The Batman vs. Dracula

When the Penguin (Tom Kenny) escapes Arkham Asylum in search of stolen loot at Gotham Cemetery, Penguin inadvertently stumbles upon a hidden tomb that holds Dracula (Peter Stormare). Awaken from a cut on Penguin's hand, Dracula continues his reign of terror as he drains residents of Gotham to regain his strength with intent on enslaving all of Gotham as his undead army. Meanwhile Bruce Wayne (Rino Romano) strikes up a promising relationship with news reporter Vicki Vale (Tara Strong) but finds his life complicated balancing this growing romance against his secret life as Batman, as a Bat shaped figure becomes associated with missing persons with Batman at the center of police suspicions.

The Batman vs. Dracula is a 2005 direct-to-video feature that serves as a standalone story related to the animated series The Batman which ran from 2004-2008. Released as a tie-in with the then recent Batman Begins and premiering on Cartoon Network's Toonami, The Batman vs. Dracula was able to go darker than its source TV show thanks to lack of "network standards". Not only are there plenty of scenes of blood and vampires drinking it (though a scene in a blood bank has the lighting altered so the blood looks black) but it's the only time in the continuity of The Batman that we've seen the police use actual guns instead of tasers or tranquilizers. While the movie isn't required viewing with the show and is a very self-contained adventure, it's a solidly entertaining one with some excellent edge.

Peter Stormare is an absolute delight playing the titular Dracula who captures the dark menace of the character as well as the romantic magnetism of the character. Dracula is intimidating in both his "monster" form and his false identity as Dr. Alucard and he's a more than worthy foe to square off against Batman. Rino Romano and Tara Strong do quite well in their roles of Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale respectively, and the chemistry conveyed in their interactions makes me sad the character of Vale never appeared in the actual TV show and only appeared in this film. The action and animation are quite well done playing like a supped up version of the animation you see on the show, but the filmmakers get a lot more ambitious and experimental here as they're allowed to take the macabre elements of their story a lot further than they'd be able to on network TV (see the Spider-Man cartoon's take on Morbius to see how much you had to change for "acceptability"). The sequences of Batman fighting vampires or researching vampire lore strikes all the right notes and gives you every element you'd possibly want from a vampire story (save for some of the racier aspects of vampire war, but it's Batman).

The only real downside is in how detatched the movie feels from the show's continuity and aside from Bruce, Alfred, and supporting appearances by some of Batman's rogue's gallery there's no tie ins to the show's overarching story such as police chief Angel Rojas who served as a staunch opponent of Batman or Detective Yin who was for a time Batman's only ally on the force (though the TV show would give her a similar short shrift in season 3). The ending also feels a bit "too neat" in how things wrap up and it'll be a case of either you buy it or you don't.

The Batman vs. Dracula gives exactly what it promises. With solid animation and voice work the movie gives a more polished version of the already high quality you got from the TV show. Peter Stormare is fun in the role of Dracula and the havoc he wreaks upon Gotham is fun and carries with it the macabre charms we know and love that wouldn't be possible on network TV. The movie does feel like it's maybe too separate from the show as there's no appearances from established supporting players, and while Joker and Penguin show up, the possibilities of this story don't feel as fully exploited as they could've been. Minor nitpicks aside, this is a fun ride that gives you the Batman fighting vampires and delivers on all that entails.

I have to say, I was rather surprised by how dark and intense "The Batman vs. Dracula" was. I had heard that there was more blood and the fights were intense, but this was beyond words. All of the characters were terrific, and we see the evil, twisted psyche of Joker that is mostly absent from "The Batman" series; in a way, he's even more insane in this movie than any other I have ever seen.

Anyway, I really enjoyed how this movie flowed. At first it's somewhat fast paced, but to the point and it remains consistent, so the viewer doesn't really get confused at all. Then it mellows out, giving time for the story and characters to develop. Each character has their niche, some of whom will make your skin crawl (this is especially the case for Joker).

All in all, this is DEFINITELY NOT for children. Watching this will give them nightmares for nights on end. Even I have flashes of the most awe- and terror-inspiring points of the film.

Honestly, I'm at a loss of words at how well this movie played out. Normally I'd use better words, but I can't at the moment. I'll just say that this would be a perfect Batman movie for any fan or non-fan.

I sat down to watch the 2005 DC animated movie "The Batman vs. Dracula" here in 2021, together with my son as he wanted to watch an animated movie. I had never seen this particular animated movie from writers Duane Capizzi and Michael Jelenic before.

Normally I am not overly keen on the superhero genre, but I do tend to watch the movies when I have the chance. And of course I sat down to watch "The Batman vs. Dracula" as well, as I hadn't already seen it before.

And I must admit that "The Batman vs. Dracula" was definitely the best animated movie in the superhero genre that I have seen thus far. This simply transcended the archetypical formula of it being a superhero that just pounds on one or more villains. How so, as there was beating and brawling in this animated movie as well? Well, because of the storyline.

The storyline concocted by the writers for "The Batman vs. Dracula" was one that definitely appealed to me, as it was a good combination of things. And it was a storyline that had a greater level of maturity to it, aimed at a more mature audience. And also it was a dark and sinister plot actually.

The events that took place in the storyline definitely helped to make "The Batman vs. Dracula" an outstanding and memorable animated movie for me. So on that account then directors definitely delivered something great.

With "The Batman vs. Dracula" being an animated movie, having a good ensemble of voice actors to deliver the dialogue is a must. And they definitely had that for this animated movie. And having Peter Stomare do the voice for Dracula was just brilliant. I will say that the voice performers delivered good performances here.

Now, the art style used in "The Batman vs. Dracula" was something of an acquired taste. The way that the characters were drawn didn't really sit well with me. But it was something I could look beyond given the rather interesting storyline. If they had opted for a more classic art style to present "The Batman vs. Dracula" in, then this would have been a stroke of brilliance.

"The Batman vs. Dracula" is a DC animated movie that is well-worth the time, money and effort. This is without a doubt the best animated superhero movie I had seen, and it was quite a pleasant surprise in terms of entertainment.

My rating of "The Batman vs. Dracula" lands on an eight our of ten stars.

While this movie and the animation used in this batman series isn't the best; it is still fun to watch. It may not be on the level of Kevin Conroy's batman but I still enjoyed this approach. The fight scenes are good and I also like how swiftly and ninja(yes I know he really is a ninja) like batman moves; along with the depiction of Dracula. Batman still broods, Alfred is still witty and the joker is still a psycho.

I thought this movie was great in every aspect. Animation was top notch. All those haters talking about how it looks anime, well guess what Japanese anime is pretty much the hot thing now. The only real good animation we have is JLU. Anyways this movie really surprised me. When I initially heard about this title I was a little skeptic at 1st cause I mean when you first hear The Batman vs Dracula, you think what the bleep. But when read more about it I got more excited. This movie ranks it the top three, MOTP and ROTJ are a head of it mainly because of the story. That was the only problem I had with this movie. The story was pretty self explanatory. I think if they wanted to add the human element to the character, they should have had Alfred getting bitten and then Batman trying to save him, not the Joker. But overall I enjoyed it and will watch it again. And for the person who was confused about the antidote working on the vampire minions but not Dracula. Well,I think it's because Dracula is the originator of the infection. Meaning that is blood is pure and basically when he bites someone else it could be seen as an infection that can be cured. If that makes any sense.