Lego DC Super Hero Girls: Brain Drain (2017)

Directed by: Todd Grimes | 72 minutes | animation, action, adventure, comedy, family | Original voice cast: Anais Fairweather, Gray DeLisle, Ashlyn Nicole Selich, Stephanie Sheh, Tara Strong, Teala Dunn, Romi Dames, Greg Cipes, Jennifer Hale, Josh Keaton, Tom Kenny, Rachael MacFarlane, Mona Marshall, Khary Payton, Yvette Nicole Brown, Hynden Walch

Lego has now managed to secure a permanent place in the animated film universe. Especially the collaboration with DC has already resulted in quite a number of prints in which various well-known and lesser-known superheroes, superheroines and supervillains make their appearance as Lego figures. ‘Super Hero Girls: Brain Drain’ stars teenage versions of DC icons Supergirl, Wonder Woman and Batgirl. The three heroines suddenly appear to have lost part of their memory. For example, they no longer know that they have taken a test. Then they are accused of all kinds of misbehavior that they have no knowledge of. What is going on? Then the Super Hero Girls find out that their dreams weren’t dreams in reality and that they are dealing with a special diamond that soaks up memories. Who is behind this and why?

‘Lego DC Super Hero Girls’ is a smooth, fresh-looking film that is pretty straightforward in terms of story and character development. The pace is quite high. The action scenes and jokes are fired at the viewer at a rapid pace. The action sequences generally look good and quite slick, so that large parts of the film look good. In addition, all superheroines get the opportunity to display their special powers and abilities. However, some scenes seem to be stretched a bit long to give the thin story just a little more weight and length and to extend the running time of the film. This approach sometimes feels a bit forced. The younger audience won’t be bothered by this as much, but adult viewers and certain teenagers will recognize this lack of substance.

Visually, ‘Lego DC Super Hero Girls’ is a colorful whole. Sometimes the budget constraints do show up in the form of somewhat less convincing, somewhat cheap-looking animation effects. The voice actors do their job nicely and – except for a few moments that are slightly over the top – do justice to their characters.

Especially for younger viewers ‘Lego DC Super Hero Girls’ is an entertaining film. Adults, especially if their expectations are based on films such as ‘The Lego Movie’ or ‘The Lego Batman Movie’, may be less impressed by this animated film. Nevertheless, this superheroine adventure has enough fun moments to score a sufficient.