Batman vs. Robin (2015)

Movie Info

I hate dolls!

Batman still finds himself at odds with his son Damian as Damian the title of Robin his own.  When Damian learns that his father still doesn’t trust him and learns of the Court of Owls, Damian finds himself wooed by the Court to become one of their Talons.  Likewise, Batman find that the Court of Owls has agents everywhere and that he could be the next target.

Directed by Jay Oliva, Batman vs. Robin is a semi-sequel to Son of Batman from 2014.  The DC Universe Animated Original film follows Justice League:  Throne of Atlantis in 2015 and premiered at WonderCon.  The movie partially adapts the Batman:  Night of the Owls storyline which ran in the Batman New 52 series and was generally well received.

For me, Scott Snyder’s Batman which came with the launch of the New 52 reinvigorated the character.  I liked what Grant Morrison had done with Batman (for the most part) and liked the addition of Damian.  The New 52 streamlined the Batman Family and the Court of Owls was his first big villains…making this animated movie a must.

I’m better than you ever were!

The film doesn’t disappoint in that aspect.  It too was forced to streamline and condense the story.  Much of the Talon’s attacks were just centered on Gotham in general and despite small appearance by Dick Grayson as Nightwing, much of the “Batman Family” was eliminated from the sprawling story.  The story becomes less about Batman vs. the Court of Owls as it does Batman and Robin trying to trust each other.

The DC animated movies always seem to cast decent voice actors.  Much of the cast carried over from the Son of Batman movie and it is interesting to see that famed Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy now is playing Bruce Wayne’s father Thomas Wayne.  The movie also features Sean Maher, Jeremy Sisto, and “Weird Al” Yankovic as the Dollmaker.

I’m just going to hang with the owls…

The animation for the movie is quite good.  You can tell it doesn’t quite have the budget of a big screen picture, but DC does commit to their animated films.  The style is slick and the composition of shots is quite strong (this is something that differentiated the original Batman:  The Animated Series as well).

Batman vs. Robin is another strong entry in a strong line of animated films by DC.  DC has blown Marvel out of the water in this realm and continues to smartly return to the source material for good stories.  With a rather open ending to this film, I rather hope that we see another film to round out a potential trilogy.  DC Universe Animated Original Movies followed Batman vs. Robin with Justice League:  Gods and Monsters in July 2015.

Related Links:

Son of Batman (2014)