Friday, December 17, 2010



Though it's been out for a few months, I've just gotten and watched Batman: Under the Red Hood. It's a 70 minute, animated movie revolving around a new villain/crime lord usurping control of Gotham: Red Hood. He rounds up the other crime lords and informs them that they're working for him now, instead of the Black Mask. This ignites a street war that, of course, get Batman involved.
It's great to see the DC animated movies taking on a more serious/mature aspect of the comics. These aren't your kids' cartoon heroes! From Joker beating Robin with a crowbar to Red Hood killing any criminal that gets in his way, this definitely earned its PG-13 rating! It in no way feels like a kids Saturday morning cartoon like some of the past comic movies (Public Enemies or the Avengers). The storyline is engrossing and not so cut-and-dry (even if you somewhat know the storyline from the comics). The voice acting could have used some work though. I've always thought of the Joker as having a whiny, crazy voice rather than the deeper voice and the Black Mask just didn't work right either. Neel Patrick-Harris was a good pick for Nightwing, though, as was Bruce Greenwood as Batman. His gruff one-liners (or no words at all) are exactly how I'd picture Batman responding.
Either way, it was an excellent, action packed movie. I would definitely recommend this movie to any comic book fan and give it an 8 out of 10. I only hope that DC continues with this trend of animation; maybe a Green Arrow movie on par with this one?