DC Animated movies seem to be one of the few areas where I'm more critical than conventional nerd culture wisdom rather than less, saying DC is overall better at Animation is silly to me when no Live Action Superhero film will ever be as offensive to me as that Gotham by Gaslight disaster. And I'm not even as in love with the fullness of the Timmverse as most people, but that's a rant for another day. That said I have still gained plenty of enjoyment from them, even the ones I’ve been very critical of in the past history of this blog have had some redeeming value I’ve enjoyed.
So I figure it’s time I talked about which ones I like the most. There do exist DC movies I haven’t seen. But I’ve seen most of what people generally recommend. The recent line of DC Super Hero Girls movies are the main thing I’ve missed out on, also the straight to DVD Lego movies.
Now the usual structure of a list like this is from the bottom up. But in this case the very top of the list is actually very predictable, what I consider the very best, maybe even the entire top 3 is a pretty common conventional wisdom. So I’d rather list these from the very best to the least of the best so the focus of the post can stay on where my opinions on them diverge from most.
1. Batman: Mask of The Phantasm.
As I said, a predictable opinion, why it’s so great is already better explained by others.
2. Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker.
Also an opinion I’m fairly certain is far from uncommon. Again others have no doubt talked about it at length. But my appreciation for it has only increased since I’ve seen Akira and now recognize the blatant Homage (the Laser fired from a space satellite looks exactly the same).
3. Justice League: New Frontier.
Perhaps I’m still unfairly biased towards this one for being the first of the 2007 initiated line I actually liked. It’s a pretty decent Adaptation of an interesting Comic drawing on ideas popularized by Watchman and DKR, so it’s interesting how it got a movie before they did.
4. Scooby Doo & Batman The Brave and The Bold.
I already dedicated a blog post to this one. It’s absolutely hilarious. There is still more I could say and perhaps will after the next time I re-watch it.
5. Superman Unbound.
I’ve also already written about why this is my favorite animated Superman movie. But I now feel more comfortable saying it may be my favorite Superman movie period. Also the Superman animated movies I hadn't seen yet when I wrote that I have seen now and it hasn't changed anything.
6. Batman Under The Red Hood.
In a way I’m disappointed that this is by a significant margin the best we’ve gotten from a Batman animated movie not directly connected to a TV series. But don’t take that as too much of an insult. It arguably improves on its source material by streamlining things and cutting out the tie ins to other DC story-lines of the time. I just wish Black Mask had been represented better and it’s Joker didn’t recycle jokes. Kelly Hu is fantastic in her supporting role, she’d probably make my top ten list of performances from the main line of animated movies.
7. Justice League Crisis on Two Earths
This one was the biggest surprise for me, I was not expecting how well it would hold up. Probably my main agreement with SUPER FRAME’s video on the DC animated movies is how high up he places this one (his unlike my list here is of only the specific line of films). It’s another one that I could write an entire post on someday.
I only have room for three more, I think these bottom three might be the most influenced by my current mood and moderately interchangeable with the honorable mentions. Above the order of 3-7 is also perhaps subject to change, but basically that is a pretty solid top 7.
8. Batman/Superman World’s Finest
Even though it’s transparently a 3 part episode of a TV crossover spliced together, it’s still the best take on how Superman and Batman first meet to date. And no it's not the only multi-part episode once packaged as a movie I counted as a movie for consideration for this list. I also love how it used both Mercy and Harley.
9. Allstar Superman
Most seem to like this the best of the animated Superman solo films. I do enjoy it a lot clearly since it’s on this list, but even as someone who hasn't read the comic I sense how this is an abridged version of something larger.
10. Justice League Flashpoint
The most recent film from the actual line I consider even worthy of consideration for this list. What I hate about it comes right from the Comics, as an Adaptation of a flawed Comic story-line this is perhaps even better then the above mentioned Red Hood.
The honorable mentions that almost made it would include both of the Adam West and Burt Ward animated movies made just before West passed away. Together they might be a perfect send off for the Bright Knight. Both Superman/Batman animated films which again arguably improve on their source material but the second of them is held back by an art-style I don’t like and the first by cutting Katana. Both Green Lantern animated movies which I found pretty decent introductions to the GL mythos for newbies, but I controversially actually like the Ryan Reynolds movie more. And finally the two Dark Knight Returns movies executed a lot perfectly, maybe even improved some details, and had great acting, they could have been on the list if they were one movie with the length of Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya and weren’t afraid of using voice over narration.
A failure to make that top 18 out of over 50 hardly means I hate it, I’ve given on this blog overall positive reviews to even stuff from the New52 based series, there are only a handful I have significantly overall negative feelings for.
But those are the ones that exemplify what Superheroes can do in Animation. I wish Marvel had made enough for me to consider such a list for them, but their only true shining achievement is Into The Spiderverse which was actually made by Sony.
Update: I might as well list my worst here to fully drive home the point, even though some I've already dedicated posts to.
6: The Killing Joke
Overrated source material, the part that is a direct adaptation of that source material is poorly executed in several subtle ways. And the added Batgirl story is insulting on several levels, but not without redeeming value that makes me still like it more then the actual Killing Joke.
5. Wonder Woman animated feature from 2009
Only redeeming quality is Alexa. TheMarySue explains why it's bad better then I can.
4. Justice league Doom
Utterly misses the point of Tower of Babel and is overstuffed with the LoD nonsense.
3. Batman: Year One
Overrated source material and paced way too quickly, the story needed at least 90 minutes to be done justice. And bad VAs for both leads.
2. Superman Doomsday
Bad on all fronts.
1. Batman: Gotham By Gaslight
Worst Comic Book Superhero movie period, no Animated qualifier necessary.
Late February Update: Since I first wrote this I've seen more DC animated movies now, including two that weren't out yet when I first wrote this. None of my rankings listed here have changed yet.
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