard on DC?
 

Wonder Woman got praised by critics, I think it even has above a 90% on rotten tomatoes. The other three were panned by critics because.... well... they were not good. And it's not just critics. Justice League wasn't even supported by the audience and not even the fans went back to see it multiple times. It's a movie that should've made a billion dollars in its sleep, yet it fell 400 dollars short of that. And I'm not even surprised, the people over at WB are super unorganized, all of their movies have had script problems, they've fired directors, they've cancelled movies, the head of the studio released Justice League when the CGI wasn't even done, people have quit, obviously their movies will reflect the lack of responsibility from the studio. The Marvel movies always have smooth productions, and there is hardly ever drama behind the scenes.

I agree on a lot here. I found Justice League to be a highly enjoyable and entertaining adventure. Certainly has it's obvious flaws, but none more than Star Wars Episode II or Howard the Duck or many other flawed or even "guilty pleasure" films I find highly enjoyable, because they seek to be popcorn fun and give the audience a good time.

Although I detest MOS and enjoy the 'Extended Cut' of BvS, but only as a film and not so much as my favorite version of those heroes, as for the critics, I do agree, they seem to be much harder on DC Films and over-praising Marvel movies. Fans and professional critics alike. I wouldn't be surprised that some of that has too do with the Disney Media machine as compared to Warner Bros.

I feel like I should reiterate that Justice League featured The Flash and Cyborg grave robbing by order of Batman.

All valid points. But I still critics are way to.hard on those movies.

Suicide Squad 26% from critics yet 61% audience.
Justice league 40% from critics yet 76% audience.
Batman v Superman 26% from critics yet 63% audience.

WW - 98% from Critics, 7.6/10 from critics, 88% audience
MoS - 55% from Critics, 6.2/10 from critics, 75% audience
JL - 40% from Critics, 5.3/10 from critics, 76% audience
BvS - 27% from Critics, 4.9/10 from critics, 63% audience
SS - 26% from Critics, 4.8/10 from critics, 61% audience

I don't see much of a critics bias, keep in mind the worst movie of the year The Emoji Movie had a 39% audience score, you are always going to have a taste shift from the audience and the critics.

Re: Are critics too hard on DC?
 

I watched Justice League a couple of days ago, and I thought it was pretty fun, with just a couple of cringe-worthy moments, mostly centered around Aquaman. I still think DC flicks nail the comic feel better than the Marvel stuff, even if they botch the characterizations sometimes.

Justice League

Re: Are critics too hard on DC?
 

No.

No, I think critics are just doing their jobs. While I've enjoyed a lot of DC (except Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad), they all have some very glaring issues. These are things that should have been culled by any casual criticism during development, IMO.

Don't get me wrong. I really liked MoS, BvS, and even Justice League for the most part. Granted, the extended cut of BvS ironed out some of the most awkward scenes for me but I think that hints that either production was hampered and/or rushed for whatever reasons. Good on the critics for being aware.

Humor also seemed to creep in where it was unnecessary. At least not in the way it was used. But that's everywhere now and it looks like there's no avoiding it ("Is she with you?"; chained Thor, spinning, distracting the conversation; "please hold" from tLJ, etc.). For me, the movies were too compromised and couldn't decide who the audience was, so they tried to accommodate too much. Maybe that's partly on the fan base expecting from DC what has been mostly established as a running standard from Marvel. That and the decision-makers deciding to straddle the line.

=\

Re: Are critics too hard on DC?
 

Re: Are critics too hard on DC?
 

The best thing to come out of these movies is Zimmer’s Superman theme.

Really? I find it depressing as **** honestly. Too each his own.

That Joker movie with River's brother will minderase you all.

Re: Are critics too hard on DC?
 

I always wonder why cartoons seem better at capturing the characters, sticking to the source material and telling better stories? Most people feel Batman the Animated Series is still the definitive Batman even though it was heavily inspired by the 1989 live-action movie. Some still feel Mask of the Phantasm (1993) ranks as one of the top Batman movies ever.
We also had the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated series (and within them a couple feature-length films) that seemed to please fans and critics alike.

So why has animation achieved what so many failed attempts at live-action has not? Is it just that animation can achieve virtually anything visually while keeping it congruent with the rest of the production (whereas CGI is very discernable from live action)? Or that voice actors are just better at capturing the essence of characters?

Just for conversation...

I might look at the simplicity of the animated stories and dialogue and how we might forgive it for being a "cartoon." Too, those characters do not really emote much at all; so we, the audience, can project the intended emotion onto that character. Like your parallel in noticing CGI in contrast to live-action, we are hardwired to read the face as friend or foe so if an actor/actress misses that emotional mark then the contrast is pretty loud. Cartoons/animations greatly simplify that for us, giving just enough for us to fill in the blanks and run with it. From our view, there's no error because we perceive what we believe to be the right emotion to the scene given.

...to hit a few possibilities.

*EDITS for reasons*

So basically, our expectations are lower with a cartoon (and we give a lot of leeway to stylization - we have to admit that the toons mentioned were highly stylized as opposed to looking realistic). Lower expectations and granting more leeway lend themselves to being pleasantly surprised with other aspects such as story, characterization, etc. (as is the case with movies as well - when we go in expecting little or even expecting to be disappointed, we tend to like the movie better because it then surpasses our low expectations.)

I can buy all that.

I like to compare Justice League (TAS) to Superfriends - both stylized (although JL had far better, more modern animation), yet JL was just miles ahead of Superfriends on every level of sophistication. I realize Superfriends was made FOR children (as children were considered the only audience for animated superheroes in the 70's) while JL appeals to all ages. I just think I would have flipped if a cartoon like JL had showed up when I was a little kid - and I remember wondering why Superfriends couldn't be as cool as the comic books it was derived from (seriously... Wendy, Marvin and Wonderdog? They just killed it for me.) as I started watching it BECAUSE I was into the comics.

Loved it when the Superfriends would cross-verse ( modern term ) with Scooby Doo.

@Captain Steel
Yeah, I have no idea really. Seems reasonable though.

To your Superfriends comments, totally agree. I think I lost my **** when I first watched The Mighty Orbots one Saturday morning! At least for animation. The formal intro starts around 00:44 in. Also, Is that Fry I hear?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaSJL18lJmw

I know I'm way off the reservation here, but the late 80s were GREAT for growing up with toons drifting into darker territory and style!

• The Mighty Orbots
• The Transformers
• Spiral Zone
• Dungeons and Dragons
• Visionaires: Knights of the Magical Light
• StarCom
• M.A.S.K.
• Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future

Seems that was the perfect time for U.S. cartoons, trailing after theHanna-Barbera saturation and before Saturday mornings all but vanished.

:D