Studio: WB Animation
Director: Ethan Spaulding
Writer: Jeremy Adams
Producer: Rick Morales, Jim Krieg
Stars: Jennifer Carpenter, Joel McHale, Bayardo De Murguia, Robin Atkin Downes, Grey Griffin, Matthew King, Matthew Mercer, David B. Mitchell, Jordan Rodrigues, Patrick Seitz
Review Score:
Summary:
While the warriors of Earthrealm and Outworld battle in a bloody tournament, Scorpion and Sub-Zero must team up to stop a nefarious plot to destroy the universe.
Review:
Even if you had a blast with HBO’s live-action “Mortal Kombat” movie (review here), I assure you it isn’t the wildest, wickedest, most fan-pleasing “Mortal Kombat” film of 2021. No, that champion is “Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms,” the outrageously over-the-top animated sequel to 2020’s equally outstanding “Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge” (review here).
“Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge” shot a kunai straight into my heart with, of all things, WB’s opening logo where Scorpion gives the “Get over here!” treatment to none other than Daffy Duck. “Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms” similarly wastes no time setting its stage. This WB logo includes a different cartoon character cameo, and the smile it brings starts on a reminder that, no matter how much blood ends up spilled, the movie keeps a streak of Saturday morning kookiness that simultaneously appeals to the cereal-crunching kid inside each of our kunai-pierced hearts.
As its predecessor did, “Battle of the Realms” builds on the signature style of after school animation Warner Brothers popularized at the turn of this century. Then that paint gets primed with modern maturity to create a bridge between semi-realistic martial arts action and savagely fun fantasy violence.
This is about as easy a case of “If you liked that, then you’ll like this” as it gets because “Battle of the Realms” breathlessly picks up where “Scorpion’s Revenge” left off. No surprise, this sequel comes from the same director (Ethan Spaulding), writer (Jeremy Adams), and producer (Rick Morales, now joined by veteran DC Animation producer Jim Krieg). With only one year between both movies, they either followed through on a singular vision they had from the get-go or else had the first film so fresh on their energized minds that they were never at risk of missing a beat anyway.
“Battle of the Realms” feels right at home as a “Scorpion’s Revenge” follow-up while also working as an independent adventure in its own right. You could watch this film without having seen “Scorpion’s Revenge” first, although you’d be denying yourself a second serving of awesome animated entertainment. You could also get by without that first film filling in the who’s who and what’s what behind how everyone arrived at their respective starting positions. You still might need at least a minimal awareness of Mortal Kombat lore to keep various allegiances, alien races, and MacGuffins like the “Kamidogu” relatively straight. Then again, you could alternately let the mumbo-jumbo roll right through your ears and simply enjoy “Battle of the Realms” for the chaotic spectacle of glorious cartoon gore that oozes at its core.
One thing “Battle of the Realms” has that the live-action film bizarrely does not is a tournament. If nothing else, you get the eponymous event that gives Mortal Kombat its name, and its nearly nonstop flurry of fists, fangs, and flesh ripping right off the bone comes courtesy of a jam-packed roster bursting with monsters, mutants, mystics, and cybernetic murder machines.
From familiar faces like Baraka to newcomers like D’Vorah, “Battle of the Realms” features over 20 distinct fighters. As enjoyable as the film remains in spite of its entirely minor flaws, one of those qualifying quibbles could be that there are too many characters to keep track of amidst all of the eviscerations. Jennifer Carpenter receives top billing as Sonya Blade, but Sonya isn’t even close to being a main player in either the A storyline (blowout arena tournament between the warriors of each realm) or the B storyline (Scorpion and Sub-Zero reluctantly teaming up to take down a plot to destroy all of creation). Joel McHale’s Johnny Cage barks out some comic relief, but he too is more sideline support than a major mover and shaker.
Odd as it seems for a “Mortal Kombat” movie, there may even be too much fighting, if such a thing is possible. Battles come so fast and so frequently, they blend together after awhile. If you had to play a matching game after the film, with one list of fighter names and another list of deaths and dismemberments, good luck finding the file in your memory that might remember whose torso was torn in two, whose guts exploded from the inside out, who had claws tear through their forearm bones, and so on.
Those humps can be hurdled over however. Arguing that “Mortal Kombat” has too many fighters or too much fighting can be akin to arguing McDonald’s French fries have too much grease. Of course they do. That’s why they taste terrific.
Another endorsement I can offer the movie is that, as soon as I’m done typing this, I’m about to download “Mortal Kombat XL,” a game I noticed is currently on sale on PSN. I haven’t played a proper MK game in I don’t know how long. “Mortal Kombat XL” is several years old and not even the most current iteration of the iconic series. But “Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms” really whet my appetite for the franchise’s unmistakable brand of eye-gouging, spine-tearing, intestine-detonating insanity. And I can play as Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, Predator, and the Alien? If the game is even half as cool as “Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms,” I’m guaranteed to have a grandly gruesome time.
Review Score: 85
Everyone else who has no problem with a fright flick that feels like “Lizzie McGuire” decided to get dark with a PG-13 Halloween special should do just fine.