Batman: Un deuil dans la famille

This is a series of 30 min cartoons, felt like you were watching Sat morning TV. We get the redundant RED MASK story, a Hawkman story, a weird artist cartoon, a Sgt Fury story ... it is like DC had a few cartoons laying around and thought they'd tos them on a disc for a cash grab. Disappointing.

Bought the digital release on iTunes... kept watching & waiting for the movie to start. Just a recap on past DC animated Batman movies.. with barely a minute or so of new footage. Yeah you get a few additional extra short movies BUT no full movie here to see. I would certainly AVOID THIS. Utter utter Con job.

Too short. I do not like how Batman is narrating the story and we get less character to character dialogue. This was like 30min

Batman is one of those comic characters who is not afraid to delve into darker, more mature storylines. A Death In The Family is one of them, and it is infamous because readers actually got to decide the ending, which involved whether or not Jason Todd, who was the holder of the Robin mantle at the time, lived or died. and has gotten its fair share of attention and backlash for the final result. This movie is an adaptation of the story as well as a follow up to 2010's Batman: Under The Red Hood (as the cast from that film reprise their roles in this one).

Keeping with the interactive aspect of the comic, the movie is done to the point where it allows you to make choices that change the story. Before the film starts, the movie gives instructions on how to make choices (but thankfully, it can be skipped for those who watch it again or don't want instructions). The movie for the most part, has new footage mixed in with what looks like scenes taken from Under The Red Hood. Immediatly, this can be seen as bad, as the UTRH scenes are sadly just copy-and-pasted into the film, without any additions to take advantage of the R rating this film got. Basically, when you get to the point where you choose Robin's fate, you get three choices (that is, if you're watching the Blu-Ray. The digital copy does not have the interactive part). If you choose the Robin Dies route, all you get is a repeat of that film (only with Bruce Wayne/Batman narrating). Also, there is not much interactivity in this movie. Two of the paths do not allow you to choose to change the story, while one has most of the interactivity, which sadly hinders this more.

Because of these problems, the movie is too short (the longest being a half-hour), making this an underwhelming film. The only good thing about this is John DiMaggio does a good job voicing The Joker, but this interactive film is a lackluster and a waste of $18 I bought it for at Wal-Mart. Avoid this and look for something better, like Batman: Under The Red Hood (which is way better in its original form).

Batman: Under the Red Hood, one of DC's most successful animated films, finally got something added to that continuity of animation. The trailers were really good, and showcased the variety of stories in this movie very well. The big issue is that the marketing didn't show as much that renting the film means not getting the interactive version. You can find all scenarios if you buy the film digitally, but you need a Blu-Ray for the full experience. Since this is more a collection of shorts, I will review each one separately. (I have done reviews on Adam Strange and Death on those pages, but I'll shorten it here.)

Batman: Death in the Family scenarios

Red Hood Reloaded: This scenario is essentially Under the Red Hood but shortened and narrated. Although it brings some interesting perspective, it can't replace the original. 4/10

Jason Todd's Rebellion: This one is the shortest, and it has some very interesting ideas presented. It's unfortunately too short and abrupt to say it was even complete. It at least doesn't drag like Red Hood Reloaded. 5/10

Red Robin's Revenge: This short was entertaining. It had some solid action scenes, the voice acting was fine, but the ending was a little convenient. 7/10

Red Hood's Reckoning: This short was well-written, intense, and satisfying. It is a little more violent to push that R rating, but it was good. 7/10

DC Showcase shorts:

DC Showcase is an area of DC that makes shorts of obscure characters likely not to get a feature film, to introduce to audiences these new characters.

Sgt. Rock: An entertaining War short with supernatural-horror elements and good action. 7/10

Adam Strange: Overly violent, dull short with unlikeable characters and it doesn't give audiences a good idea of who Adam Strange is. 3/10

The Phantom Stranger: Scooby-Doo meets the occult, tone-wise. There is even a VW Mystery Machine car. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't interesting. 5/10

Death: Adapted from Neil Gaiman's Sandman, Death is a beautiful, bittersweet end to this mediocre animated film. 9/10