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Friends don't know his secret. The police can't trust his
motives. Even the criminals wonder if he's crazy. Yet nothing
will keep Batman from his crusade for justice in this captivating
animated series filled with amazing new gadgets, a slick redesigned
Gotham City and all your favourite villains. Soar with The
Dark Knight as he faces off against the fanatical Man-Bat
Dr. Langstrom, the coldest of criminals Mr. Freeze and the
purrfectly-wild Catwoman. Join this vigilante for a cool collection
of capers...
The
Man Who Would be Bat is
the second DVD release of episodes from the first season of
the latest animated Batman series. The three episodes
on this DVD are The Man Who Would be Bat, The Big
Chill and The Cat and the Bat. I have to admit
that I was a little apprehensive of watching this for the
first time.
I was a huge fan of the '90s animated series and I couldn't
even begin to imagine what they had done in order to bring
what was a pretty faultless series up to date. This new series
was originally shown in 2004 and is not quite as dark as the
'90s show. The
'90s animated series was almost faultless. It was mean and
moody - a show that could be appreciated by children and adults
alike. This new reworking is aimed more at kids.
I
have to admit to being a little disappointed when I started
watching this series. When I sat down to the first episode,
The Man Who Would be Bat, Bruce Wayne looked like he'd
been involved in some terrible accident. His face was bent
and twisted beyond belief and he actually looked more muscular
as Bruce than he did as the Batman. Then there was the odd
opening credits music, which was too flat and didn't fit in
with the action clips. Actually, I couldn't help thinking
of Scooby-Doo! when I first saw the opening credits
(with the flying bats coming out of a creepy old house - Wayne
Manor in this case).
But,
I soon noticed things that did indeed bring the show up to
date. The Batmobile is really slick, as are all of the Batman's
gadgets and vehicles. This makes the show feel much more contemporary
- although it will probably mean that it won't age as well
as the previous animated outing. The twisted look of the characters
started to grow on me too (they look a little like something
out of a Genndy
Tartakovsky show.
It
would also seem that Season One is concerning itself
with the origins of Batman's villains (this volume sees the
birth of Man-Bat, Mr. Freeze and Catwoman). While I know that
there will be loads of kids who are unfamiliar with the history
of the Batman, wouldn't it have been a little better to space
these "origins of..." tales out a little bit. As
it is, it seems like every week a villain is born in Gotham
City.
On
a packaging point, I'd like to get a little moan off my chest.
The anti-theft security stickers were terrible on this release
- as though they'd used superglue to stick them to the DVD
case. The result was that I seriously damaged the clear plastic
sleeve in my attempt to peel the stickers off. Why they didn't
use the stickers they normally use on the cardboard DVD boxes
is beyond me - they are much easier to remove.
Extras
are quite fun and include a Batman junior detective
exam (you can even print off your very own badge); Gotham
City PD Case Files (6 min look at the villains in Gotham
City); The Batman Big Chill Challenge (a surprisingly
addictive game where you have to take out Mr. Freeze); and
various trailers for other Warner Bros releases.
While
I don't rate this as highly as the '90s series, I still think
that this new animated series has a lot to offer. It's well
written, animated and acted. I'm looking forward to seeing
how this show matures.
Darren
Rea
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£6.02
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Region 1 Edition |
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$13.47
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Region 1 Edition |
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