The Batman Versus Dracula - I love it

[Kevin Roegele]

This is fast becoming one of my favourite Batman movies. Though it seems somewhat basic at first, it's full of mood and style, and it's pure Batman. A driven man must become a dark figure to protect the city from other dark figures. The comparrisons between Batman and Dracula are appropriate but not over done, and the scarier Gotham gets, the more Batman fits in.

You don't get a much better trio of villains than the Penguin, the Joker...and Dracula. Penguin is suited to the Renfield role, whereas the Joker just exudes menace in a way no previous version of the character has. I love this Joker, he's completely chaotic, a wild card. Dracula is suitably regal and old-fashioned (Blade Trinity take note), and a real threat to Batman.

The music is suitably creepy and shiver-inducing. The artwork is wonderful, rich and dramatic, combining classic horror movie motifs in a comicbook style. Apart from the overly-short ears, this is a great looking Batman. The action is exciting and builds to a worthy climax.

But what I like best about TBVD is the sheer sense of menace, of the shadowy Batman fighting supernatural menaces....very similar to the early Batman comics of the 30's. It's a very creepy film, surprisingly so. The scene with the vampire Joker in the blood bank is pure classic. The sequences of the blood-crazed Joker in the Batcave cell are genuinely disturbing.

I know many are not fond of the The Batman TV show, and I'm not the biggest fan, but this is of a much higher quality.

 

[Two-Face]

I like it as a movie but as I said before animation and Joker's voice is not good at all.
Storyline is very good tho.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

I like it as a movie but as I said before animation and Joker's voice is not good at all.
Storyline is very good tho.

The animation is great (and I love the Joker's voice as well). As I said, it classic comicbook style, but in a classic gothic horror way, with modern hyper-energy.

Just to pick out some examples;

 

[El Payaso]

Except for the Joker, I love the designs of this series a lot.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Except for the Joker, I love the designs of this series a lot.

I'm a big fan of this scruffier, longer haired, more aggresive Joker...

 

[Darkness Falls]

'don't get caught in the rain without your straight jacket'

great line

 

[Majik1387]

Vampire Joker?

 

[Darkness Falls]

the joker's fall into the gotham river
seemed like a rip off of gollum's fall into mt doom from rotk

anyone with me

 

[Joker]

I hate this movie. Hate it hate it hate it. It's actually worse than the rest of The Batman. Vampire Penguin and Joker, and poor, poor writing. Also, the character designs are all still as terrible as they ever were on the series, and the voice acting, especially for Joker (on both counts actually) is especially atrocious. The Joker is not a rastafarian who does not wear shoes.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

The character of the Joker is all there, he's a complete lunatic who causes chaos at every turn. Plus he's scarier and more threatening than any other onscreen Joker so far. Visually it is a change, but I don't find it too far from the traditional version.

I thought it more likely you'd criticise the Penguin turning into Trinity on a prison guard. Now that we didn't need.

 

[deathfromabove]

i liked it far better than the batman series. i agree the scene in the blood bank was awesome.

 

[Joker]

The character of the Joker is all there, he's a complete lunatic who causes chaos at every turn. Plus he's scarier and more threatening than any other onscreen Joker so far. Visually it is a change, but I don't find it too far from the traditional version.

I actually feel the complete opposite. Hamil's Joker was scary, especially in the two animated movies that featured him. He was a cold, remoreselss killer, hiding behind the guide of a clown. The Joker from The Batman seems to be more of the 60's prankster Joker, trying really hard to be sinister with his dredlocks and deeper voice, but fails.

And the visual changes I cant stand are his lack of shoes, head that's bigger than his torso, and dredlocks. Also the fact that he jumps around like a monkey to fight disgusts me.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

I actually feel the complete opposite. Hamil's Joker was scary, especially in the two animated movies that featured him. He was a cold, remoreselss killer, hiding behind the guide of a clown. The Joker from The Batman seems to be more of the 60's prankster Joker, trying really hard to be sinister with his dredlocks and deeper voice, but fails.

And the visual changes I cant stand are his lack of shoes, head that's bigger than his torso, and dredlocks. Also the fact that he jumps around like a monkey to fight disgusts me.

I love this version of the Joker to be honest, I welcome the changes to his design. We had the animated series version for over a decade, a fresh approach was needed, and thankfully this one was pure Joker, yet seemingly brand new.

As for scary, I completely agree that Hamill's Joker was full of menace, but he never got to the level of sheer vicious insanity shown in Bat Vs Drac, specifically the blood bank scene.

I actually have more of a beef with the Penguin redesign, he's like a spoilt 15-year old geek.

 

[Joker]

Oh yes, as bad as I think Joker is, Penguin is 100 times worse, even though they actually changed less on him. The Joker, from his ankles to his neck, is pretty much perfect. The Penguin is terrible in every way though. The too long coat tails, the ridiculous hat, the grating voice. Ugh.

 

[Cmill216]

That's the stuff of nightmares.

 

[MrQuinn]

 

[Da Joker]

I think Hamills best performance is in the batman beyond movie, return of the joker, the way they introdouce him and the way he [BLACKOUT]changes tim into a lil' joker[/BLACKOUT] is truly eerie and scary. But i also like the no-shoe rastafarian joker, his voice goes too squeaky sometimes for me though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUsVwW_gEno
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFw5xytB4_s

 

[byte19]

lets not forget, they gave this joker some fighting skills, thats Capoira(?) style, not drunken monkey.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

lets not forget, they gave this joker some fighting skills, thats Capoira(?) style, not drunken monkey.

They gave everyone fighting skills. I have no problem with the Joker being a competent fighter, and neither did Bob Kane (albeit in a more street fighting way and not martial arts), but the Penguin being a martial arts master is all wrong.

 

[bulletbillx]

They gave everyone fighting skills. I have no problem with the Joker being a competent fighter, and neither did Bob Kane (albeit in a more street fighting way and not martial arts), but the Penguin being a martial arts master is all wrong.

Exactly. The batman's joker wasnt that bad at least when he was wearing the purple suit instead of the weird costume from his first appearance. In fact I prefer Joker to be able to fight batman to an extent like he did in Batman #1.

But Penguin? He's a fat dude and shouldnt be able to fight very well without resorting to weapons at all.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Exactly. The batman's joker wasnt that bad at least when he was wearing the purple suit instead of the weird costume from his first appearance. In fact I prefer Joker to be able to fight batman to an extent like he did in Batman #1.

But Penguin? He's a fat dude and shouldnt be able to fight very well without resorting to weapons at all.

To be fair though, he only does martial arts once, and the rest of the movie he is typical Penguin, i.e. trick umbrellas and running away when outmatched.

 

[Stevens25]

I saw this a few weeks ago. I knew about the new Batman series,but I never knew about this film untill I first saw it. The title(and subject matter)sounds rather cheesy. I mean,Batman fighting Dracula? What's next? The Hulk vs. Godzilla?
However,after all was said and done I really enjoyed the film and I loved the animation. Some of the subtle changes didn't bother me(like the look of the Joker). As good as the film was,Batman Beyond:Return of the Joker is still my all time favorite animated Bats movie. I would give Batman vs. Dracula 4 out of 5 stars.

 

[gqxsensazn]

The movie was actually pretty cool. I cringe every time I see Penguin gets his hand cut by the blade.

 

[Firm18]

After watching the series which had it's moments I thought: Wow...Dracula...that has to be dumb. But I still bought it....and Loved it! Every single moment is really, really cool. It has a nice dark feeling about it and the super-effective scene is the bank of blood is sensational. I think even Burton would like to use that one. BvD is in my fav. 3 Batman Animated Movies

1.Batman: Mask Of Phantasm
2.Batman Beyond: The Return Of The Joker (Un-Cut)
3.Batman Vs. Dracula

 

[TheFuture]

I liked the storyline but not the animation in regards to Dracula and the Joker. In respect to Dracula he basically looks like Ra's Al Ghul from TAS........but a Vampire. Maybe that's just me though!

I've never liked The Batman's Joker. For me it's change for the sake of change. I think they could have done a real good fresh take on the Joker without blatantly going with a depiction that is "too original".