Batman: Gotham Knight DVD Review.
Hi kids why don't you all gather 'round while Uncle Stockwell hunkers down to tell a little something about life. It ain't perfect. Not by a long shot. Here drink some apple juice and eat some graham crackers as we review Batman: Gotham Knight.
Over the years Batman has been in several solo cartoons of his own, usually accompanied by Robin the Boy Wonder in one carnation or another. The first that I can truly remember is his apperances with the Superfriends way back before a lot of you were even drunkinly conceived. Before cable existed my little brother and I would wake up early Saturday mornings and go down stairs and sit our asses in front of the TV watching the color bars and listen to the soft hum of a dead channel until that great theme music started playing and it was our favorite superheros off to teach the Legion of Doom a valuable lesson.
But after Batman Returns came out in 1992 something even BETTER happened. Batman: The Animated Series.
A cartoon that had actually now grown up with me. Voiced by Kevin Conroy, Batman would fight the evils of Gotham city with his classic rogues gallery including the Joker played by Mark Hamill. This series was so well regarded that the same team of Paul Dini, Alan Burnette and Bruce Timm were given the go aheads for other projects such as Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. Fun and inspired tales of superheros written by and for adults.
And now we have something new for 2008, Batman: Gotham Knight presenting loosely linked together tales of a Nolan-esque Batman between the events of Batman Begins and Batman The Dark Knight told through Japanese artform of anime.
Its a unique decision to take an American mythos Icon like Batman and let the top animators of Japan do their thing under the watchful gaze of producer Bruce Tim. The audience gets to see many sides of Batman in this piece, through the eyes of children, through the eyes of the cops and through the eyes of criminals such as Scarecrow, Killer Croc and Dead Shot. In a smart move the talented Kevin Conroy is once again the voice of Batman and he does it well. However he seems to be the only voice actor who gives a damn. In typical anime style the other voice cast seem akward, flat, devoid of any real human flavor and merely saying their lines in a semi-rushed cadance that has always plagued Japanese animation. And the Japanese style of anime is the real henderance to this presentation. Akward pacing of shots. Slow pan overs. The camera hanging on non-animated characters. Close ups of eyes. Action that happens off screen while the characters slow motion out of it into another frame. All the things that are unique to Japanese cartoons simply do not translate well with characters from our own superhero medium. That is not to say that there was not merit in this release, Dead Shot and Scare Crow are both presented here very very well and the changing styles of animation are fun to watch. But Batman should not look like this:
Ever. I liked Batman: Gotham Knight enough to recommend it for a viewing. And Batman actually does some detective work which is something I always enjoyin a solid bat-yarn. However if you're thinking about dropping $30 on Blue-Ray format I would think again. Rent it. See if its for you. For me it was missing that great spirit of Batman: The Animated Series. Grade: B-.
Over the years Batman has been in several solo cartoons of his own, usually accompanied by Robin the Boy Wonder in one carnation or another. The first that I can truly remember is his apperances with the Superfriends way back before a lot of you were even drunkinly conceived. Before cable existed my little brother and I would wake up early Saturday mornings and go down stairs and sit our asses in front of the TV watching the color bars and listen to the soft hum of a dead channel until that great theme music started playing and it was our favorite superheros off to teach the Legion of Doom a valuable lesson.
But after Batman Returns came out in 1992 something even BETTER happened. Batman: The Animated Series.
A cartoon that had actually now grown up with me. Voiced by Kevin Conroy, Batman would fight the evils of Gotham city with his classic rogues gallery including the Joker played by Mark Hamill. This series was so well regarded that the same team of Paul Dini, Alan Burnette and Bruce Timm were given the go aheads for other projects such as Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. Fun and inspired tales of superheros written by and for adults.
And now we have something new for 2008, Batman: Gotham Knight presenting loosely linked together tales of a Nolan-esque Batman between the events of Batman Begins and Batman The Dark Knight told through Japanese artform of anime.
Its a unique decision to take an American mythos Icon like Batman and let the top animators of Japan do their thing under the watchful gaze of producer Bruce Tim. The audience gets to see many sides of Batman in this piece, through the eyes of children, through the eyes of the cops and through the eyes of criminals such as Scarecrow, Killer Croc and Dead Shot. In a smart move the talented Kevin Conroy is once again the voice of Batman and he does it well. However he seems to be the only voice actor who gives a damn. In typical anime style the other voice cast seem akward, flat, devoid of any real human flavor and merely saying their lines in a semi-rushed cadance that has always plagued Japanese animation. And the Japanese style of anime is the real henderance to this presentation. Akward pacing of shots. Slow pan overs. The camera hanging on non-animated characters. Close ups of eyes. Action that happens off screen while the characters slow motion out of it into another frame. All the things that are unique to Japanese cartoons simply do not translate well with characters from our own superhero medium. That is not to say that there was not merit in this release, Dead Shot and Scare Crow are both presented here very very well and the changing styles of animation are fun to watch. But Batman should not look like this:
Ever. I liked Batman: Gotham Knight enough to recommend it for a viewing. And Batman actually does some detective work which is something I always enjoyin a solid bat-yarn. However if you're thinking about dropping $30 on Blue-Ray format I would think again. Rent it. See if its for you. For me it was missing that great spirit of Batman: The Animated Series. Grade: B-.