and despite any sense of the mystery being obligatory, once that obligation is settled, the film really kicks into high gear. While the lack of some appropriate gore here and there does cause me to see the tip of the curtain at times, it doesn't distract me entirely from the production. There is much to like here. Andrea Romano, as usual, does a great job with casting and getting the most of out her cast. With characters like Batman and Joker especially, having to recast them is always a roll of the dice as to many fans, Conroy and Hamill ARE those roles and there's no chance for anyone else to try. I'm not that intolerant and I thought Bruce Greenwood and Jon DiMaggio were masterful. I settled into Greenwood's Batman quicker than I have for anyone else who has voiced him aside for Conroy recently, and the only Bat-actor who I settled in that quickly besides Conroy was probably D. Bader's Batman in "BRAVE AND THE BOLD", but ONLY because he fits the tone of the show. DiMaggio's done no end of voice work (even if he still is best known for Bender on FUTURAMA), and while it did take me a little time to get used to his Joker, by the end I liked it. He mastered the laugh chillingly well. His performance had hints of both Hamill and Heath Ledger in it, and the character design for the Joker actually helped make that combination work. He could make Joker sound chilling and funny at various moments, or both at once, which is the main thing. Neil Patrick Harris was naturally very good as Nightwing, but I had no doubts after hearing him play Spider-Man in '03. Jensen Ackles from SUPERNATURAL, of course, all but steals the show as Jason Todd/Red Hood, and he did a pretty good job. At times he sounded similar in his delivery to Harris, but I don't think that was a bad thing; I think it helped underscore the point that Todd and Grayson had similarities, but also vast differences in personality and experiences. There was overlap but the two were different men and went their own way. I do like that Kelly Hu has been getting more voicework, as she's not bad at it (before VAMPIRE DIARIES, she was Sha-Shan in SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN). Wade Williams sounded crusty enough to be Black Mask, who is naturally a combination of "freak" and mobster. Finally, Jason Isaac's Ra's was a bit more subdued than some performances of the character, but it fit the tone of the film.
The 2D animation was exceptional. The 3D CGI for the vehicles was not, often looking like they'd been zapped into the world of the Playstation 2. But the CG did work better for some backgrounds and other moments. The character designs were very good, the animation was fluid, and the music worked. The fight scenes were spectacular. Brandon Vietti is credited with direction while Jay Olivia on storyboards, and they both did an awesome job. The action sequences put a damn lot of live action films, including some of the Batman films, to shame. Even "BATMAN BEGINS" suffered from "shaky camera" syndrome. Even if it was jarring when Jason or Batman could be punched through a wall and get up, the action was usually so awesome that one hardly cared a second later. If Vietti brings even half this flair for action into "YOUNG JUSTICE", then we're in for a damned treat. Dusty Abell's character designs were also very good. Red Hood, Joker, Batman, everyone looked great. It's a minor thing, but I also liked just being able to see Nightwing show up, in a modern design, and be in some fluid action and banter. He's a cool character and I sometimes think he doesn't get much respect without being Robin or "Batman II".
Beyond the mystery angle, the writing was pretty good; Winick is credited with the story version of this as well. Batman's memories are introduced not so much as pure flashbacks but him watching little "ghosts" appear before it goes full into memory mode, which worked a lot better than Wolverine's "Smellovision" from WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN, which looked similar. Joker was as nutty as expected, and I was somewhat disappointed when Nightwing sat out the last half of the film, as he was pretty fun to have around. I did like the fact that while Jason was mentioned as being, basically, a troubled seed to begin with, Batman still held himself responsible for him turning down the path of darkness - even more so than Jason himself seemed to. Jason Todd of course was an interesting villain; or anti-hero, or even what some may dub "anti-villain". In many angles he became similar to the Punisher, although while the Punisher has stolen capital from criminals to fund his operations (after wasting them, of course), Red Hood was setting himself up director as a kingpin sort of figure and watching with bemusement as the crooks killed each other. I suppose a point could have been made about Jason manipulating the thugs against each other resulting in more street violence endangered innocent people more (the people always hit by stray shots or debris from explosions), but then again Batman didn't care about the car roof he let sail into the distance, so probably better left unsaid. The rapport between Wayne and Grayson was amusing; the two didn't seem to get along well, but on the field they were very cohesive, as much so as a trapeze act would have to be. There was one shot where Nightwing swings on a line to grab Batman's arm that was very circus esque that I thought captured it perfectly. Red Hood, of course, was an incredible opponent because Batman had trained him, so he knew all of Wayne's moves and tactics. Yet while Red Hood did a lot of rotten stuff, including allowing the Joker to be released from Arkham just to avenge himself (there were many risks involved with that, such as what if Joker decided to kill innocent people in his first act instead of Black Mask's mobsters), or killing people, or whatnot, he never quite lost all sympathy. While that first chapter could have been gorier, it was still intense. His resurrection in the Lazarus Pit, actually, seemed more horrific. In the end he didn't think Batman loved him enough to at least kill the Joker once and for all to avenge him, while Todd would have done so for Wayne. Batman described his position, but was Todd right? His counter was, "I'm not telling you to waste everyone, like Penguin or Dent, just certain ones" basically. But can one ever really stop? Once one abandons concern for life, even some of the worst ones, is there a going back? Where does it end? Joker started out a common petty thief, after all; why not waste all muggers so they never get that big? On the other hand, Bat-fans have had eternal debates on whatever Batman would or should ice the Joker, and just the Joker. The movie didn't try to give a magic answer to it, just played the characters off each other as they would act (including the Joker). In comparison, some fan-films that set up this dilemma try to heavy handedly claim Batman should kill, or not kill, at all times.
The ending, I would say, was quite bold. It was one of few DTV's that didn't have a triumphant ending. Sure, Red Hood was defeated, and in the end, if given a choice to try to save either Todd or Joker from an explosion (that Todd himself set up), Batman did choose Todd. But whether Todd is dead or alive is unknown, and he's still out there, intent on his brand of justice. The final bit had some awkwardness to it, but at the same time was also a bit of a risk to underscore the tragedy of it. Which is what the story was, despite the butt-kicking. The only awkward hint to it is that it seemed abrupt. But the more I thought about it, the more I got it.
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). I will be honest i expected an enjoyable, not great, animated batman like every other direct2DVD dc animated movie. This was not only a good animated movie, but just a good movie period. I loved it. I put it on the same caliber of film as batman begins. great movie.
It's the animation...I hate the animation. It looks so old and rough.
