Batman vs. Robin 2015
I have been watching some of the movies from the DC Universe Animated Original Movies. These are mostly direct-to-video movies based comic book story arcs. They get surprisingly good reviews, but I think partly because they have a limited number of reviews, mostly by comic enthusiasts. The nice thing is most of the movies stand alone even though there is a story arc involved. I have been borrowing the movies using Screen Passes, but have also found a few at Dollar Tree. They are more grown up than Saturday morning cartoons, sometimes R-rated, though this one is PG-13. I kind of messed up by picking this sequel instead of the earlier Son of Batman, but it works fine. I like that they work to establish characters. With animation they are able to have a 10 year old Robin (not Dick Grayson) without trying to get a 10 year old to act and especially fight. There are a lot of fights, which is a little surprising with the budget animation and the story moves along well, starting with one big action scene and then a series of others as Batman runs up against the Court of Owls and a misbehaving Robin is wooed by another superhero with fewer scruples. I wanted them to drill down on some issues in the primary conflict between Batman and his young Robin, but the two do a poor job of talking things out, which keeps the conflict going. With an 80 minute runtime, they are able to get a pretty involved plot, but they keep things lively. I don’t know if the stories and characters would work as well with live action, so the animation may let them get away with less realistic (maybe cheesy) situations and characters, but this was a fun movie.
Written: 21 Jun 2021
Owned on: Digital