Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse (2022)
(On TV, May 2022) Is it a valid criticism if the film itself hits you in the face with it? Looking at its title, Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse promises a team-up or a fight (or probably both) between the Teen Titans Go! crew and the DC Superhero Girls. Alas, the wilder Teen Titans primarily end up being sarcastic commenters on a story that involves the superhero girls. This is an issue, especially since fans of the anarchic Teen Titans Go humour may be bored by the far more conventional (and non-comedic) antics of the Super Hero Girls. But here’s the thing: poking at the fourth wall as they usually do, even the Titans comment on their lack of involvement in the show. Sure, there’s a coda that gets them fighting to save the multiverse, but it feels like a half-hearted contractual obligation. The result is a disappointment no matter how you slice it: the Superhero Girls feel undercut in their own films, while the Titans feel overly constrained. They will probably attempt something a lot like it again in a few years – let’s just hope it will be better.