Movie Review - Batman: Return Of The Caped Crusaders

Batman

Return Of The Caped Crusaders

2016

Warner Bros. Animation / DC Entertainment : Warner Bros. / Warner Home Video

4.5 / 10

I am a big fan of the Batman '66 comic so when I saw this naturally I thought all my birthdays had come at once...  Damn, birthdays have gotten worse!!!

This is nothing but a poor imitation of the '66 series.  Granted the vocal talents of Adam West, Burt Ward, and Julie Newmar was a wise choice though only Ward still had the youthful sound.  I am sorry to say that West and Newmar both sounded as though they were having trouble getting a sentence out while breathing...  Then we get to the vocal talent of the other villains.  Jeff Bergman was responsible for killing the Joker; he tried so hard to carry off Ceasar Romero's voice, though by halfway through his first scene it was evident he didn't have the talent to carry it off.  Both William Salyers as Penguin and Wally Wingert as the Riddler just used their villains most recognisable vocal - so for the Penguin, it was "Wark!  Wark!  WARK!" and for the Ridler, it was his laugh.  One of the better vocals was Lynne Marie Stewart as Aunt Harriet and the worst voice was Thomas Lennon as Cheif O'Hara - If you thought Stafford Repp's "Begorrah" was bad just wait till you hear this one... I nearly hit stop at this point.

Then there was the story, though the plot and premise were solid it was the incidentals which spoilt it.  The constant in-jokes which parodied the original series got a little tiring.  The worse part was that most of the jokes just weren't funny.   Though, I did like the idea of this Batman going Dark Knight, though it could have been done much better.  One of the best parts of the story was when Batman see's three catwomen - Julie Newmar, Lee Merriwether and Eartha Kitt (her voice is spot on).

There are two heinous crimes that the writers and director Rick Morales cannot be forgiven for...

There is no Narrator's voice, "Meanwhile, back at stately Wayne Manor..."  He is there, but in such a limited manner they may as well not have used him at all.

Worse still Robin NEVER say's, "Atomic Batteries To Power; Turbines To Speed!"

On the whole, the animation is okay, though the CGI cars stand out, which isn't a good thing.  This is not one of Morales' best-directed films as the pace is all over the place and gives the movie a rambling and disorganised feeling.

I would stay away from this one if you're a Batman fan, especially of the cheesy '66 series.  Buy the original movie or rewatch the series as both are a hundred times better than this film.

Movie Review - Justice League: Doom

Justice League

Doom

2012

DC Entertainment / Warner Bros. Animation / Warner Premiere : Warner Home Video

9.25 / 10

This has to one of the best DC Stories of all time as it shows the Justice League has faults.

Here we have the ultimate bad guy Vandal Savage recruiting his crime syndicate to help him with his plan to defeat the Justice League so he can reign over the human race.  So who will help him to defeat the superhero team?

None other than Batman.

The story helps to give depth to The Batman as he's devised strategies to render the other members of the Justice League powerless, should they end up on the dark side, this is how far ahead the Dark Knight thinks.

The story is strong as DeWayne McDuffie has done a great adaptation of the comic book and Lauren Montgomery directs it just as strongly, keeping the pace fast and entertaining while allowing the characters to shine.

To be honest, there's not much wrong with this film.  I love the fact they decided to go with the known voices of Kevin Conroy as Batman, Tim Daly as Superman, Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern, who are the voices of the main characters who had their own series, then the rest of the voices are the actors from the original Justice League series; Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman, Carl Lumbly as The Martian Manhunter, and Michael Rosenbaum as The Flash, so right from the get-go you're in familiar territory.  This is one of the reasons the movie is so good.

If you like the DC Superhero's then this is one film you need to watch.

  

Movie Review - Justice League: War

Justice League

War

2014

DC Entertainment / Warner Bros. Animation / DC Comics : Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group / Warner Home Video

7.5 / 10

This is a strange little film in the fact that it has so much wrong with it... but it also has so much right.

So what's wrong?

Batman's voice.  There's just no conviction, power, or menace in it.  This is one of The Bat's main features, other than his lack of super powers.  It's one of the main talking points when a new Batman a character is cast.  Everybody loves Kevin Conroy from The Animated Series, I really liked Anthony Ruivivar in Beware The Batman (it has the best vocal talents of the Batman series), now Will Arnet has done a brilliant job in The Lego Batman Movie.  Unfortunately, Jason O'Mara doesn't do the character justice.

Cyborg's origin.  Though it follows the lines it's blue goo which I didn't like as it took the blame off his father, Silas Stone creating The Cyborg out of his dying son.  This made Victor Stone more a casualty of Darkseid's attack rather than the love of an estranged father.

The appearance of Shazam, who wasn't in the original story.  The choice to use Shazam instead of Aquaman, in my eyes, was not a good one.  Aquaman was instrumental in the defeat of Darkseid and his Parademons. There's also the brilliant scene when he has the whales and sharks erupt out of the ocean to devour the Parademons.

The Parademons.  I really do like the original design, the ones in the movie are too bulky and appear to be more machine than living entity.

What's right with the film?

The Green Lantern, voiced brilliantly by Justin Kirk, has the right amount of bravado and ego and his relationship with The Batman and The Flash helps to give the movie more power and a sense of humour.

Christopher Gorham does a great job of voicing The Flash and adds the joy and wonder that the character exudes in the comic.

Wonder Woman, though you don't know her origin story for the New 52 in the movie this could make her strong character feel a little strange, to begin with as she's like a child in a toy shop... if you knew that she's new to the real world after leaving Themiscyra would've helped there - however it's this scene which gives the character heart but as soon as the Parademons attack, her sword starts swinging and the no-nonsense female warrior we know and love come to the fore, and Michelle Monaghan who does a great job at voicing all aspects of the character.

Though the thing that really makes this film work is the story and the action, for which Director Jay Oliva does a great job.

These elements nullify the bad ones make the film enjoyable and watchable, though it isn't the best of the Justice League films.  Still worth a watch though.

Comic Book Review - Night Of The Monster Men (Batman Crossover)

Night Of The Monster Men

A Batman, Nightwing, And Detective Comics Crossover Story

2017

4 / 10

Story By Steve Orlando And Tom King with James Tynion IV

Artists:  Batman - Riley Rossmo; Nightwing - Roge Antonio; Detective Comics - Andy MacDonald

I'm not a big fan of the crossover way of publishing and creating a story and the Night Of The Monster Men is the perfect example as to why.

The main reason is artwork.  Since comics are pretty much graphically immersive with the action being shown via the artwork while the writing expresses the characters feelings so when you have three differing styles telling the same story it can hamper and even hinder the work.

Being honest I'm not that keen on any of the artist's renditions though there are some similarities between Riley Rossmo and Roge Antonio's work.  Though they are different style-wise the characters do have recognisable faces and body sculpture.  For the most, it nearly flows, though I didn't like how Antonio drew Gotham Girl.  However, it's Andy MacDonald's art that is just too different from the other two's and this spoiled the story for me.  I am NOT saying that MacDonald's art was below par, it isn't... well not up to the last page in the series where you have difficulty recognising Bruce Wayne and Kate Kane, but it is too different to Rossmo's and Antonio's to be a distraction, though his rendition of Gotham Girl is the strongest.

I believe this would have worked better had Rossmo drawn the whole series.  His style is so well suited to this type of story.  Along with the colourist Ivan Plascencia they give the story a nice moody feel and I really love the way they created the rain-drenched streets of Gotham.

The only thing that annoyed me about his style was how small Batman's ears were on his cowl.  Rossmo's rendition of the monster men themselves, for me, was the best.

Riley Rossmo

Roge Antonio

Andy MacDonald

As for the story, we start off with a severe weather warning and a storm which threatens to flood Gotham worse than the Zero-Day flood so Batman and the Bat-Team take it upon themselves to help the police to evacuate the populace.

Though, who would have thought it, Hugo Strange has avidly been watching the weather and has chosen this particularly nasty day to attack the Batman.  Not really, it must be chance and luck he chose this particular day to fight; Batman and his posse will be spread thin when he activates the Monster Men to strike.

This is a strong beginning as we learn how Strange orchestrated his scheme while watching the team defend themselves against monsters, some of which are pretty near indestructible.

As the story progresses the Orphan and Spoiler who have helped to move the Gothamites out to higher ground start to have some issues of their own as the people crammed into the cave start to get restless and violent.

What will happen to the team...

Now, this is where the story begins to spoil.  The ending is pretty weak compared to the rest of the story and lets it down pretty badly.  Strange's reasoning for starting the assault and Batman's resolution to the situation left me feeling deflated, I wanted more.  For such a grand plan I expected Strange would have a grand justification.  Then I was expecting a big boss fight when Batman finally faced Strange, after all, you see strange working out his muscles.  The ending the writers give their readers is worse than the conclusion to Batman V Superman or Stephen King's "Dark Half".  It now ranks up in my top ten of letdowns.  Though I have to say the journey to get there was greatly entertaining... mostly.

I wouldn't recommend this title to anybody as there are so many better pieces of work out there.  It's just as shame because this story had the potential to be one of the great Batman stories.

Alternate Covers.