After watching this, I find myself once again lamenting the 2011 live-action Green Lantern film. This animated film, FIRST FLIGHT, is far superior in storytelling and frankly, entertainment value as well. To me, this is one of the better of the Warner/DC animated features.
The thing is, from what I understand (not having read any of the comics) Green Lantern is a "space cop." What this film does right is that it focuses on those two things: being a cop...in space. The segment where Hal is out "on the beat" with Sinestro is a great, and other segments further work investigation and innocent/guilty questions into the plot line. Whereas the live-action film spent most of its duration on Earth, FIRST FLIGHT spends only about the first five minutes. Granted, a little more time could have helped to established who Hal is as a character beyond that he's a pilot. But that is forgivable, because time spent out elsewhere in the universe is much more exciting and makes more sense in the context of this telling of the origin-story.
I was very impressed by the writing for Sinestro character. What he says and does is genuinely thought-provoking. The voice acting was just fine; I didn't hardly find myself thinking about it, and that is the way it should be. Some of the CGI effects were pretty cheap looking, but for the most part the animation was clean and fluid.
Overall, FIRST FLIGHT was very entertaining, with an intelligent script, some plot twists and lots of action. The PG-13 rating is for some language and some fairly graphic animated violence. It strikes me as very strange that this direct-to-DVD production would be in almost every way superior to a huge-budget theatrical live-action film. Why couldn't they all be as good as FIRST FLIGHT? Sigh.
The thing is, from what I understand (not having read any of the comics) Green Lantern is a "space cop." What this film does right is that it focuses on those two things: being a cop...in space. The segment where Hal is out "on the beat" with Sinestro is a great, and other segments further work investigation and innocent/guilty questions into the plot line. Whereas the live-action film spent most of its duration on Earth, FIRST FLIGHT spends only about the first five minutes. Granted, a little more time could have helped to established who Hal is as a character beyond that he's a pilot. But that is forgivable, because time spent out elsewhere in the universe is much more exciting and makes more sense in the context of this telling of the origin-story.
I was very impressed by the writing for Sinestro character. What he says and does is genuinely thought-provoking. The voice acting was just fine; I didn't hardly find myself thinking about it, and that is the way it should be. Some of the CGI effects were pretty cheap looking, but for the most part the animation was clean and fluid.
Overall, FIRST FLIGHT was very entertaining, with an intelligent script, some plot twists and lots of action. The PG-13 rating is for some language and some fairly graphic animated violence. It strikes me as very strange that this direct-to-DVD production would be in almost every way superior to a huge-budget theatrical live-action film. Why couldn't they all be as good as FIRST FLIGHT? Sigh.