This loose follow up to "Batman: Year One" sees Selina Kyle well adjusted into her role as Catwoman, a morally ambiguous......well....it is not entirely clear WHAT her role is by this short film. She is supposed to be a thief, a cat burglar, but in this show she comes across as a sultry Batman wannabe. On a normal night of taking down thugs, Catwoman stumbles upon a familiar piece of jewelery which lands her in a drag out confrontation with the mob boss "Rough Cut".
Writer Paul Dini has managed to capture the essence of the Catwoman comic books. Sadly, even the best Catwoman comics tend to be "second stringers" particularly to Batman stories from which Catwoman spun off from. It is a very straight forward story, almost clichéd in its execution and sparse in character development. Catwoman is portrayed more as a straight up reluctant defender of the downtrodden than the multi faceted, morally ambiguous, part criminal in the comics.
While the acting is superb, the script is nothing special. John Dimaggio does Brooklyn Marcus Fenix impression for Rough Cut. But despite his awesome performance, the character is no more than a shallow bruiser boss. Once again, the main complaint goes to how short the Dc showcase films are.
Visually however, this DC showcase is as beautiful as Selina Kyle herself. The level of detail in the art is on par with many Japanese anime OVAs and the character designs retain that sultry sexuality we can expect from Catwoman comics. The actual animation however borders on the mediocre. It is no smoother than an average OVA or high budget TV series. Seems that most of the time and effort went into one of the most beautifully animated pole dance sequences in the history of animation (japanese or otherwise). That sequence had an almost rotoscoped quality to it. Exceedingly smooth and uncannily lifelike.
More time could have been spent actually developing the main character. Compared to previous Dc showcase short films like Jonah Hex and The Spectre which delved into the characters' motivations, thoughts and inner personality, Catwoman seems more like a trivial "day in the life of" one shot. It looks great, it feels great, but there could have been more substance to back up the appearance.
