This week’s Blu-ray Pick of the Week is the latest entry into the DC Animated Movie Universe, Batman: Year One – based off the acclaimed graphic novel of the same name by Frank Miller.
Fellow robot, CitizenBot, was lucky enough to catch the premier of this film at Comic Con and was very pleased with it.
In terms of the look, given the somewhat minimalist leanings of the source material’s art, they had to add some more in, but also they wanted to keep the spirit of the original art. “We absolutely tried to follow it as closely as we could, from the colors to the characters. We tried to make it as dirty and ugly as we could… when you color things digitally things end up looking relatively clean, so we had to go in and add that extra bit of detail,” explained Montgomery. “The city kind of had to be a character in itself,” she added, explaining that we, the audience, needed to feel the corruption, the dirt, the edge of the city- sort of an oppressive feeling as it closed in on Gordon and Batman. In this, they completely delivered. The art was exactly as I’d pictured it. And they delivered on the character.
And as for the characters themselves, the voice talent was brilliant. We have Bryan Cranston as a pitch-perfect, world-weary Lt. Gordon. As voice director Andrea Romano put it in our interview, “Thank God he’s good at this.” Eliza Dushku puts in double duty as Selena Kyle/Catwoman (and yes in this version they retain her origin as a prostitute, just like in the book) and also in an animated Catwoman short that will be packaged with Year One. A little more about Catwoman- some have mentioned the similarity between the character design in this and the leaked pictures of Anne Hathaway in the upcoming Nolan Dark Knight Rises. Executive Producer (and superhero himself) Bruce Timm said it’s purely coincidental. “I’m in awe of them,” talking about his admiration for the Nolan films. But? “I don’t think I’m even on their radar.” So modest.
You can read his entire review from July here, including the part in which Katee Sackhoff, who plays Det. Sarah Essen, propositions him for a threesome! (SPOILER ALERT: She was joking.)
Batman: Year One is another home-run for DC and Warner Bros. on the animated front as they continue to pump fantastic films and adaptations onto home entertainment platforms. The animation is fantastic, the story is compelling and stays very true to the source material, and the voice acting is once again top-notch – for the most part. My only minor nit-pick of the film is that I thought Ben McKenzie (of The OC fame) was a little dull as Bruce Wayne, and Bruce Wayne only. His voice for Batman worked very well, but for me his Bruce Wayne was lacking some emotion. It may sound odd to criticize on this point, but Bruce Wayne was the only part of this film that seemed to leave something left to be desired – but it’s very minor and by no means completely takes away from Year One as a whole.
Batman: Year One on Blu-ray comes packaged with a DVD and digital copy and a handful of extras, including the option to watch the film with crew commentary featuring Alan Burnett, Sam Liu, Mike Carlin, and Andrea Romano. There is a very good half-hour documentary called “Heart of Vengeance: Returning Batman to His Roots” in which the history of moving Batman out of “campy” back to his pulp origins is discussed in length. There is also a feature titled “Conversations With DC Comics: Featuring the 201 Batman Creative Team” which mostly features the “current” Batman creative team talking about the Batman character and comics and what they mean to them. There is a lot of personal reflection in this featurette, but it’s quite interesting.
You will also find on the Blu-ray disc a digital comic copy of the first chapter of Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One graphic novel and two episodes from Batman: The Animated Series– both of which prominently feature Catwoman. We also get a sneak peek at the next DCU animate feature, Justice League: Doom, which is a loose adaptation of the Justice League comics “Tower of Babel” story arc. It looks like it will be very good.
Finally, but certainly not least, we have the latest animated short from DC and Warner Bros. with Catwoman included with this set. Once again featuring the purrfectly (I’m so, so sorry for that – I couldn’t resist) fitting voice of Eliza Dushku as Selena Kyle/Catwoman and written by Paul Dini, this animated short follows Catwoman as she goes toe-to-toe with Rough Cut who is smuggling some very precious and disturbing cargo out of Gotham City. This short is beautifully animated and again, well acted. Perhaps the thing I found most interesting is how well they married both Selena’s sex appeal and her all around bad-assery – most notably as she confronts Rough Cut in a “Gentleman’s Club”. Often times it seems writers and directors have a hard time walking the line of creating a strong but sexy character, often straying too far to one side or the other, but this for me was pitch-perfect Catwoman and I thought Selena and Rough Cut’s throw down through the streets of Gotham culminating at a dock was even more exciting that the climax in the feature film it came with.
Fans of these DC Animated Feature Films have come to expect a lot and Batman: Year Oneand all it includes once again hits its mark. The special features, the Catwoman short, and the feature film itself are all well worth the price of picking this one up and adding it to your home entertainment collection.
Batman: Year One is available for purchase today at retailers and online at Amazon!