Batman: Under the Red Hood

[Nique]

...Was better than the comic it is based on.

Hilights:
- Decent character designs, obvious homages to many incarnation of the characters.

- Top notch animation, the fight and chase scenes are really fluid

- Neil Patrick Harris needs to do more voicework

- John DiMaggio is one of the best Jokers IMO - coming in at a distant third behind only Mark Hamill and Heath Ledger

-Black Mask is no longer just a grimdark Joker clone. I like him better as a legit mob boss.

- Reinterpreting Jason Todd's ressurection to make some actual &^%$ing sense? Awesome. See, in the comics Superboy Prime rages on the reality barrier which shattersthedoorsbetweenlifeandtheafterlifewhichcau ses...Zzzzzzz

Screw the latest 'Crisis'.

Lolights:
- Lackluster voicework by Bruce Greenwood(?) for Batman. I understand Kevin Conroy can't do it everytime and other actors deserve a shot at it seeing as you're pushing out loads of these movies, but this just didn't do it for me.

- Kind of an awkward storyline to do a movie about. Where the upcoming Superman/Batman movie is going to follow an origin story (which is just a much stronger or at least stable concept to start with) for the new (Re: old) Supergirl, this was Jason's 'comeback' with an origin story mixed in via flashbacks. It was good but it's made for fans, as are most of these DC releases.

- They didn't retcon out the original no-leggings Robin costume. That needs to happen.

[Premmy]

Is it the Lazarus pit ressurection idea sometimes played with these days?

[Nique]

Yes.

There was really no reason not to do it this way.

[Fifthfiend]

IIRC the comics resurrection was the lazarus pit it was just like, a lazarus pit resurrection that hadn't happened UNTIL Superboy Prime punched reality in the face enough times to MAKE there have been a resurrection oh god talking about it hurts so muuuuuuch

(I could be wrong and just remembering it this way because this is less painful than whatever they actually did)

[Nique]

I distinctly remember seeing Jason Todd dig his way out of a grave. Remember, DC does truly terrible, worse-than-death, things to their characters now... Including having their lives written by Kevin Smith! (http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/29/worst-of-the-worst-batman-the-widening-gyre-6/)

EDIT: BTW Superboy is back when the hell did that happen?

[krogothwolf]

Legion of 3 Worlds, he was put in the regeneration chamber superman was put in when he died. Took him 1000 years to heal so the dude was sent into the past to put his corpse in it.

Booyaa, Go DC and it's whimsical time traveling!


That's okay, the Lightning Saga was about them being able to bring back Bart Allen, Who in actuality died after they trapped him in the rod because he died pretty much at the same time Wally West came back so by riding that said lightning. So yeah, DC is awesomeness to behold!

Oh and apparently Kevin Smith is writing those comics while stoned.

[Sky Warrior Bob]

Totally agree this is a great flick. Caught it while I was at Comic-Con, and enjoyed it very much. Wish I could comment on the Batman mythos Nique points out, but I don't really read the comics. Still, I found it rather enjoyable & fun.

Personally, while Mark Hamill does a great Joker. I think John DiMaggio's Joker might be better. He at least was given more lines that I actually laughed at. Of course, that might just be the writing, not the voice delivery.


- Lackluster voicework by Bruce Greenwood(?) for Batman. I understand Kevin Conroy can't do it everytime and other actors deserve a shot at it seeing as you're pushing out loads of these movies, but this just didn't do it for me.
Disagree with you there. Bruce did a fine job. Sure he wasn't a Kevin Conroy clone, but that doesn't mean his interpretation of Batman was at all bad. Besides, you better get used to it. During the Batman: Brave & the Bold panel @ SDCC, they went a little into Young Justice. Batman, will be voiced by Bruce. Of course, I doubt he'll be in every episode, but all the same.

Also, if you're wondering. Young Justice will portray the young heroes as sort of a undercover hero group. Basically, as described, the media makes it really hard for the mainline superheroes to do anything in secret, and pretty much can only react to overt actions by the bad guys.

And apparently, this is Batman B&tB's last season. Of course, not all the episodes for said season are done yet. I did get to watch the episode Emperor Joker, that features Bat Mite, so that was fun.

SWB

[Kim]

Just finished watching it. I loved the hell out of it. I really don't think I have any complaints whatsoever.

[Nique]

I think John DiMaggio's Joker might be better. He at least was given more lines that I actually laughed at. Of course, that might just be the writing, not the voice delivery.

My issue was that I kept hearing this as 'Jake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_Time#Main_characters) preforming as The Joker' but that is becuase me and my wife are WAY into Adventure Time. Also Hamil's Joker is iconic in the same way the Conroy's Batman is. There is a quality to the voice and the work they put into it that I don't hear in a lot of other voice actors.

[RickZarber]

I just finished watching this. Holy crap. Definitely my favorite of these DC animated direct-to-video efforts so far. Maybe even my second favorite animated Batman movie. (It doesn't quite pass Mask of the Phantasm, but I can't tell if that's because of quality or just nostalgia.)

My issue was that I kept hearing this as 'Jake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_Time#Main_characters) preforming as The Joker' but that is because me and my wife are WAY into Adventure Time.Ha ha, yeah, his voice is becoming quite easy to pick out when he's doing other characters. Even in bit parts, I can almost always go, yup, that was DiMaggio. (I think the exception being General Grevious in the final episode of season 1 of Tartakovsky's Clone Wars.)

It sounded to me like he was aiming for somewhere in between Hamill and Ledger, but unfortunately I don't think he had the genius of either. I agree he got some of the best lines, though.

NPH was, of course, awesome. But that is to be expected. I just wish Nightwing would have come back for the last act somehow. (Though I can see why they'd want it to be Batman only at that point.)

[krogothwolf]

I must say, I've been impressed with most of these Straight to DVD DC movies, there aren't many bad ones out there.

[Nique]

'Green Latern: First Flight' wasn't that good, and 'New Frontier' was kinda garbage - NPH was The Flash in that one if I remember. But I mean, 'Wonder Woman' was great, 'Crisis on two earths' was pretty good, 'Batman: Gotham Knight' was incredible.

[Magus]

I liked the storyline for this better than Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, though the animation quality for that movie was even better than this one, which I can't really complain about. This movie was pretty great.

What I can complain about was the most retarded looking Amazo I ever done seen. Holy smokes that was one dumb lookin' robot. Are they not allowed to use the Justice League design or something? Surely they could've had Batman fight just a random robot or even a random villain to introduce Nightwing into the movie instead of going with something so dumb looking.

Black Mask came off as kind of a huge wuss, what was up with that? He shoulda been torturing people and so on and so forth.

Rest of the movie was pretty amazing, hope they keep doing Batman ones.

[Kim]

'Green Latern: First Flight' wasn't that good

Having just watched this, I thought it was okay, as someone unfamiliar with the mythos, up until they had that trial and then I just couldn't get past the huge plot hole there.