Rating:  -
I have been a HUGE Batman since I can remember. I own most of the DVDs, watched the movies countless times. I think that this is a better than most of the campy 90s movies. While some of the animations are as good as good as most of the "episodes" on this DVD the stories are quite good. I have watched this thing from beginning to end twice. I would recommend this to any batman fan.
Rating:  -
Batman Gothic Knight / B001614F0S
*Spoilers*
I'm a big fan of Batman and anime, but this was truly awful. This is not a movie, as such, but rather a collection of vignettes and tales. The tales are loosely related around the character of Batman, and I do mean loosely. Each vignette is wildly different from the other, in terms of animation style, voice acting, dramatic tone, and so on. I think the producers intended something similar to The Animatrix, but unfortunately they failed horribly.
For instance, the first story - the starter story! - is horribly drawn, with all the characters looking akin to Gumby-Human hybrids, equipped with impossibly long arms and legs. The dialogue is stilted and almost racist in its insistence that all African-Americans start every sentence with "Yo, dawg!" or something similar. The idea here was a good one: to show Batman from the eyes of confused and frightened bystanders, but the implementation is awful, with Batman being a ghost, a flying bat, a gremlin, and so on. You never get a clear picture of the citizen's attitudes towards Batman (fear? gratitude? wary optimism?) which is, supposedly, the whole point of providing this "man on the street" viewpoint.
The second story - the "dramatic" one - contains such gripping dialogue as this:
"He's a vigilant, Anna."
"He's not!"
"He's a vigilant!"
"He's NOT!!"
I guess when you have moody anime, good dialogue is optional? The second story is probably the most attractively animated one (although still very poor compared to The Animatrix and Final Fantasy Spirits Within), and the potential plot is quite clever, but the plot never actually takes off, choosing instead to just belabor painful dialogue and exposition that never goes anywhere. Given an isolated island of madmen and criminals, and a trip to sequester a new prisoner there, I would expect and hope for something more interesting than a run-of-the-mill ambush to happen, but that's all we get.
The third story was so boring and dull that I was forced to turn it off half-way through. This one was the one that most closely tried to recreate the recent successes of Christian Bale and Morgan Freemon, but the half-baked story made zero sense and the attempts at witty and meaningful banter were stale and forgettable. When the hero and villain engage in Bond-esque tete-a-tete dialogue, it really is necessary for the tense dialogue to make sense and (at a minimum) contain some kind of implied danger which is unfortunately missing here.
Maybe the last three stories were better, but I was so bored at that point that I couldn't muster enough patience to continue viewing.
This version provides a closed caption option for the hard of hearing. I do not own this movie and I do not want to own this movie - I rented this through my Blockbuster Online account.
Rating:  -
The price was well affordable and the quality of the animation and story amazingly good!
This is all basically about the 'transition years' for Bruce Wayne becoming Batman. It's gritty and grueling behind the scenes work for the young Bruce Wayne and allows those fans who may not collect the comics (and so may not be privy to a lot of Bruce's back story other than what the films reference) to see just how determined-single minded-obsessive the character is and the torturous path he is determined to walk.
I'd recommend this DVD to anyone who enjoys good animation, not just Batman fans, it is well able to stand out for the animation alone.
Rating: -
What an ambitious project; six interlocking short films from six directors with the outstanding animation based on Japanese Anime art.
The stories - Have I Got a Story For You, Crossfire, Field Test, In Darkness Dwells, Working Through Pain, Deadshot - capture a variety of angles in the life of Bruce Wayne and the conflicting elements in keeping the peace in Gotham City as Batman. There are a variety of bonus features, depending on the DVD set that is purchased, including the documentary, Batman and Me: The Bob Kane Story, and four episodes of Batman: The Animated Series.
This is a fantastic work of art that is solidly placed in the small front pack of classic material that explains and celebrates the life and times of the iconic crime fighter.
Rating: -
----- I am forced to borrow a made-up word to describe this animated movie... travasham-mockery. It is a travesty that DC allowed Batman to be depicted this way. It's a sham because you buy it to watch something on Batman but you're fooled into watching six over-stylized Japamation versions of an American icon, AND that being said, this DVD makes a mockery of the Dark Knight.
- Since when and in who's mind is Batman a neutured metrosexual, a monster, or a referee between mobsters. This dvd is all that is wrong with the animee style of animation. Feminine men who even look like women, unbelievable over-exaggerated action scenes, and annoying dialog. Dont get me wrong... I do like some animee (Akira, Ghost in a Shell, Appleseed, Princess Monokee) but not this type ala television animee.
- Unless you think that Batman Beyond is the best version of Batman out there this DVD is not for you. Speaking of Batman beyond, that sucks too! What ever happened to Batman: the animated series... I miss that.
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