DC Universe Animated Original Movies

[Randall]

Batman Vs. Robin is a step up over Son of Batman, but the direction almost sabotages a pretty good (except for some plot holes) script.

http://animatedviews.com/2015/batman-vs ... e-edition/

[GeorgeC]

I think I'll wait until the Timm movie comes out...

At this point in time, I'm very leery of anything DC does.

It didn't happen overnight...

They've been quietly sabotaging themselves for a couple of years now. At the latest, this happened when WB took more of an active interest in what DC does.

News-wise, DC has NOT had a good year.

[Randall]

Yeah, it was better when WB Animation was being left more alone too. I have high hopes for the Timm film, though.

[GeorgeC]

This, this... Might actually be funny!

http://www.newsarama.com/24411-animatio ... -june.html

It's a new Bizarro comic that teams the character up with Jimmy Olsen... That might actually be the best thing they've done with Jimmy Olsen in over 30 years!


And here's an animated series version of the Batman V Superman trailer... It's done mostly with voice clips from the various animated series and movie spin-offs... What's original and NOT simple a video clip of existing animation is basically still imagery.

I dunno... not my cup of tea, honestly. I'm through the phase of 'fan trailers' for the most part but it is a curiousity given how much attention the live-action film is getting, good or not...
I STILL think the live-action film IS a bad idea. There has been fallout from The Dark Knight Returns that has NOT been good for DC Comics for many years. The evolution of Batman/Superman's relationship to a physically antagonistic one is NOT one of the better developments, IMHO... This is about the millionth time there's been a Batman/Superman fight in the last thirty years!

Besides finding the idea of Batman being able to physically beat Superman without anything short of a miracle AND a mine full of Kryptonite REALLY DUMB and IMPROBABLE, their basic philosophies are similar and they really should NOT be on opposite sides (=> unless Superman decides to take over the world -- which is very unlikely given how the Kents raised him). Their crime-fighting styles and methods are different but they fundamentally believe in the same outcomes: nobody should die and neither wants to see the worst parts of their childhoods repeated -- a kid lose his/her parents, an entire world destroyed.

It'd almost be funny if the fake trailer turns out to be a better product than the actual live-action film!

There was a real-life parallel between an actual animated film AND live-action production many years ago...
I am reminded that the same year Batman and Robin (1997) was released was when Batman & Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero was supposed to be released, too.

(Both films featured Mr. Freeze as the primary/or a primary villain. Gee, I wonder which film was written better and can actually be appreciated without rolling your eyes a million times or wondering what the producers were smoking when they greenlit that smoking, piece of ----!)

The animated film got delayed until spring 1998 despite being shown at 1 or 2 comic-cons the summer of 1997... And guess which of those two films was ultimately the better one?

[Dacey]

However you feel about Batman and Robin, they were trying to capture the spirit of the Adam West show with that film. So when people say "it's too stupid," they're kinda missing the point.

[ShyViolet]

Despite most of it being really silly (I did sort of like Mr Freeze's love for his lost wife) it is very funny on a certain crazy level.

[Randall]

I agree. I kinda hated it at the time, but watch it as a Batman '66 remake, and there's a bizarro coolness to the enterprise. (Though I reserve the right to still hate some parts.)

[GeorgeC]

I still think Batman & Robin is an awful film... It completely missed the point and on top of that the characters were horribly miscast including one of the worst Batman actors in the history of the character, George Clooney, who sleepwalked through the movie. I think only the Batman serials from the 1940s are worse!

(Schwarzenegger was somewhat better as Freeze but Uma Thurmond? Not one of her better performances!)

Fans were NOT in the mood for a campy Batman movie -- especially one that's not even GOOD camp.

To call it a remake of the 1966 Batman film misses the point. The '66 series was set up the way it was on purpose and WAS coincidentally very close to the comics. Ironically, it's the most faithful LIVE-action version of Batman basically following the general tone of the mid-1940s through the early 1960s Batman series. People miss the point when they say it was 'played straight' -- that's how the comic was at that point in time! I should know -- I have a good collection of Batman Archives and have read a couple years of it starting from the very first Batman comic published and a smattering of the 1950s comics.

(I won't argue about how well the comic was written back then. I don't particularly care for the level of the writing myself but I love the art style... The writing on Batman got dramatically better in the 1970s... The runs by Denny O'Neil and Steve Englehart were excellent!)

Batman & Robin was somebody goofing on the comics and trying to sound cool about it. That usually blows up in the faces of people who do that stuff!

[LastActionHero]

I love DC animated movies, because they make movies based on the comic panel by panel (almost).
You get the feeling like you have seen this before, but you still don't remember it that much. Because you have read it 3-4 years ago.
My favorite movie: Dark Knight Returns 1 and 2.

[Dacey]

The newest DC animated movie is apparently a terrific one...

http://screenrant.com/justice-league-go ... vie-review

[Randall]

I liked it too!

http://animatedviews.com/2015/justice-l ... -monsters/

[EricJ]

It's okay technically (got it free on UV for participating in that Warner-survey thing), and Timm certainly wanted to "avenge" his genius, but it still doesn't solve the basic problem dogging Warner/DC right now:
Why exactly are we supposed to root for heroes we hate?

It was the same problem when DC Animation tried going "dark and gritty" on Young Justice, and between live-action Warner getting all Snyder-headed, and DCA trying to go for the gritty Bat-classics, it's starting to become a question of whether they even know what the appeal of their comics was in the first place.
(That opening to the first Justice League series should have summed it up in the first place.)

[Randall]

New reviews for Lego Justice League and Batman Unlimited on our front page! Both good for kids and kids at heart.

[Dacey]

Okay. This is looking seriously cool:



My only concern is that the trailer's a bit spoiler-heavy (it's clear the film's climax won't be the big Bats/Supes beatdown, but the two of them joining forces with Wonder Woman to defeat not-Doomsday...or is it Doomsday?). Still, I'm expecting for the March opening weekend record of the first Hunger Games to be pummeled by this, and Eisenberg's Lex Luthor looks like a hoot (although it seems that, once again, the character will be spending the majority of a live-action film wearing a wig).

[EricJ]

It's Doomsday. (Or, at least, as close as the Warner-verse could get without doing the Death of Supe storyline.)

More to the point, Warner seems to have backed off the "Everybody Hates Superman" angle that had audiences mutinying against the original trailer, made Batman the jerk again, and started showing us the actual third-party villains.
Which, being Warner, they think have to be played by Heath Ledger again, or the nearest substitute that can be found.