Starring Scott Menville, Greg Cipes, Khary Payton, Hynden Walch, Tara Strong
Written By: a bunch of people
Directed By: Michael Chang, Ben Jones, Ciro Nieli, Alex Soto
Studio: Warner Home Video
Buy on Amazon.com

The cartoon, like the popular comic its based on, features the best-known teen superheroes of the DC world in their own Junior Justice League. Unlike the comic, which strongly focused on the characters day-to-day regular lives, teen angst, and problems with one another, the cartoon is more centered on action, and is otherwise disappointingly kiddish and cartoony. The stories and action arent bad – you can easily sit through the episodes and be entertained ” but its simply not for adults. The humor is dopey and the voice acting cheesy (particularly the comic relief Beast Boy and princessy Starfire), and the animation is a mix of bright colors ala WB morning cartoons and cutesy faux-anime (big eyes, big heads, annoying, silly animation quirks stereotypical of childrens shows from Japan, etc.).

Even tho the Teen Titans are teens, they’ve obviously never seen the Bat-penis before.
2004 Warner Home Video. All Rights Reserved
So its made for kids, and in that light, its a successful action show. Its bright and fun, the action is better than those WB card-battle cartoons, theres the repetitive theme of the value of friendship and sticking together, and perhaps kids find the humor appealing. Plus, Robin is actually pretty cool and far removed from his traditional wussy boy / NAMBLA poster child personality and looks.

As for the DVD, I was happy to see that they included six episodes as the cheap packaging inferred maybe three tops. It also comes with a lengthy interactive feature, and an interesting behind-the-scenes featurette with the shows creators that brings to light how they adapted the cartoon from the comic, and how the characters fit the teen archetypes (i.e. Beast Boy = class clown, Starfire = princess-slash-exchange student, Cyborg = token urban character, Raven = troubled goth girl, Robin = all-American overachiever. Sort of like the childrens version of the Breakfast Club).

Fans of j-pop cuties Puffy Ami Yumi will also get a kick out of their video for the theme song (the extended song is actually pretty fun), and a quick sneak peak at their own upcoming cartoon, Hi Hi! Puffy Ami Yumi. Unfortunately, that show looks pretty awful, geared toward young girls and animated in that fake American anime style, like Powerpuff Girls mixed with faux-Japanese weirdness, sugar-induced hallucinatory colors and Craig McCracken-esque character design. Weak.

Teen Titans is a show Id let my kids watch, if I had kids. Its a far cry from the older, more dimensional Titans in the comics, but the cartoon is a sugary after-school treat.

Features:
Comic Creations: From Comics To Cartoon
Find the Remote (interactive game)
Theme Song Puffy Ami Yumi Music
Video Sneak Peek: Hi Hi! Puffy Ami Yumi (and a few others)

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Surround Stereo
SPANISH: Dolby Surround Stereo
FRENCH: Dolby Surround Stereo

Video:
Widescreen

Subtitles:
English, Spanish, French

Favorite Scenes: Nevermore is a pretty cool episode focusing on Raven
Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 0 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: