Review
Batman vs. Robin
"Batman vs. Robin" is a Batman animated movie, featuring Damian Wayne, and the fourth entry in the ongoing continuity in the DC Universe line of direct to video releases. Several months after the events of "Son of Batman," Damian is still the petulant child but legitimately trying to be the Robin Batman wants him to be. After rushing in alone on a kidnapping case, Robin encounters Talon, an assassin, who sees him as a kindred spirit and pawn for his masters, the Court of Owls who plot to retake control of Gotham City. Still a new father, Batman struggles to find a way to lead his son onto the right path and not turn into a monster and Robin bounces back and forth between being who he was raised to be and being Robin. As father and son collide, Robin must make a choice that defines his life and the future of the world.
"Batman vs. Robin" is inspired by stories and elements from Grant Morrison's Batman and Son run and Scott Snyder's Court of Owls story arc. The movie begins with Robin taking the initiative and journeying outside of Gotham to look into a lead on several children kidnapped from the city. Robin struggles to observe Batman's mantra of "justice before vengeance" after he discovers the Dollmaker's horrifying surgeries -- changing his innocent victims into vicious dolls. Robin spares the Dollmaker but an assassin named Talon intervenes and rips Dollmaker's heart out. Talon advises Robin to trust his instincts and vanishes from the scene. Batman thinks the worst and Robin storms off. Bruce Wayne shares his vision for rebuilding Gotham, and unexpectedly the existence of Damian, with his 3-month girlfriend, Samantha Vanaver (3 months? Sounds like a new record for Bruce). Damian becomes increasingly frustrated with Bruce keeping him a secret from the public and essentially imprisoning him in Wayne Manor. To add insult to injury, Damian is babysat by Nightwing, the first Robin and the success story of the Bat Family. Batman goes on his own and begins to suspect the legend of the Court of Owls may be more fact than fiction. He is ambushed by three assailants after being led to a museum by a clue and narrowly survives. Robin encounters Talon again and is tempted by his offer of a life with no rules, no limits and a goal of eradicating all crime. Things reach a boiling point between Bruce and Damian, culminating in the latter running away and working with Talon for three nights. While Bruce is actually recruited to join the Court, Robin is still going by Batman's training and ideology. When Batman finds them, Robin unleashes his rage and fights him but ultimately refuses to kill him. Batman tracks down the Court but is exposed to a psychotropic gas and experiences his worst fears - an adult Damian is Batman and he is completely consumed with rage and hatred. He leaves the world in flames. The Court's Grandmaster and Talon's secret plans take a turn when Robin proves his loyalty by unmasking. Realizing Bruce and Batman are the same person, they order Robin's death. Talon, however, cannot obey and turns on the Court - massacring everyone present. Becoming exponentially unhinged, Talon unleashes an army of zombie Talons to take out Bruce Wayne and tries to force Robin to his side by exposing him to the same solution that immortalizes the Talons. Robin realizes he was being manipulated, escapes and defends Batman. Wayne Manor and the Batcave in ruins, Robin refuses to stay and decides to mirror Bruce's journey in his youth - seeking sanctuary at a monastery in the Himalayas.
The core theme of "Batman vs. Robin," like the previous themes of past movies, is of father and son. In this case, this is a very dysfunctional relationship. On the surface, the dysfunction is very clear already. Batman and Robin are two very aloof, damaged, and closed off individuals because of their origins. Batman doesn't have the tools to be a father. As a result, he keeps Damian a secret from the world and tries his best to keep him at Wayne Manor with various security protocols. All the while, Bruce hides behind a platitude that things will change soon. Damian tries to be Robin and indoctrinate himself to Batman's code but refuses to erase who he was and who his grandfather Ra's al Ghul taught him to be. Damian finds a surrogate father in Talon who appeals to him with promise of a mission not bound by conformity, rules and ethics. Damian becomes overwhelmed by the words of his grandfather Ra's, his father Bruce, his mother Talia and Talon and determines he needs to find his own true voice. Batman realizes he has to let go and have faith or risk letting Robin succumb to the darkness.
Damian Wayne may be Robin in this movie but he by no means should be. He has the tragedy of Batman having watched his beloved grandfather die and he has the affirmation of Nightwing having made his grandfather's killer pay for his crimes but Damian lacked the genuine love given to Batman and Nightwing by their parents and surrogate families. Although Damian has been trained to be the perfect warrior like Batman, he was indoctrinated by a cabal of assassins. He didn't absorb the various world views that Batman did when he traveled the world and trained under various masters and intellectuals. In "Batman and Robin," all these life gaps and discrepancies culminates and is triggered by Batman's overbearing regime. Robin struggles with morality and independence being just out of his grasp and is suddenly handed something he knows all too well - to return to the life of secret societies and assassins. In a horrific hallucination and vision of what may be the future, Batman and the audience see what Damian could become if he falls to path of darkness and is consumed by rage and hatred. Gotham City is left in fiery ruin. Everyone close to the Batman is dead. The world itself is consumed in terror. The beauty of Damian's journey is... it's not wrapped up in a nice bow at the end of the movie. He refuses to call Wayne Manor home and decides to take a break from being Robin. Instead, Damian heeds Bruce's suggestion and seeks out monks whom Bruce trained under when he was undergoing similar emotional turmoil.
Damian's choice to leave in the end was the right one. A decision to stay with Batman and remain as Robin would have been too safe an ending (in a movie line that is synonymous with taking risks and pushing that line with storytelling) and easily a retread of the ending of the previous Batman movie. In a way, Damian does show he's grown and while forging his own destiny - solidifies his position as the son of Batman. Granted does this takes Damian out of the equation for an indeterminate time. And we might not see how Damian evolves in his time away. Plus, if ill planned - his return to the movies could be reviled as a deus ex machina. The added opportunity is Damian's departure can shift the Batman movies toward more world building, exploring stories that don't require him, expanding the Bat Family cast, and seeding more story arcs.
"Batman vs. Robin" is Batman's fourth straight appearance in this ongoing continuity. After an understandably smaller role in "Justice League: Throne of Atlantis," Batman comes to the forefront. As the infallible anti-hero with a moral code, the world's greatest detective, master of all fighting styles, polymath... you name it, he has no clue about how to be a good father. He does know he has the responsibility of steering Damian in the direction of good. Instead of utilizing empathy and love, Batman mistakenly acts more like the drill sergeant molding a raw recruit or a parole officer nipping at a delinquent’s heels. In other words, what makes him great as Batman makes him a bad father.
The other side of Batman's story in this movie is the emergence of the Court of Owls, previously believed to be just a nursery rhyme. They unlock a part of his past he had long moved on from - a failure to connect the Court to the murder of his parents. Left in a vulnerable state, Batman is stripped and beaten to the brink. Through fighting the Court, Batman comes to realize the error of his ways with raising Damian with science and logic instead of faith and trust. Compared to his last three appearances which had him as a static character, Batman really underwent a big life change. It will be interesting to see how his newfound empathy and faith will be incorporated in future movies. Another plus was incorporating another element from Snyder's Court of Owls arc, his take on "Bruce Wayne: Social Crusader" and the opening soiree of Wayne's plan to modernize and revitalize Gotham City with aggressive investing through rebuilding derelict neighborhoods and expanding and modernizing the public transit system. Since this part of Bruce has been done in broad strokes in animation, we'll see what comes of it in future movies or if it was another one and done subplot.
Nightwing returns in a expanded role (yes!). While held up to the light as the perfect son and foil to Damian, more importantly Nightwing is the everyman caught between two flawed characters. Sort of the angel on Batman's shoulder, Nightwing is the veritable voice of reason. It's a perfect role. Nightwing is far more balanced a person compared to Batman and Robin. He has loving parents, had a loving surrogate family with the circus, wasn't stripped of his humanity and trained to kill all opposition, solved his parents' murder at a young age (and thus, moved on to be a well adjusted), and learned all he could from Batman. If there was a Superhero Magazine, Nightwing would be that overnight success story - that hero who lives the normal life by day and by night, has adventures fighting crime without being as consumed by it like his mentor. Heeding Nightwing's smaller role in "Son of Batman," he was really given a better role and more screen time. Watching him in action was some of the movie's high points and a lot of attention was paid to make his style different than Batman and Robin's. The inclusion of his classic escrima sticks was a brilliant move. The animation of those sticks in action was entertaining to say the least. Another gem was when Batman and Nightwing fought in tandem against the zombie Talons. Just that alone showed how in sync the two were with each other from years of crime fighting together.
Rounding off the Bat Family is Alfred Pennyworth. In this movie, Alfred has the usual role of being the steadfast foundation, the support crew, the source of levity but here he's given much more. Like in the animated series "Beware The Batman," we are treated to a 'keep Bruce healthy' moment when Alfred tells Samantha about using natural and fresh ingredients and later advises him against buttered popcorn. It was also a nice treat to have Alfred allude to his career as a stage actor, like in the comics. Instead of being that guy that hides in a safe room, Alfred literally takes up arms and takes names and is part of the solution -- helping take down the Talons by both activating the Bat Armor and directing Batman to the utility core to neutralize the threat. In an ingenuous stroke of writing, in the flashbacks, Alfred's shift from Wayne butler to surrogate father to Bruce mirrors Batman's own journey from taskmaster to father. Ultimately, it's Alfred's advice to have faith that Batman takes heed and muses Robin will be back when the time is right of his choosing. But I-- c'mon, Alfred+shotgun is a check mark in the win column.
The Court of Owls are a recent addition to the Batman mythos and a popular one at that. Traditionally, they were a secret society composed of the wealthy elite who ruled Gotham City. After their golden age of rule ended, they were weakened by a schism, took to the shadows and rebuilt their empire. Fast forward to the present, the Court is back with an endgame of retaking the city with an army of immortal assassins and a revitalized court of Gotham's elite. Beats Man Bat ninja assassins I guess. They proceed by trying to recruit Bruce Wayne and kill Batman - almost comically unaware the two are one in the same until it's too late for them. Combining the Stanley Kubrick style of horror with the Jules Verne/Victorian Steampunk era technology really reflected the old world aesthetic the Court represents.
Oddly, it seems like 2015 is the year of big bad villains being disposed by the story's real villain. "Throne of Atlantis" portrayed Orm as the main villain and threat but it was really Black Manta who was pulling the strings all along. In "Batman vs. Robin," the Court is seemingly in Orm's position and they are suddenly pushed out of the movie by Talon. While it is quite easy to write off the Court as cannon fodder and the victim of bad writing, using those ears and paying attention really pays in dividends. The Court of Owls is a secret society. Talon killed a lot of them but that couldn't have possibly been every Gotham member. The door is left open for their return. In the final battle, Talon wants to use the Wayne fortune in part to elude the Court's vengeance - alluding to the very notion he didn't wipe them all out. What that means is speculation. They could have spread across the United States as chapters. They could have fled to Europe. They could have even originated from and been an offshoot from a chapter in Europe. Two, when Batman first meets the Court, the Grandmaster mentions a faction rose up and won a civil war. This faction could very well take advantage of the situation as well and debut in a future movie. In addition it feels like "Batman vs. Robin" is only introducing us to this animated continuity's version of the Court much like how Scott Snyder's initial arc introduced comic fans to the Court in the New 52 canon. Furthermore, in the special features, the crew seems to allude as such to their eventual return in some form.
Talon is the real threat of the movie - a master assassin on par with Batman but without the rules. Historically, it's a generational mantle given to a child emblazoned by tragedy who iss taken in by the Court. A child soldier given purpose. The Talon in this movie is the nameless son of a master thief who had enough of dad's not-completely-unwarranted abuse and feeds him to the police. Thus, Talon is a surrogate Batman that senses a similar conflict in Robin and wants to be take him on as a protege. Further complicated is Talon's duty to the Court and manipulating Robin against Batman and forcing him to undertake the ritual of immortality reserved for whom should lead the Talon army. Another layer to Talon is the class struggle. He was a nameless nobody, a homeless child, poor by all means - taken in and molded by the wealthy elite. He's told he has a grand destiny in the Court's world but because of his background, he's the ultimate outsider in their world and lacks the lofty ambition to be a god. The kindred bond between Talon and Robin drives him to do the unthinkable - kill the Court he's working with and take over their plan. Talon is truly the embodiment of the movie's cautionary tale. Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and Damian all could have easily taken a wrong turn and become a Talon. No family, no loyalty, no foundation, no true love, no sanity.
The Dollmaker serves a brief but important role. As the opening threat, Dollmaker sets the themes of this movie. A victim of a dysfunctional father-son relationship, Dollmaker falls to the darkness and becomes a psychopath himself. To sound off the theme further, Dollmaker in a way tries to be a surrogate father to others and turns his victims into mindless soldiers. Essentially, he's a very, very twisted version of Batman providing his children with a means to protect themselves. He's really holding a torch to the audience and stating this movie is about Batman and Robin struggling to be both father and son and mentor and protege. Philosophy aside, what a way to die! He got Kali Ma'ed by Talon. Holy smokes!
The world building continues in "Batman vs. Robin." It's been months since the end of "Son of Batman" and it's now the winter season. We soon learn 60 miles from Gotham City ain't safe enough. The aptly named town of Ichabod provides an eerie backdrop suitable as the hideaway of the Dollmaker. Below the surface lies the notion of class hierarchy. Ichabod appearing to be a working class town, evidenced by the topography and Schott's Toy factory, wiped out and left wounded by a flood. Back in the city, Gotham is given a hearty expansion. Wayne Manor is craftily explored through the final battle against the Talons and we're also given a taste of the grounds' security measures and spider holes. In like fashion, the Batcave's trophy room and lower sub levels are revealed - the third has an armory and an even lower level has the cave's utility core. Gotham City itself has its various faces brought up - from its own Museum of Natural History, the elite social club Harbor House, the seedier Crime Alley, in Batman's memories and hallucination, and The Garden, an Italian restaurant neighbored by a strip club. Sort of a city within a city, we're also given a glimpse of the Court of Owls' underground court, the Labyrinth, and Talon's roost. As many times they've shown the Wayne murders now in animation, it was rather clever to add the owl element and merge that memory into the Batman #666 inspired hallucination.
In similar fashion, the world building is supplemented by various references and cameos of DC characters and locales. The classic Superman villain Toyman, referenced as Winslow Schott, is revealed to be rotting in prison for 12 years so far. It got me wondering if Lex Luthor is going to recruit him like he did Ocean Master at the end of "Justice League: Throne of Atlantis." Robin starts off having stolen the Batmobile, an element no doubt picked from the Grant Morrison run. There was a nice little shot of the Wayne Manor topiary animals outside. I wondered if that was a nod to "Son of Batman" when Damian was chopping them in half without care. Also a nice implied passage of time with them having regrown. It was a nice touch to have Damian holding an "Oliver Twist" book, as it in part addressed the recuitment of children into crime. It was interesting the movie had a slightly modified version of the Court of Owls nursery rhyme that omitted two lines, "Ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch" and "Speak not a whispered word of them," and substituting in "Take care, beware, or they will send--" Dick Grayson has a brief conversation over the phone with Koriand'r or Starfire - fellow Teen Titan and romantic interest in the comics. It was an intriguing one since, that now makes three of the classic Teen Titans in movie universe - Cyborg, Nightwing, and Starfire. An obscured image of her can be seen on Dick's phone even. The Joker has another cameo, the second after "Son of Batman." This time, his photo his included in the Dollmaker's file on the Batcomputer - a nod to the two villains' gruesome connection in the New 52 comics. The passcode used to lock up Damian's sai makes up the year Batman debuted in the comics, 1939. Draco's story about taking over mob territory mentioned "the east end." That took me back to "Batman: Year One" when that particular destitute locale comes into play. Then suddenly I'm in "The Dark Knight" when Talon quotes the Joker's line about being "the evening's entertainment." New characters and established ones emerge in Batman's nightmarish hallucination of an apocalyptic future incorporating the adult Damian from Batman #666. James Gordon and Talia from "Son of Batman" cameo. In their debuts, Batwoman, Catwoman and Lucius Fox cameo as well. Thankfully, the Bat Armor was kept in from the comic and better yet, it was seeded in the movie twice, with Bruce working on an arm piece, instead of just popping out of nowhere. Also, as mentioned earlier in the review, it was a nice touch to include the 'classic' Batcave trophies and further seed the existence of the classic Bat villains in this continuity. Talon acknowledges Nightwing's prowess, as in the comics he was a candidate to be a Talon. Damian ends the movie heading towards what clearly looks to be the fabled Nanda Parbat almost like Bruce Wayne marching to Ra's al Ghul's home in "Batman Begins." Also at the end, Bruce mentions S.T.A.R. Labs, who plays a prominent role in the Justice League movies, is handling analysis of the Talons' remains.
Phil Bourassa and the design team strikes another hit, principally with the new crop of characters this movie provides. Going off Greg Capullo's evocative Talon designs, they make an easy translation into animation - not losing an ounce of the terror and enigma. The same goes for the Court of Owls and their simple but Kubrick-esque masks. Bourassa took cues from 1930s sex symbol Jean Harlow in creating the original character Samantha Vanaver. Coupled with Grey Griffin and her portrayal...woof. Draco and his crew match look like the fell out of any of the classic mafia movies. Batwoman, Catwoman, Starfire, Joker, and Lucius Fox's designs immediately spell out who they are without any further clue of who they are to the audience. James Tucker's contribution by roughing out Dollmaker's new look for the movie is a twisted and broken mirror of Anton Schott, the boy he used to be.
As usual, the hard work done by Andrea Romano in casting and voice direction and Frederik Wiedmann with the movie's music seem masterful and effortless. Wiedmann knows when to evoke the gravitas of Gotham's dark side and when to tug at the heart strings. Jay Oliva once again proves he's the best director in the business. Continually pushing the limits of animation forward, Oliva adds in easter eggs worthy of extra viewings, stages some excellent action choreography that puts classic DC projects to shame, makes sure everything makes sense down to the finer details, and tortures the rest of the crew with rain and snow. Oliva is aided by an A-Team of storyboarders who inject drama, horror and martial arts flicks into scenes. The capabilities of Batman, Robin, and Nightwing are scaled back to what one would see as 'realistic' for three superheroes with no super powers but still proves to be incredibly entertaining as watching Superman and Wonder Woman taking names. "Son of Batman" had some over the top moments with Robin in particular. It was a relief to see this improved upon. But in no way, never a dull moment in any of the fights. Living legend J.M. DeMatteis wrote the screenplay for the film. The writing alone is an exponential improvement over the past three films in the continuity. In fact, DeMatteis frames this movie on par with the best titles of this entire movie line such as the fan favorite "Batman: Under The Red Hood." Plus it was probably no easy task to come up with an original story from the skeletons of Morrison's NoBody story and injecting elements of the Court of Owls and Talon while structuring the core father and son story. Here's hoping we see more of Mr. DeMatteis.
The voice cast were given a lot more to chew on in this movie. Jason O'Mara got to spend a lot more time in the guise of Bruce Wayne and even show a bit more range of emotions - from dining on Samantha, quarreling with Damian, struggling with what to do with him, to being at wit's end and quoting a line from the comics in Clint Eastwood fashion. Stuart Allan brings on the pompous side of Damian but still evokes a sense of vulnerability we haven't really seen yet as the character struggles with his inner turmoil. Sean Maher owned the Nightwing role and shined as the big brother at odds with wanting a little brother or not. Where's that Nightwing movie? Jeremy Sisto didn't really have much leeway - I think he had to play it straight, maybe even more than O'Mara. Al Yankovic has another stellar role to add to his growing resume of DC roles. Other veteran DC voice actors - David McCallum, Troy Baker, Robin Atkin Downes, Grey Griffin, and Peter Onorati likewise turn in performances right up their respective alleys. Of note, it was really surprising to learn Robin Atkin Downes' ADR'ed Talon's "Run" one word line. Would never have noticed the difference. It was also genius to cast Griffin Gluck to voice young Bruce as he almost sounds exactly the same as Stuart Allan's Damian. Last but not least, Kevin Conroy has a cameo as Thomas Wayne - a nice nod to longtime animation fans.
The negatives I have are a lot more minor with "Batman vs. Robin." Batman's no killing policy is partially subverted along with way with the cliched inclusion of zombie characters. This is a really minute gripe because outside of the zombie Talons, the movie has a high death count of actual characters. Like "Son of Batman," the at times intense stabbing of heroes can be off putting. But in the same vein, you can rationalize that Batman, Robin and Nightwing have mastered the art of working through pain among other skills. They've trained themselves to take the worst and power on through. And Phil Bourassa has long designed the Bat characters' suits with an armored look to convey the sense they have padded themselves to an extent for urban warfare. I didn't have any issue with the obscured nude scene between Talon and Samantha. In the wake of "Batman: Assault on Arkham," this 'sex scene' was more tastefully done and incorporated into the storyline to line several subplots up heading into the third act. I think the biggest gripe I had was Talon's unhinging and plan to kill Batman - it reeked. After being this powerful and enigmatic figure, Talon is gradually stripped away as the movie goes on and loses his edge. It really sold the idea early on he was going to lose no matter what even if he stabbed everyone along the way. In terms of what was cherry picked from the comics, it was a shame they didn't spend more time with the iconic Labyrinth scene. Granted, the story needed to push on to self-realization and conclusion. It was nice they got in the slashed eye and giant owl statue at least. While it made sense in the story of how he was found, it was a minor gripe they didn't have time for Batman to be a detective and figure out the fountain was an exit (and being jump started with a battery pack). It was also too bad they dropped the Wayne lineage angle to a mere line from the Owl Lieutenant. While there is so much connecting "Son of Batman" and "Batman vs. Robin" together, it was a bit grating the Court didn't outright state that liquid they were experimenting with was from the Lazarus Pit. Heck, their entire supply could have been bought from Deathstroke before the demise of the Outer Hebrides pool at the end of "Son of Batman." Recycling old designs always gets my goat but it was relief less of this was going on. Still the reuse of the Manhattan museum from Young Justice season one for Gotham's Museum of Natural History, the thug that attacks Jack and Jill was from Young Justice, and the Owl that drugs Bruce is a reuse of the Young Justice Mercy Graves. It must save time and money but please stop.
Starting with "Batman vs. Robin," the selection of formats have changed perhaps to gauge what sells. The one disc DVD and Blu-Ray-DVD-digital set are still available. However, in place of the 2-Disc DVD Special Edition is a Deluxe set reminiscent of Best Buy's exclusive. The Deluxe is a packaging of the Blu-Ray-DVD-digital set with a Batman figurine. I don't see the figurine being much of an incentive for purchase outside of the collectors. Something else like a flip book of character designs/model turns of characters and backgrounds would have been more appealing to me. Or a booklet with excerpts from Mr. DeMatteis' script. The animation from the answerstudio was far superior to their previous title "Son of Batman" like night and day. As a result, the movie was really beautifully done and the gothic palette doesn't get muddled in bad animating. During the fight scenes, the action choreography is pretty amazing stuff you wouldn't have seen 10 or even 5 years ago. A little bit of the camera movements were stiff in the end battle though. A minor note, but the animation of the weapon twirling in the movie was smooth and flowed really well from Nightwing's escrima sticks to Talon's blades. There also some nice 'acting' animation when Bruce and Samantha smoosh Damian's hair and face in the study near the start of the film.
The special features of the Blu-Ray are on par with what the DC Universe line has come to be known for. The spotlight special features focus on the Court of Owls and Talon. They feature commentary from their creators Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, DC Comics' Bob Harras, Supervising producer James Tucker, and author and recurring commentator Phil Cousineau. The sneak peek of the next movie "Justice League: Gods & Monsters" does its job of building hype and interest. As a stand alone Elseworlds original story helmed by Bruce Timm, Gods & Monsters should prove to be a surgical reimagining of characters mirroring what Timm has in part been known for cherry picking the best parts of the DC and masterfully crafting a new universe, undaunted by naysayers through and through. The real jewel of this release's special feature is the audio commentary. Producer James Tucker, director Jay Oliva and DC Entertainment Creative Director Mike Carlin provide a track ripe with behind the scenes anecdotes, trivia from Robin Atkin Downes doing ADR for a one word line as Talon, to identifying who boarded what scene, filling in the lines about certain things like the Court using Lazarus Pit chemicals, revealing what was scripted and what was ad libbed, and pointing out "trademarks" of Jay Oliva. Despite their concern of dead air, the commentary was very informative and entertaining. The DC Vault had a nice varied selection of classic animation that reflected the main movie's themes. Batman: The Brave and The Bold's "The Color of Revenge" has Batman coming to terms with Robin as they confront a nutball villain obsessed with the latter. Batman: The Animated Series' "Old Wounds" focuses on Nightwing and his journey from being Batman's soldier to deciding to strike out on his own. Superman: The Animated Series' "Obsession" features Winslow Schott and his infatuation with one of his creations. Young Justice "Auld Acquaintance" culminates the season long journey of former proteges taking matters into their own hands and saving the world. A perplexing addition to the specials was the Merrie Melodies "Super Rabbit" short. In my opinion, a more logical selection would have been any of the two or both Batman 75th anniversary animated shorts.
"Batman vs. Robin" is a recommended purchase. It is one of the best films of recent time for the DC Universe animated movie line. Batman and Robin both undergo an important change for the best. A new threat is introduced in the Court of Owls and hope to be an ongoing thorn...talon in the sides of our heroes. The story is a love fest of Grant Morrison and Scott Snyder material molded into a moving character study by master writer J.M. DeMattis and the solid animation takes advantage of the drama, horror and action helmed by director extraordinaire Jay Oliva.
Rating
Main Feature: 4 out of 5
Special Features: 3.5 out of 5
Average Rating: 3.75 out of 5