I’m a pretty tough critic when it comes to films or animated features made about superheroes. I grew up a comic book fan and though I was never what you would call a geek, definitely enjoyed the classic characters of both Marvel and DC. Of late, Warner Brothers has been releasing some outstanding animated features based on DC characters and its newest, “Green Lantern: First Flight,” is as good as they get. In recent years, DC characters have been given some of the best animated features and shows around. “Batman: The Animated Series” pretty much set the standard and for the most part it has been lived up to in subsequent shows. As Warner Brothers set their sights on direct to DVD films they pretty much blew doors with “Superman: Doomsday”, then followed up with the equally great “Justice League New Frontier.”

The director of “Superman: Doomsday”, Lauren Montgomery, then helmed “Wonder Woman” which was the weakest of the projects to date though it still managed to be pretty darn good. Montgomery is now back with “Green Lantern: First Flight” and as the original Golden Age Hal Jordan was a favorite of mine (along with Green Arrow… what is it about green?) so I was really hesitant to see how his origins would be brought to life.

My verdict? It was near perfect. As was the case with earlier projects parts of the story had to be changed in order to update it as well as make it fit into a short running time. But the changes were nothing compared to what all they got right. Everything from Jordan’s flight simulator being pulled to the site of Abin Sur’s crash, the passing of the ring, Jordan’s trek to OA, to the training by future arch villain Sinestro was stunningly recreated. The film also does not waste a lot of time with pre-hero exposition. It jumps pretty quickly into Jordan’s acquiring of the ring and the action keeps moving from there.

Once again, the casting of the voices was dead on with Christopher Meloni filling in as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern and Victor Garber as Sinestro. Best of all was the brilliant casting of Michael Madsen as Kilowog, the gruff and tumble member of the Green Lantern Corp who eventually becomes Hal’s closest GL ally.

The Blu-ray version of “Green Lantern: First Flight” delivers an exceptional sound and picture as you might expect. The colors, which play such a large part of this particular story, are extremely vivid add so much to the viewing experience. Blu-ray is definitely the way to go with this release.

There are a good number of extra features available here as well. “Behind the Story with Geoff Johns” gives a brief outline of this particular story, while “I Am the Ring” is a much longer overview of the character as a whole. “Sinestro” and “Guardians of the Universe” are both very short but still offer a little extra information about these subjects. Much better is the ‘First Look’ at the upcoming “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies” which I think is going to be another winner.

Oddly enough, there are also five episodes of “Justice League” that feature Green Lantern (though it is the later John Stewart version) as well as an episode of “Dusk Dodgers” entitled “Green Lantoon.” Additionally there are two featurettes on past DC direct to DVD films and an upcoming Green Lantern storyline written by Geoff Johns.

My only complaint about this set is that it includes a downloadable digital copy of the film. Normally this would be a plus… but someone… somewhere decided to make it so it was not compatible with Itunes and Ipod. I found this odd as “Wonder Woman” had a download that was compatible. I was looking forward to adding this to my growing collection of digital downloads that I could throw on my Iphone, but no such luck. So… note to whomever made this business decision… psssst… BAD IDEA (who the heck really owns a ZUNE anyway?!?!?).

Anyhow, aside from that one nitpick… and it is a BIG one… I still highly recommend picking up this set on Blu-ray. Who knows… maybe the powers that be will change their minds and offer a downloadable version you can put in Itunes down the road. One can only hope…

Starring (the voices of): Christopher Meloni, Victor Garber, Tricia Helfer, Michael Madsen, John Larroquette, Kurtwood Smith, William Schallert, Larry Drake
Extras: Behind the Story with Geoff Johns, I Am the Ring, Sinestro, The Guardians of the Universe, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies First Look, Blackest Night, Duck Dodgers: The Green Loontern, JL Episodes: Once and Future Thing parts 1 & 2, Hearts and Minds parts 1 & 2, and The Return
Specifications: Widescreen (1.78:1) 1080p High Definition, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Studio: Warner Brothers
Release Date: 7/28/2009
MPAA Rating: PG-13
http://www.warnervideo.com/greenlanterndvd/

We'll give Green Lantern: First Flight (Blu-ray) a B. (Would have been an A except for the Digital Download issue)