I guess my era of DC animated movies began with Batman: Mask of The Phantasm and ended with the New 52, Justice League Dark: Apokolips War. I gave this movie two tries but I could not get into it. The voice acting was good with a slight adjustment to not hearing the iconic Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as the voices of Batman and The Joker, respectively. The beautiful Naya Rivera did an amazing job voicing Selina in her final role. This is a true Masked Detective story in the early years of Batman before Robin and the future Batgirl as a kid excited about going trick or treating with her dad. The action is very slow or nearly non existent except during the final few minutes of the film. I did not like the animation drawing style with paper cardboard characters. The post credit scene was meh. The movie was very dry and slow. There was more exposition than actual story being shown. For example, Selina had an entire relationship with Bruce off screen then they break up at a boat party. We never saw their relationship in the movie. When did Selina find out Batman was Bruce and why was he so nonchalant when she blurted out his identity? Better adaptations of Catwoman and Batman's relationship were shown in movies like Hush and Batman: Gaslight By Gotham. In other versions of Batman, there was action and suspense being supported by a great film or television score, this movie had neither. It was also weird hearing the bad guys constantly telling Batman how bad his detective skills were. Harvey Dent was also an uninteresting character in this adaptation along with his relationship with his disenchanted wife and their martial problems. I guess the house explosion was to trick the audience into thinking Harvey was becoming TwoFace and how they survived it made absolutely no sense to me. I was not feeling this movie at all. I did not like how the characters were drawn with the exception of Selina.
So I guess this movie is for a new generation of fans but it was not for me and I love different adaptions of Batman. Adam West Batman, Tim Burton Batman, Kilmer Batman, Clooney Batman, Kevin Conroy Batman being my favorite, The Dark Knight Trilogy Batman, Old Man Bruce in The Dark Knight Returns movie and Batman Beyond: The Animated Series, and New 52 Batman. But I am not into this Man of Tomorrow drawing style.
So I am not saying it is a bad movie. All I am saying is this reimagining, storytelling, and drawing style is not for me. I enjoy the old drawing style when Batman finally had eyes not the dark beady cartoon eyes like in Batman: The Animated Series, at least in the earlier episodes of the series. But if this the new drawing style going forward with the new generation, I'll leave it to those fans and will appreciate and rewatch the style I enjoy.
So I guess this movie is for a new generation of fans but it was not for me and I love different adaptions of Batman. Adam West Batman, Tim Burton Batman, Kilmer Batman, Clooney Batman, Kevin Conroy Batman being my favorite, The Dark Knight Trilogy Batman, Old Man Bruce in The Dark Knight Returns movie and Batman Beyond: The Animated Series, and New 52 Batman. But I am not into this Man of Tomorrow drawing style.
So I am not saying it is a bad movie. All I am saying is this reimagining, storytelling, and drawing style is not for me. I enjoy the old drawing style when Batman finally had eyes not the dark beady cartoon eyes like in Batman: The Animated Series, at least in the earlier episodes of the series. But if this the new drawing style going forward with the new generation, I'll leave it to those fans and will appreciate and rewatch the style I enjoy.