Rent Vixen: The Movie (2017)

Vixen: The Movie (aka Vixen: 1 and 2) review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

Even though this Vixen compilation animated film exists within the same universe as CW’s live-action adaptations of Green Arrow and Flash, among their many series, there’s a bit of a throwback aspect to its building up of the title character. Watching this movie brought me back to my childhood of being dazzled by the likes of Batman and Superman for their animated series that overlapped, slowly building the DC animated universe through the likes of Batman Beyond and Static Shock. For a few brief scenes, I was taken back to that era with a collective of serialized episodes that I wish would’ve gone long enough for a season and not a movie.

Of course, the question arises why Vixen isn’t exactly getting a live-action series and only a small animated solo project. Live-action is tricky enough to wrap around characters that can defy speed and control elements that trying to stage the central character as one that can harness the strength and speed of many animals would require theatrical-sized budgets to pull off. Thankfully, in animation, anything is possible and the show doesn’t dumb itself for the medium either.

We get to know and like the character of Mari McCabe as a troublesome woman trying to find her missing parents and the story behind her mystery necklace left behind as a baby. She soon discovers on the streets of Detroit that her necklace grants her the powers to assume the abilities of different animals, from the speed of a puma to the strength of an elephant. She can dash up walls and slam bad guys three times her size into walls. This leads her down some interesting paths of both coming to terms with her past and understanding her powers.

Two problems occur with this format, however, despite my admiration for the character and her development. This is more or less my problem with the current state of connecting worlds. Because Vixen exists in the same universe as the series Arrow and The Flash, she will eventually meet both characters with in-jokes that only the avid viewers will comprehend and appreciate. These types of insights should be more bonuses than prior knowledge required to understand, especially for such a film. This brings up another problem; this doesn’t feel like a movie and more of a handful of episodes from a season-length Vixen TV series. This format brings a bitter edge because just when it seems like the series has found its groove and could be my new favorite post-Saturday morning cartoon, it ends on the note of a filler episode than a brilliant send-off.

The bottom line is that Vixen The Movie makes a powerful case for this to be a full series rather than a web series. It’s chipper, the animation is brilliant, the action fun, and the writing has a fantastic build-up that feels more like a throwback to classic superheroism than the grittier and more fantastical takes of Arrow or The Flash. There’s no shortage of DC Comics animated movies for sure but animated series are in relatively low supply. And if there’s any show Warner Bros should be taking a chance on, I’d put all chips on Vixen.