Review: Babylon 5: The Road Home

If you’re going to release a film inspired by a franchise that features a hardcore following like Babylon 5, you’re going to want to make sure you can widen the girth a tad so that people who know nothing about the franchise, aka people like me, has enough to teethe on so that the purchase is worth it. And among a flood of space opera films, TV shows, and more that friggin’ love premises revolve around the multiverse…guess what? You’ve got another one!

The premise revolves around John Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner aka God) as he has to return home…but only after taking on a multitude of different universes and realities. Now, I’m sure there is a BUNCH of shit that I, having never watched Babylon 5, am missing here in the realm of cameos, callbacks, whatever. That said, I actually found myself just taking in the fun of a space romp with funny sequences, harrowing war scenes, and a CG aesthetic that is quite a departure for normal Warner Bros. Animation fare and it works beautifully here with direction by Matt Peters who needs to get a shout out for giving us a pretty cliche sci-fi premise (especially nowadays), but doing enough in the visual department to help set this one away from the pack.

Die-hard fans of the series will be happy to know that all of the principle original actors are here, I mentioned Boxleitner before of whom I will never say anything bad about, and additional excellent contributions from the likes of Claudia Christain, Peter Jurasik, and others that should give fans enough lore to get excited about in the feature-length that runs just under two hours.

Yes, it’s another sci-fi epic with a multiverse aspect that you probably have seen a dozen times. But this is an automatic purchase if you’re a die-hard fan of Babylon 5. For everyone else, fans of space operas with an enthralling animated aesthetic that accompanies a well-told animated journey, I think you’re going to like this one as well.