I had been hearing about this one for a while, and never got around to seeing it until I noticed I could rent the re-release DVD from Netflix.  Not sure what drew me more to watching this, the fact that Neil Patrick Harris is in it or the story behind the whole project.  Wikipedia it if you’re not familiar with the DHSALB story.

Anyway, so it’s a 42-minute, 3-act musical about evil villains, superheroes, laundry marts, and the homeless.  I really don’t like 99% of musicals…and my exceptions are all rather offbeat ones (Avenue Q, Across the Universe, South Park Movie, etc.).  At first I did think the singing was cheesy, but later that became the charm of the whole thing.  It had great production value considering the time and budget it was done under.  The whole cast and crew really put their full effort into this series and it shows completely.  The story was a bit rushed, but considering they only had 42 minutes to work with, they at least told everything they needed to so it could be self-contained, albeit a bit too quickly.

The DVD extras were the standard commentary tracks and some behind the scenes interviews.  But they were great interviews about the production, the music, and a wrap-up, gave a lot more depth to the production of the musical and just how much effort everyone put into it.  Another great part of the extras was the Evil League of Evil auditions which were fans of the musical that sent in their audition tapes as villains applying to be in the ELE.  The ones that made it to DVD were the cream of the crop, and seriously some of them were amazingly funny.

My advice: Yes, you can get this for free on the internet, but the DVD extras of the cast interviews/thoughts and the ELE auditions are worth it.  Plus watching all three acts together without streaming lag or having to load the next video is nice.