Last month I was pretty negative towards some Animated DC projects. And since I like to be Mr Positive in general, I'm gonna talk about some I find underrated today.
The Batman Unlimited cartoons are made to promote a Toyline. So have a lot of good cartoons. This is a take on Batman that is kid friendly rather then super dark, but not in the obvious Silver Age or Adam West way.
I haven't watched the series of shorts, only the 3 movies, the third of which I watched today. They are a futuristic vision of Gotham reminiscent of Batman Beyond.
Bruce Wayne/Batman is voiced by Roger Craig Smith, who's Batman voice I already praised in my Arkham Origins post. He's also been since 2010 Sonic the Hedgehog. That should say something about his range, Sonic and Batman voiced by the same actor. He's also done some Anime dub work, most notably to my tastes Guilford in Code Geass.
My main criticisms of the series are that I wish they'd include female members of the BatFamily instead of all the non Batman characters. And I don't like Red Robin/Tim Drake being written as kinda dumb.
The first movie, Animal Instincts, has The Penguin as the main villain. This is his first time being a main villain of an animated feature. He was kinda prominent in Mystery of The Batwoman, but was ultimately of equal prominence to two other Mob Boss characters, and then Bane took the spotlight in the final act. So for someone who for decades was one of Batman's "big four" that's a bit overdue. He was done fairly well I feel, though I wish Nolan North had done the voice since they used so many other actors from the Arkham games.
It also has a good Manbat storyline.
The second movie, Monster Mayhem, has The Joker as the main villain. The Joker wasn't in desperate need of another animated spotlight, but every Batverse needs it's take on The Joker and this was an adequate one for Unlimited.
The Joker was voiced by Troy Baker, who again reprises the role from Arkham Origins, and was also The Joker in the Assault on Arkham movie that's in the same universe as the Arkham games.
Troy Baker has also done some Anime Dub work, in fact he was Schneizel El Britannia in Code Geass. He hasn't done any Anime since 2012 however, might be the same for Smith. Perhaps it's for the best if the Dub voice actors I like don't start getting a lot of better paying work elsewhere? Schneizel and Guileford could both return for the new Code Geass series. What if they are the only two whom the Dub can't bring back their old actors?
Troy Baker has also been Batman in some other projects. Like some of the Lego movies but not the theatrical ones. And the Teltale series. Has anyone else been both Batman and The Joker? I can't even imagine Mark Hamil doing a Batman voice, or Kevin Conroy a Joker voice.
The third movie Mechs vs Mutants. Should have been called "Mechs vs Kaiju", it's a lot of fun.
It brings back to some degree the villains of both prior films, making it all work kind of as a Trilogy.
So all three are fun movies and I recommend them.
No comments:
Post a Comment